Given that she’s spent several decades on screen facing down and punching horrifying penis-headed monsters in the Alien movies, it’s no surprise that Sigourney Weaver is similarly adept at slapping down actual dickheads in real life and is well versed in the subtle art of not giving a shit. The best example of which is her attitude towards her height.
Standing at 6 foot tall (AKA, that height every man insists he is) with a penchant for high heels, Weaver has explained in various interviews that over the years she has repeatedly found herself at odds with men in Hollywood because of her size. You may have noticed that this is something that is absolutely 100% not Weaver’s fucking problem, though it hasn’t stopped some men trying to frame it that way.
In fact, Weaver has had directors straight up tell her in the past to not wear heels because if she did, she’d tower over her male co-stars which they wouldn’t like. Something that once prompted an annoyed Weaver to sarcastically offer to paint her bare feet if the guys she was acting alongside felt so self-conscious about standing next to her. An offer we’re guessing at least one man almost took her up before realising she was taking the piss.
Now this isn’t just an attitude Weaver has adopted since becoming one of the most prolific and successful actresses in Hollywood, it’s one she’s had since the beginning of her career and one she’s continued to have. Something that is no better summed up than by her audition for the film that made her a star, Alien.
According to Weaver, she was advised not to wear heels to early auditions or dress too suggestively so she didn’t make casting directors feel insecure or awkward when she power-strutted into the room like she was about to stomp a fucker into the ground. Advice she considered, decided was bullshit and ignored before putting on, in her own words “Hooker’s boots with what must have been 3in heels“, the tightest top she could find and accessorising it with the emptiest bag of fucks in her closet. Weaver then strolled straight into the casting office where Ridley Scott was sat and told him she was there to audition for the part of Ellen Fucking Ripley.
Scott took one look at the 6ft 3 inch tall Amazon-esque personification of pure balls out confidence currently doing a heavy metal power stance in front of him and knew he’d found the actress to play Ripley, hiring Weaver for the part on the spot. Weaver would later note of the audition that Scott (who is several inches shorter that she is out of heels) never mentioned her height during their discussion of of the role, only her confidence, something she attributed to him being fully secure in his own masculinity. A compliment a sizeable percentage of Hollywood apparently will never get from her.
