Alien star Sigourney Weaver: 'Donald Trump is scarier than any movie monster'

Alien star Sigourney Weaver has said Donald Trump is far more scary than any monster in her action films.

The actress, 66, shot to fame as Ripley in Ridley Scott's sci-fi franchise but said she is far more alarmed by the current Republican presidential candidate.

Arriving at the premiere of her new fantasy movie A Monster Calls at the BFI London Film Festival, she told the Press Association: "There are so many things I wish were a fantasy, like Donald Trump, but unfortunately they are real.

"I think all of us remember this from when we were children, we would retreat into our own world of a book or a story and I think this movie is such an amazing example of that, of how imagination can come to our rescue and help us see something in a new way."

Asked if Hillary Clinton's opponent was more frightening than anything on screen, the American star said: "Unfortunately, yes" and urged people to go to the polls.

She said: "Everyone should vote, we can't afford to take anything for granted and hopefully we will have a brilliant woman president."

In her new film, Weaver plays the grandmother of a young boy who imagines a huge tree monster, played by Liam Neeson, to help him deal with his mother's terminal illness.

Of her highly emotional scenes with The Theory Of Everything star Felicity Jones, who plays the mother, Weaver said: "We knew what we were getting into, we knew the emotional drain.

"It is tough to be in that world a lot and I'm not sure we ever left it , we were all away from home, working in Barcelona and that is what we were there to do, to tell that story."

The film is directed by J.A. Bayona, whose next project is the highly anticipated Jurassic World sequel.

The Spanish director promised: "It's going to be darker and scarier than the first one but I can't say much more.

"Chris Pratt is going to bring a lot of fun. Leave the the dark side to me."

A Monster Calls will be released in UK cinemas on January 6 2017.