ALIEN

ALIEN begins as a story about a working crew on a commercial spaceship, but it becomes something else once Sigourney Weaver steps forward as Ripley. The lead was originally written without a fixed gender, and the cast initially reads as an ensemble. 

Weaver’s performance changed the trajectory of what a female lead could be in this kind of film. At a time when most roles of this scale went to men, ALIEN placed a woman at the centre of a film built on endurance, fear, and physical confrontation, and treated that as normal rather than exceptional.

This is the performance that made Sigourney Weaver an international figure. Everything that followed, the sequels, the status, the idea of the female action lead as something viable, can be traced back to this film.