Sam Neill Was One Of The Good Ones
I brushed up against Sam a few times, and it was always an utter pleasure.
Hi,
Sam Neill has passed away, and it sucks.
It sucks because Sam was one of the good ones. I knew this fact in my bones when I went to the movies for the first time in my life. It was 1993, I was 10, and we all know the film. The wonder and awe that Neill portrayed in Jurassic Park has never, ever left me. I try to hold onto that feeling in this life, even in the bad bits.
This is how I will always remember Sam Neill.
It strikes me that his passing also comes at a strange time, because we seem to be collectively thinking about and analysing death a lot lately – to the point where we're questioning which deaths are real, and which ones are not.
Every social media network is currently packed with people obsessively discussing the state of Mitch McConnell – a recent photo released after the senator "fell" has him looking more perky, alert and young than we've seen him in years. In a timeline where AI photos and videos are practically indistinguishable from reality (and Trump has made lying his entire personality) I'm not surprised at the debate.
And while many waited over the last few weeks for what felt like the impending news of McConnell's death, the seemingly healthy senator Lindsay Graham up and died himself. Graham was a big supporter of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, and a huge critic of LGBTQ+ rights. Upon hearing of Graham's death, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him a "Great American patriot".
I had other thoughts.
To be clear – this isn't the equivalent of wishing for someone's death. Rather, my genuine belief that the world at large is a better place with Lindsey Graham no longer in it. It's definitely better if you're Palestinian, or part of the LGBTQ+ community. Amusingly Zuru's Nick Mowbray saw my post about McConnell (who he appears to be a fan of – my essay "Shitheads Attract Other Shitheads" comes to mind) and decided to reply – seemingly puzzled at why my post had popped up on his feed.
Now I'm no detective, but I pointed out that maybe – just maybe – it was because he followed me.
If it feels like pollution or bad taste to be talking about Nick Mowbray, Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham in the same breath as Sam Neill – it's because it is. It's really fucking poor form from me.
And that's sort of my point.
Because Sam is not like the others. I know – I think we probably all do – that Sam was one of the good ones. Because while people talk shit about McConnell and fight about AI and reality, everyone else is talking about what a real one Sam Neill was. Actors, directors, friends, family, fans: No one has a bad word to say.
While the celebrity of it all plays into things, I think there are much bigger factors. He demonstrated a gentle type of masculinity that shone bright over the Tates and Claviculars, the Brad Pitts and Leonardo DiCaprios. He cared about other people, and the natural world around him. He wasn't at Bezos' wedding. Just months ago, he was fighting back against mining in Aotearoa. He loved his animals.
Like many New Zealanders, I was fortunate to run to Sam Neill a few times.
Back in the early 2010s, I used to run a movie club at a bar in Auckland, Aotearoa. When it came to screening my favourite film of all time, Jurassic Park, I took a gamble and asked him for a short introductory video. He was shooting overseas, with much better things to do. I was a nobody to him. But he sent me a video of him and his cast-mates pretending to be dinosaurs. He was fun and silly, and struck me as someone with absolutely no ego.
A few years later, Rhys Darby cast me as myself (well, as a slightly more self-serious version of a journalist) in his mockumentary series Short Poppies. I was stunned to find out that Sam Neill was going to be a guest star, and we would share a scene together. No lines were exchanged – but we occupied the same room in time and space, so that counts. Sam played a very serious beekeeper. The gag was that he only had one bee.
Our paths crossed again a few years later, when two New Zealand films got into Sundance: Tickled, and Taika Waititi's Hunt For The Wilderpeople. Somewhere in the middle of the excitement and chaos, both teams got a photo together.
Like with Short Poppies, I have to pinch myself that any of this actually happened. As for Sam, he just seemed happy to be there. He wasn't interested in the attention or celebrities in the crowds. From what I observed, he was mostly interested in making sure the kid in the group, Julian Dennison, was being looked after.
My last interaction with Sam took place on social media during Covid lockdown. I was doing a lot of solo walking in order to stay sane, visiting the swans and cygnets at a local park.
When the swans weren't attacking me (as they should with babies in tow), I found myself listening to their more mellow vocalisations. While doing this, I realised I'd heard these sounds before – back when I was 10, sitting in a cinema in Whangarei with my family: They were the sounds of a curious dilophosaurus, moments before all hell broke loose and it killed Denis Nedry.
I look a video at the time, and did some research. It turns out that yes, the creators of Jurassic Park did sample some swans. My hunch was right.
I set to work writing a Webworm piece about it, and ending up reaching out to Sam Neill in the process. Yes, because he was the star of my favourite film – but also because I knew he was a giant fan of waterfowl, and that one of his favourite ducks had just passed away.
I never published that piece – but when I heard the news about Sam Neill last night, I went to find it. And it was still there, and Sam was still a funny fucker.
"Swans are bastards," were Sam Neill's parting words to me. I tend to agree.
And I contend that the world was a much better place with him in it.
David.
PS: I intend to watch a lot of his work over the next few months. I'll cry a little, like I did this morning. Jurassic Park will be up first, of course. Hunt For The Wilderpeople. Possession. Dead Calm. His excellent doc series The Pacific: In the Wake of Captain Cook. Horror sci-fi masterpiece Event Horizon.
What are you going to be watching?
From The Webworm Archive: Jurassic Park
David Farrier
David Farrier
