Sigourney Weaver tears up after Alien's role linked to rise of Kamala Harris

Sigourney Weaver teared up after her role in Alien was linked to the rise of Kamala Harris.

During a press conference at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, the actress and film producer became visibly emotional when a reporter linked her role in 1979's Alien to the rise of Vice President Harris.

The journalist praised Weaver for her performances as strong female characters, including her role in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic. She noted that the actress' work is "making it possible that a woman like Kamala Harris could become President of the United States".

Weaver, 74, responded with tears in her eyes, "We're all so excited about Kamala and to think for one moment that my work would have anything to do with her rise makes me very happy, actually, because it's true."

"I have so many women who come and thank me," she continued, before joking about her emotional reaction, "Sorry, I need my vodka."

The Avatar star went on to say that she thinks Hollywood is becoming more accommodating to older women.

"Suddenly, I think they had decided somehow that older women could actually play interesting characters and started writing a lot of older women characters," she stated. "Suddenly, we stopped being a joke and a mother-in-law, and we started to be real people because actually a lot of our audience are real people."

Weaver then explained why she so often plays strong, independent female characters.

"I'm always asked why I play strong women and I always think that's such a weird question because I just play women, and women are strong and women don't give up," the Ghostbusters actress said. "You know why? We can't. We have to do it."