Sigourney Weaver is ready to revisit “Working Girl” more than 35 years later.
The 1988 workplace comedy starred Weaver as Katharine, a cutthroat boss who steals her assistant Jess’ (Melanie Griffith) ideas. After she is laid up following a ski accident, Jess takes Katharine’s place at work and falls in love with a client played by Harrison Ford. The film landed six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Griffith, and Best Supporting Actress nods for Weaver and co-star Joan Cusack.
“Only Murders in the Building” star Selena Gomez confirmed earlier this year that she is producing a reboot of the film, with Deadline reporting it will likely be a Hulu release through 20th Century. Ilana Pena is set to write the script, and Gomez is likely also starring as Jess.
“Go for it,” Weaver told The Hollywood Reporter of Gomez’s upcoming reimagining. “I think it’s a great instinct to want to do that again. It’s a kind of eternal story, you know. But seen in the new light, it’s especially interesting to think of Katharine double-crossing her assistant in today’s world. It would be worse, wouldn’t it? It would really suck. So I don’t know, I’m really excited to see it.”
Weaver applauded the “great, fantastic idea” behind a modern “Working Girl.” Yet Weaver is not holding her breath for a cameo.
“I wouldn’t force myself on them,” the “Avatar: Way of Water” actress joked. “I can’t think of what I’d be playing except the old person who runs the agency going by with a cane, [but] I’m sure she could think up anything.”
The reimagined “Working Girl” comes on the heels of a slew of rebooted film IPs, including a “Roadhouse” remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal, a “Fatal Attraction” Paramount+ show, and Martin Scorsese returning to “The Gangs of New York” for a streaming series.
Weaver’s iconic turn in “Alien” is also being adapted for the small screen by “Fargo” showrunner Noah Hawley. The FX series will be a prequel to the 1979 sci-fi slasher, which famously starred Weaver as astronaut Ellen Ripley. The TV adaptation is the first “Alien” franchise story to take place on Earth and before the days of Ripley, set roughly 70 years from 2022. The only character from the original “Alien” film to appear in the show is, well, the titular extraterrestrial. The prequel is slated to film in 2023.
Weaver reflected on her legacy as Ripley, telling Elle that she was concerned about being typecast as “the strong one” following the success of the “Alien” franchise.
“The business loves to pigeonhole actors, especially actresses,” Weaver said. “I was mostly doing comedy in New York in the beginning. And that’s what I’m good at. After I did Ripley, no one could think of me for anything but another Ripley kind of thing. It helped me that I was never seduced by the part. I was always seduced by the script and —secondary but still important — the director and their vision. And funny, I think that ended up throwing me into different [kinds of] parts, because I wasn’t looking for the role ever, ever.”
The 1988 workplace comedy starred Weaver as Katharine, a cutthroat boss who steals her assistant Jess’ (Melanie Griffith) ideas. After she is laid up following a ski accident, Jess takes Katharine’s place at work and falls in love with a client played by Harrison Ford. The film landed six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Griffith, and Best Supporting Actress nods for Weaver and co-star Joan Cusack.
“Only Murders in the Building” star Selena Gomez confirmed earlier this year that she is producing a reboot of the film, with Deadline reporting it will likely be a Hulu release through 20th Century. Ilana Pena is set to write the script, and Gomez is likely also starring as Jess.
“Go for it,” Weaver told The Hollywood Reporter of Gomez’s upcoming reimagining. “I think it’s a great instinct to want to do that again. It’s a kind of eternal story, you know. But seen in the new light, it’s especially interesting to think of Katharine double-crossing her assistant in today’s world. It would be worse, wouldn’t it? It would really suck. So I don’t know, I’m really excited to see it.”
Weaver applauded the “great, fantastic idea” behind a modern “Working Girl.” Yet Weaver is not holding her breath for a cameo.
“I wouldn’t force myself on them,” the “Avatar: Way of Water” actress joked. “I can’t think of what I’d be playing except the old person who runs the agency going by with a cane, [but] I’m sure she could think up anything.”
The reimagined “Working Girl” comes on the heels of a slew of rebooted film IPs, including a “Roadhouse” remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal, a “Fatal Attraction” Paramount+ show, and Martin Scorsese returning to “The Gangs of New York” for a streaming series.
Weaver’s iconic turn in “Alien” is also being adapted for the small screen by “Fargo” showrunner Noah Hawley. The FX series will be a prequel to the 1979 sci-fi slasher, which famously starred Weaver as astronaut Ellen Ripley. The TV adaptation is the first “Alien” franchise story to take place on Earth and before the days of Ripley, set roughly 70 years from 2022. The only character from the original “Alien” film to appear in the show is, well, the titular extraterrestrial. The prequel is slated to film in 2023.
Weaver reflected on her legacy as Ripley, telling Elle that she was concerned about being typecast as “the strong one” following the success of the “Alien” franchise.
“The business loves to pigeonhole actors, especially actresses,” Weaver said. “I was mostly doing comedy in New York in the beginning. And that’s what I’m good at. After I did Ripley, no one could think of me for anything but another Ripley kind of thing. It helped me that I was never seduced by the part. I was always seduced by the script and —secondary but still important — the director and their vision. And funny, I think that ended up throwing me into different [kinds of] parts, because I wasn’t looking for the role ever, ever.”