Sigourney Weaver says Ridley can 'invigorate' Alien

Sigourney Weaver believes Ridley Scott will ''invigorate'' the 'Alien' franchise with his new prequel 'Prometheus' and admits she is fascinated to see how the filmmaker explores the extra-terrestrials

Sigourney Weaver believes Ridley Scott can "invigorate" the 'Alien' franchise with his new movie 'Prometheus'.

The actress played heroine Ellen Ripley in the four 'Alien' movies and although she won't be appearing in the prequel she is convinced the director - who helmed the first film in the series - can do something wonderful with the Xenomorph extra-terrestrial character.

She said: "I actually talked to Ridley about this idea and I'm delighted he's doing it. I feel it's in good hands. It's a wonderful franchise and if they can invigorate the creature, it could have another life."

The 61-year-old star is as interested as everyone else to watch the movie, which takes place before 'Alien' and will reveal how the Xenomorph nest which Ripley and her crew discover on an abandoned spacecraft in the first instalment came to be there.

She added to HollywoodOutbreak.com: "When you find [the alien] in the first movie with what we call the Space Jockey, the kind of strange creature with the elephant face, the eggs were in its ship, so where do they come from? So it's like kind of following that storyline with, I hope, another great ensemble."

Sigourney will always be grateful to Ridley for casting her as the lead in the original 1979 movie, at a time when heroic roles were dominated by men, because it was the part that launched her career.

She said: "I do think that 'Alien' was ahead of its time. Although it makes me laugh because it's not like our producers and Ridley Scott, who are lovely men, were being feminists. They thought the last person that anyone would think would survive is this girl. So it was really done for the story, not for any political, feminist reason."