sigourney weaver in chappie

Well, it seems Sigourney Weaver has her director’s back, which in a way is refreshing nowadays after how often you hear about ego clashes on set between actors and their directors. It seems the Oscar nominated actress recently sat down with the folks at Collider to discuss her upcoming collaboration with Neil Blomkamp, ‘Alien 5,’ and she decided to share her opinions about one of Blomkamp’s past films (in which she also starred), and her disappointment in the criticisms against the film ‘Chappie‘:

In her own words:

“I’m astonished when I read the, ‘disappointing Chappie.’ If you’re expecting a big movie with huge special effects instead of this small movie about this robot who the inventor changes to be more of a human being than the human beings, then you realize that all of those reviews that said, ‘Well, there’s no special effects…’ It’s like … no. This is a very meaningful movie about a young robot who cares and feels, and is much more human. And they didn’t talk about any of the issues, they just talked about what it wasn’t…It’s like … dudes, think of what it is! See it without these expectations. A director is allowed to make all kinds of movies, right? Jim Cameron went on to make Avatar. And Chappie had to happen, because now he’s on to The Gone World and then Alien 5. Thank God he made Chappie! Chappie was the movie he needed to make. And I really love the movie, I love it. I love all the actors and everything.”

True, it can be difficult for someone involved in a movie to have a more subjective overall view of it, but she might have a point here as well. Blomkamp’s films may have been hit or miss over the years, but they do seem to have legitimate messages behind them, and they do not easily fit into genre stereotypes, which is why some critics may have been disappointed when they saw ‘Chappie,’ thinking it was going to be a kind of action-comedy.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Does Weaver have a leg to stand on when defending ‘Chappie?’ Share your opinion in the comments below!

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Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.