With Alien proving to be one of the biggest successes of 1979, movement on a sequel happened almost immediately. But it would take until 1986 to actually get that movie, Aliens, on the big screen. That itself is a story for another day (or now, if you want to see our full breakdown!), but one concern was its director, as James Cameron was replacing Ridley Scott. And it took Ridley herself, Sigourney Weaver, to make sure nobody on the set thought, Oh, great, the guy who did Piranha II is in charge!
Sigourney Weaver was on hand at the New York Comic Con this past week, where she recalled that Cameron was a surprisingly hard sell for the crew of Aliens, many of whom had come over from Ridley Scott’s original. As she put it, “What I remember is that they really loved Ridley, and they wanted Ridley to be directing this second film. They didn’t know who Jim Cameron was. I didn’t really know who he was. I just thought he wrote a great script…So they did have an attitude. And it did take a while [for them to get along], actually.”
And so Weaver took it upon herself to make sure the crew would be more receptive of Cameron while making Aliens. “I remember because I loved Jim right away, it was very easy for me to go around and go, ‘Listen, I love Ridley too, but this guy wrote this and this film Terminator, and he knows what he’s doing. He’s a natural.’ And by the end, of course, they were devoted.”
Aliens would not only go on to become one of the quintessential action movies but also stand as a prime example of what a sequel could do, with James Cameron shifting genres entirely while also remaining faithful enough to the original that it served as a perfect counterpart. It, too, would gross $183 million worldwide, making it one of the top earners of 1986 and helping set up Cameron as one of the premiere directors of box office behemoths. After Aliens, Sigourney Weaver would finally reunite with Cameron for Avatar and its sequels, including this year’s Fire and Ash.
