Sigourney Weavermay be new to the galaxy far, far away, but when it comes to “Star Wars,” she goes back to the beginning.
Weaver vividly recalls going to seeGeorge Lucas’ film at New York City’s famed Ziegfield Theatre during the original 1977 run, an “awesome” experience being transported to a fantastical landscape and watching fellow up-and-comersMark Hamill,Carrie FisherandHarrison Fordin the movie that changed their lives.
“I was looking at three lucky actors who'd made it to the big time and were in this glorious thing. who were a little older than I was or the same age,” Weaver says. “They just looked like they'd made it and they were very comfortable in it, and isn't it cool? I hope I get that lucky someday to be in a movie that has people crowded into a theater all cheering for it.”
She did, of course, going on to star in the iconic “Alien,” “Ghostbusters” and “Avatar” franchises. And at 76, Weaver is making a high-profile debut playing Colonel Ward – who is from the same generation as Fisher’s Princess Leia – in“The Mandalorian and Grogu”(in theaters May 22), the first "Star Wars" movie since 2019's "The Rise of Skywalker."
Director Jon Favreau’s new film continues the adventures of the armored warrior Mando (Pedro Pascal) and his adorable apprentice from the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian.” Colonel Ward is a fighter and pilot from the same Rebellion that took down the Empire in the first “Star Wars” trilogy, and she's now stationed in the outer rim of the galaxy. Her assignment is to track down and capture various Imperial baddies still running around who threaten to ignite another war with the New Republic.
"I have so much respect for women in the armed services, their grace under pressure, their ability to make good judgments and follow their instincts and intuitions, and be very good commanders," Weaver says. "I've always wanted to play someone like that." And Favreau adds that Ward is "a force to be reckoned with."
Ward tasks the extremely capable Mando with an important mission, though meeting little Grogu is “slightly worrying” for her character, Weaver says. “He seems like you could lure him away from his job if you had the right snack. (But) you find out what Grogu is capable of, and it's incredible.”
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In the movie, Weaver gets decked out in an X-wing fighter jumpsuit – the legendary orange number worn by Hamill back in the day – and gets to pilot a starship. “I wasn't literally in outer space flying but it was, for me, as close to flying it as I will ever get. It really made me laugh,” she says, teasing that Ward’s X-wing squadron in the film has a surprise “that will make people happy. A little gift from the past.”
The first time Favreau saw the actress in the X-wing outfit, "she felt immediately authentic to 'Star Wars,' " he says. "And even though she’d never been part of this franchise, her legacy as a science-fiction hero brought an authenticity to the role immediately."
Weaver also got a kick out of working alongside the Grogu puppet. “I’m such a fan of having the real character in front of you. I'm not a good enough actor to pretend,” Weaver says. “Even though I was aware that it took five puppeteers to make Grogu do what he did, I totally believed in Grogy. He was sitting at the table with me, trying to steal my food.”
While the movie features “big, huge scenes and creatures and contraptions,” Weaver appreciates that there’s “a much more intimate story about Mando and Grogu, who take care of each other in the most charming and unpredictable way.” It’s a far cry from the “Alien” universe, “where the two species did not get along and it was much more of a terrorizing experience,” says the erstwhile Ellen Ripley.
Weaver has always felt that “Star Wars” reflected life on our planet, and it goes back to that first time seeing it on a big screen nearly 50 years ago.
“Yes, some of them are hostile, but the majority of people in these different galaxies and worlds are all getting along together really well," she says. "That really impressed me because I thought this is a very hopeful vision of what our world can become.
"Even though I've made all these ‘Alien’ pictures where we are not getting along with the alien, the reality of the opposite is also true. Different beings from different worlds can live together harmoniously, can be friends, can work together, can save each other. All of that I love, and I continue to love it in this movie.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:'Mandalorian and Grogu' launches Sigourney Weaver into 'Star Wars'
