Smash hit

“I haven’t seen Capote,” Weaver says diplomatically, “but I know our film is very different, more like a sip of champagne than a shot of whisky. It’s a very eloquent script about what it is to be a writer and the cost of that, and what America expects from its writers. It’s one of the most beautifully written scripts I’ve ever read, so I can only hope it’s a rich enough subject to accommodate more than one film.”

Besides acting, Weaver has social and political causes to keep her busy. For 15 years she has sat on the board of the Rights First group, which campaigns for asylum-seekers. Like many Americans, she has become politically outspoken about George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. She joined the army of Hollywood stars who campaigned for John Kerry during the last US presidential race. “I think we’re all political at this point,” she says.

“Until the Bush regime, I was more cause-orientated: the environment, human rights, stuff like that rather than political candidates. But so much is at risk now, the whole identity of our country is being twisted.”

Whether art itself has any useful political function is open to debate, but Weaver was one of the first actors to address the 9/11 attacks on stage, in Anne Nelson’s acclaimed one-act play The Guys. Hollywood is only now digesting these painful subjects with films such as Flight 93 and World Trade Center.

“It really depends on the approach,” Weaver says, “but I think we actually have to make movies about all these things. Syriana is a fascinating movie because it deals directly with corporate greed. Perhaps we can illuminate more through art than we can through journalism at this stage. Certainly in America, where the media is very manipulated. There’s a wonderful documentary called Why We Fight, showing it’s really not Bush who got us into Iraq, but the whole corporate arms system. How we change that is a much bigger challenge.”

The obligatory question about whether Weaver will make another Alien film is met with the equally obligatory non-committal response. She admits that she has discussed the prospect with Ridley Scott, and a script for Alien 5 reportedly exists. All the same, she sounds doubtful.

“The creature has maxed out, probably,” Weaver shrugs. “There are aspects of the character that I miss playing, because you don’t see too many women characters like that. But all of us who participated have gotten so busy doing other things that I kind of doubt we’ll go back into space. But you never know.”

Weaver’s last outing to date as Ripley came in Alien Resurrection in 1997, which reportedly netted her $11 million. She pointedly did not see Paul Anderson’s pulp crossover bloodbath Alien vs Predator, though she was clearly affronted by what she heard about it. “It looked stupid,” she scowls, “and I heard the Predator wins, which is against the principle.”

Speaking of space, Weaver also shrugs off reports that she has booked a place on Richard Branson’s forthcoming Virgin Galactic service, scheduled to start in 2008. For a hefty six-figure fee, Branson is offering to blast passengers into low orbit to enjoy six minutes of weightlessness. “We’d be delighted to take Sigourney back to visit the aliens,” a Virgin spokesman was quoted as saying. “I actually read I was going to pay $100,000 to go on it,” Weaver laughs incredulously. “But I thought, if I’m invited, I’m invited! I’m a big admirer of his, I love Virgin Atlantic,but I don’t think I’m going to pay that kind of money for it.”

A pause, and a smile. “I have been to space so many times in my imagination,” Weaver says. “Will it live up to that?”

• Snowcake is on general release from Sept 8.