Rewriting male characters has become a tradition for Sigourney Weaver. Ripley in Alien was famously scripted as a man, and nearly 30 years later, she took over for an actor in The TV Set. She plays a network executive and didn’t change a thing.
Sigourney Weaver Talks The TV Set
“You know, if a role is well-written it will work for either sex I think, unless it’s a love story or something,” she said. “I actually think there’s so many women in these positions now that it really shouldn’t make a difference. Thinking of it as a male executive who’s obsessed with women’s breasts, are they real or not, is funny. I think having a woman executive who probably has fake breasts being obsessed with whether women’s breasts are real or not and talking about it, I think that’s funnier. Whatever women have done to the workplace, it has certainly not humanized it. The expectation, it’s not quite happened that way.”
In this satire of the television industry, Weaver’s character forces her inappropriate visions on a writer (David Duchovny)’s pilot. There is some TV experience in the Weaver family but that did not inform the role.
“I’ll tell ya, I couldn’t base her on my father who ran NBC in the ‘50s because he believed that television could uplift people and expand our horizons, so he was really the polar opposite. Ironically enough, because I don’t really know many executives in the business, I based her on someone I adore, a woman who runs a non-profit who’s so energetic and believes so strongly in what she’s doing, and you just can’t say no to her. So I just kept channeling this friend of mine because I thought even though it’s so well-written, I didn’t want to make Lenny someone you could dismiss. I wanted her to be smart enough and real enough, so you went, ‘Hmm, this person’s in charge for better or worse.’ So that’s what I was after.”
The TV Set
Though TV runs in the family, the film educated Weaver on the process. “I had no idea. I didn’t even know about the upfronts. Of course I had to watch everyone’s upfront from the year before and I knew nothing about this. I really didn’t. I don’t think they had that when my father was running the network. He’d just recently wrenched the creative control from the toothpaste people to creating a programmer so all of this has evolved in the last few years and it’s like a big kind of pep rally for your shows and of course the big joke on our set was some of the shows sounded ludicrous, like Prison Break. It’s like, ‘What’s that?’ But it’s a huge hit.”
Behind the scenes, Weaver was considered a good shopping buddy. Going out with costar Judy Greer, Weaver was credited as an honest opinion. “I told her something looked too tight or something. It was a pair of jeans or something I think. I always want someone to be honest with me.”
Greer also reported that Weaver posed for paparazzi, even those asking to be photographed with her. “Usually you’re trying to get away from those people but sometimes you’re cornered and you want to give them what they want so they leave you alone. So if it’s a picture, ‘Take it, please!’”
The TV Set opens to theatres tomorrow, April 6th.
For trailer, poster, interviews and more movie info, go to The TV Set
Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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