Actress Sigourney Weaver says she and the team of the 1979 cult hit Alien are happy that the film still has an impact on audiences.

The 71-year-old actress had played the central role of Ellen Ripley in the iconic sci-fi series and is glad that director Ridley Scott's original 1979 sci-fi horror is still popular, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"I think all of us on 'Alien' are very pleased the film still resonates with people," Weaver said.

The Oscar-winning star revealed how she and the director wanted Ripley to be more than a damsel in distress.

She explained: "Ripley was written as a kind of everyperson, and it was unusual, then especially, not to have a woman go, 'Oh my goodness' (and be in distress). Ridley Scott did not want that, neither did I, and I think now we're so far from that in terms of women's strength and situation. We have a long way to go, but it's changing rapidly."

She also shared that she has little experience of working with CGI despite being popular in the sci-fi genre, thanks to her work in the Alien series and Avatar, as well as the supernatural comedy Ghostbusters.

"Actually, I've never worked in front of a green screen. I think I did one shot for 'Ghostbusters' a long time ago," she said.

"On 'Avatar', although we're clothed in costumes with little (motion-capture) buttons, the acting experience is very much the same. I think that's part of the actor's job when approaching these big projects that are all CGI - to be grounded and work very directly with your fellow actors as if it were a rehearsal for a play. So I feel like acting in these films has intensified my theatre roots in a way," she added.