Sigourney Weaver has battled everything from aliens to ghosts over the course of her long and storied career, but in her newest film The Good House, she’s fighting her character’s own inner demons.
Weaver stars as Hildy Good, a New England real estate agent who struggles with alcoholism and the curveballs that life continues to throw her way. She tells ABC Audio that the film doesn’t shy away from how hard it is to realize that the thing you love is bad for you.
“[Hildy] says, ‘It takes me three drinks before I really start to feel like myself,’” Weaver says. “To give that up is hard.”
While Hildy seems to have everybody else figured out, Weaver asserts that same sort of awareness doesn’t apply to herself.
“Hildy knows everybody in this town. That’s the irony,” Weaver says. “There’s a rumor around town that she’s a witch – she’s a descendant of Sarah Good, one of the Salem witches – and there is something witchy about Hildy because she is so perceptive about people. Except about herself.”
Even still, Weaver says the film causes the audience to have great empathy for Hildy. She credits that compassion to the technique of having Hildy speak directly to the audience.
“She comes home, kicks off her shoes, lies back on her sofa and opens a bottle of forbidden Pinot Noir. And it’s when she turns to us – the audience – breaks that fourth wall, and says, ‘Well, this is what’s really going on, can I just tell you from my point of view what’s really happening here,’ she’s very good company,” Weaver says. “I think the more you know Hildy, the more you root for Hildy.”
The Good House releases in theaters on Friday.
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