In the hours following the announcement of Sam Neill’s death, the internet was flooded with remembrances typical for when a revered actor passes.
Tributes from Hollywood A-listers mourning their friend and co-worker, fans reminiscing over which of their roles was the finest, calls for privacy for their family and loved ones.
But something else permeated the chatter about Neill’s critically acclaimed films and blockbuster performances; the memories of Neill off-screen, his love and devotion for the environment and his refusal to back down in the face of bad politics.
In the bio description for his beloved Two Paddocks farm in New Zealand’s Otago, of which he was the proprietor, Neill said he’s in the “cheering up business” and “also seen acting on occasion”.
An appropriately humble summation of an artist who always put his humanity first.
Sam Neill looks over one of his vineyards scattered around Central Otago, the southernmost wine region in New Zealand. (Australian Story: Vanessa Gorman)
Acts of service
Neill’s filmography is bursting with star-making blockbuster roles which made the actor a household name; down-to-earth childhood love Harry Beechman in My Brilliant Career, an icy and cruel controlling spouse in Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning The Piano and, of course, Jurassic Park’s Dr Alan Grant — one of the most famous palaeontologists in cinema history.
But it was his more obscure performances that have allowed Neill to represent so many different things to the people who admired him.
While Neill was a self-described “goodie”, he didn’t back away from more revolting characters, claiming he wanted to find humanity in all of his roles. In fact, his first role in a US feature film was as the Antichrist himself, an adult version of Damien Thorn, in the third instalment of devilish child horror series The Omen.
“It’s ironic that, considering how warm, funny and charming he seemed in person, the first film I probably ever saw him in was ‘Omen III: The Final Conflict’,” British director Edgar Wright wrote in his tribute to Neill.
“But that’s indicative of his extraordinary versatility.”
Sam Neill’s performance as the literal Antichrist Damien Thorn in Omen III: The Final Conflict was one of his first starring US roles. (Supplied: IMDB)
Neill would find himself back in the horror realm a number of times, playing everything from a ruthless business man/vampire in Daybreakers to a heartbroken Baron in 1997’s Snow White: A Tale of Terror, to bringing Australian representation in sci-fi/horror classic Event Horizon.
As Australian ship designer Dr Billy Weir, Neill requested the flag patch on his character’s uniform replace the Union Jack with the Aboriginal flag after he considered what the Australian flag might look like in 2047.
“My response was, ‘there would be no way that a Union Jack would still be on that flag’,” he told NITV.
“It seemed to me that Australians would have sufficient generosity and common sense to replace that Union Jack with an acknowledgement of Indigenous settlement — always was, always will be — for at least 60,000 years.”
Even when Neill’s ultra-recognisable face (although the actor claims he had to overcome the “ordinariness” of his appearance) was hidden behind animation, the actor still turned in blockbuster-level performances.
In 1994, Neill parlayed his Jurassic Park fame into a guest role during The Simpson’s fifth season, voicing slick cat burglar Molloy (no spoiler warning for a 32-year-old episode). A self-admitted mega-fan, Neill said the best part of the experience was the swag.
“T-shirts and golf balls and shampoo and comics — and a leather jacket that has all the characters embroidered on it,” he said in 2001.
“I can’t bring myself to wear it. But I like it being in my cupboard.”
Neill’s dulcet tones would regularly pop up in animated fare; he would be a penguin in The Magic Pudding, an owl in Zack Snyder’s Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, a quokka in Daisy Quokka: World’s Scariest Animal or a disgusting alien leader in terminally online Adult Swim cartoon Rick and Morty.
When pressed on how he managed to successfully embody such a breadth of characters and tones, Neill’s answer was simple.
“As an actor, you’re there to serve … you’re there to serve the script, you’re there to serve the director, you’re there to serve the story,” he told ABC’s Australian Story in 2020.
“And I like the idea of service.”
An unlikely social media star
Stuck in self-isolation when filming for Jurassic World: Dominion was stalled at the first reports of the COVID-19 pandemic, Neill once again turned to service the only way he knew how — by entertaining.
A week after the World Health Organization officially classified a global pandemic, Neill was posting vignettes to his social media accounts about his freshly laundered shoes — giving them a self-congratulatory sniff to the delight of his hundreds of thousands of followers.
His early COVID videos also featured Radiohead sing-a-longs, live readings of AA Milne, discussions about his back catalogue and more than a couple of gnome videos, with most including Neill calling for calm and for people to check in (virtually) with loved ones.
“Human contact is everything. We are social beings. These devices and [technologies] are incredible in the time of self-isolation, they really are,” Neill said of his pivot into social media stardom.
As lockdowns stretched beyond what was imagined, Neill expanded his COVID series, creating Cinema Quarantino, a string of lo-fi short films featuring famous friends such as Helena Bonham Carter, Hugo Weaving and Rachel House.
Categorised by his family and friends as generally “shy and retiring”, Neill picked up the role of COVID pandemic dad simply because he felt he had to.
“I realised people were very frightened and alarmed and isolated. And I thought, you know, if I can cheer up one person, that’s probably not a bad ambition,” he told Women’s Weekly in 2021.
“But mostly I was just sort of entertaining myself. I’m easily bored.”
Make some noise (and when you can’t, cuddle a duck)
While Neill appreciated and loved his film career (although he didn’t have much time for the concept of celebrity), he equally loved his career as a wine-maker and was a fierce protector of the environment.
Sam Neill with his pet pig on his property in Otago, New Zealand. (Supplied: X/ @TwoPaddocks)
Most recently, Neill lent his voice and gravitas to the Wine not Mine collective which aims to stop Australian mining company Santana Minerals’ expedited and controversial open-cast goldmine just kilometres away from vineyards that are part of Neill’s Two Paddocks farm in New Zealand’s lush Dunstan Mountains.
“I’m not against mining. I’m against this mine,” Neill told The Guardian in April.
“If this mine goes ahead — and God willing it won’t — everything that you see [there] is under a claim [by the mining company]. And there will be mining all around us, and that’ll be the end.”
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Neill’s push against the mine was so fierce it attracted comments from New Zealand Minister for Resources Shane Jones, who accused Neill of being “wrong and anti-Kiwi”.
The actor has also used his high profile to show support for other social issues. In a 2016 interview with Today, Neill expressed his incredulousness at the Australian government’s resistance to write same-sex marriage into law.
“It’s such a small issue — 64 per cent of Australians are for marriage equality, most politicians are for marriage equality, and I don’t think it’s any business of anyone’s who should get married and who shouldn’t,” he said.
“So why don’t they just get up and pass the bill? What’s the matter with this constipated Parliament?”
Neill had also commented he was “bitterly disappointed” that the 2023 referendum on establishing an Indigenous Voice to Parliament returned a No vote.
In the wake of the 78-year-old’s death, many fans have been sharing Neill’s poetic advice for dealing with an unjust society.
“When the world seems close to pear shaped, when leaders fill you with despair, when things look dark and dreary and love seems far too rare — CUDDLE A DUCK.”
