The Golden Lion of Venice was awarded to Sigourney Weaver
According to cinemadrame, Sigourney Weaver, after receiving the honorary Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, announced on stage, “I feel like crying.” The 74-year-old actress, known for her roles in Alien and Avatar, received the award on the first day of the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival this week.
James Cameron, director of Avatar and Aliens, congratulated Weaver in a pre-recorded message: “I’m proud to call her one of my friends… Our collaboration has been built on trust and respect, and with every new project, it grows stronger.” The filmmaker reminded the audience that Weaver was nominated for her first Oscar in 1986 and that she should have received this honor long ago.
Weaver continued by thanking Cameron and then praised Peter Weir, director of The Year of Living Dangerously, who will also receive an honorary award at this year’s festival. Weaver said that Weir made her “fall in love with cinema.”
A few hours before receiving the award, Weaver attended a press conference. In response to a reporter’s question about the impact of cinema on Kamala Harris’s presidential candidacy, she became emotional and, with teary eyes, said, “We are all excited for Kamala, and just thinking for a moment that my films have something to do with her rise makes me so happy, because it’s true. So many women have come up to me and thanked me.”
Weaver is the third American actress to receive the honorary Golden Lion at Venice, following Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis.
