#SDCC: Wonder Women: Sigourney Weaver, Elizabeth Mitchell, Zoe Saldana, Eliza Dushku
Sigourney Weaver received a standing ovation at the Comic-Con 2009 panel “Wonder Women: Female Power Icons in Pop Culture,” moderated by Entertainment Weekly. The “ass-kicking” icon shared the dais with Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliette on Lost), Zoe Saldana (Uhura in the new Star Trek film) and, in an unannounced appearance, Eliza Dushku (Echo on Dollhouse.)
Weaver said “MTV called Ripley the second biggest badass after Clint Eastwood, but I think she could take him.” Apparently, the part of Ripley had originally been intended for a man, then Weaver came “and she was better,” said Saldana, who expressed her excitement about appearing with her. Said Weaver of the part of Ripley, “I never thought about playing it as a woman, I thought about playing it as a person.”
With regard to the evolution of women’s roles, Weaver said, “I think that society is changing much faster than Hollywood understands.” She also said, “Hollywood gets really wrapped up in what women should wear and I was lucky when I did my action role that I got to wear real clothes.”
The other panelists also discussed their recent empowering roles. Saldana said, with regard to playing a new incarnation of Uhura, that it was “humbling” to continue the role of an original character that “everyone admired.”
Dushku talked about working on Dollhouse with Joss Whedon, known for creating strong female characters in his other TV series. “There was a reason I went back to Joss when I wanted to find my next role. My role in Buffy was so amazing. When I went back to him, I had such trust that he is the reason why I have all these opportunities. I asked Joss to make me the most multi-dimensional, deep character he’d ever done and he delivered.”
The discussion also included the most iconic of comic-book heroines
as the panel moderator asked, “Wonder Woman: why doesn’t she have a
movie?” Dushku joked, “Because I’m not available!” and, more
seriously, “I think everyone’s afraid of messing it up. There are some
people who have taken a pass at it, but I just don’t think that it’s
worked out.” Saldana said, “They need to take all that Neo (from The Matrix) stuff and put it into Wonder Woman so she’s not just a great bum and a great rack spinning around.”
An audience member asked “Why do you think they’re trying to cast
Wonder Woman young?” Saldana replied, “Do you want to know the truth?
65-year-old men want to see 25-year-old little girls running around.
They (men) are the ones who cut the checks. It’s like that way in
Hollywood; it’s like that way in corporate America. They don’t stop to
think that anyone would want to see something different because they
don’t.”
On the other hand, Weaver said: “I’m about to turn 60 and I’m still
getting sent all different types of roles sent to me.” (The audience
Twittered that she still looked amazing.) Mitchell said, “I’ve been
cast in my best roles after the age of 30. We’re allowed to be sexy as
we get older.”
Weaver also had inspirational words for the audience, “I think the
sky is open. I don’t believe in the glass ceiling…Don’t look to
Hollywood to be the leader of social change. You’ll have to drag them
by the nose. Show up to the types of films you want to see and show
Hollywood that they can make money, and they’ll do what you want.”
