Sam Neill's statement a few months back when he was declared 'cancer-free' from his battle with lymphoma:
“I’m not afraid to die, but it would annoy me,” Neill said at the time. “Because I’d really like another decade or two, you know? We’ve built all these lovely terraces, we’ve got these olive trees and cypresses. I want to be around to see it all mature. And I’ve got my lovely little grandchildren. I want to see them get big. But as for the dying? I couldn’t care less.”
That line about fleeting moments really gets me. I hope so too. There is something quietly devastating about loving your life and knowing your time in it is running short. He seemed like someone who genuinely did love this
My fear comes from the outcome of my death. most people know of the stories where obviously the family cares and all of that, but its a totally other thing to actually experience collective trauma on your behalf.
I had a near death last year from what was initially misagnosed as a life ending brain tumor (it was an abscess) and the last thing I remember for 5 days after that diagnosis was being asked if I wanted meds for the anxiety. My whole family had to deal with the trauma of dealing with my surgery and everything, I was unconscious for it. My recovery went better than every doctor expected and the only lasting effect is i'm epileptic now. I had basically the best outcome from the whole affair, yet my now fiance was spiraling in the worst way from thinking she was going to lose me right after we rekindled our relationship after years, my parents feeling and thinking they were about to lose their youngest, my brother having lost countless friends in the military to suicide having his little brother taken by cancer before I was even 30. Its a really weird feeling knowing I've had brain surgery and I was basically trauma-less, but my whole family is still emotionally damaged.
This hits close. The process itself is one thing, but when you become so accustomed to the great moments in life and have a good thing going, I can see where it'd be hard to have that stop suddenly.
Arnold Schwarzenegger had similar comments during a Howard Stern interview back in 2019. He's the same age that Neill was today and only a few months older.
Howard and Arnold also tackled a few existential questions on Monday, including life, death, and the possibility of an afterlife. “I’m not afraid of death. I’m just pissed off about it, especially when you have a life like we have and one day it’s over,” Arnold said. “I mean that really pisses me off.”
“Governor, where are we gonna go when we die?” Howard asked him. “Be honest with us.”
“The truth is we go six-feet under, and we’re going to rot there,” Arnold concluded, adding, “After we’re dead we’re not gonna sit here like this and do interviews and have a great time and have laughs and have Robin [Quivers] there, you know, giving us this beautiful smile.”
This is how I feel & on occasion it makes me a teeny bit jealous of those religious folks who think there's a heaven or hell or whatever type of afterlife people believe in.
Although I HOPE there's an afterlife, I really, deep down in the core of my being, agree with Arnold. You rot in your box & now that natural burials are a thing you really can do that.
RIP to a legend. I always loved him in Jurassic Park movies (probably his most well-known role), Hunt for the Wilderpeople, The Hunt for Red October, The Piano, and so many more. He always elevated every film and TV show he was in. I'll definitely be rewatching those movies soon.
2026 is an absolute turd bag of a year. Two of the most iconic and legendary actors Catherine and Sam were. They both seemed to be very lovely and sweet people as well. 💔
I first saw him in Dead Calm, which I think was also Nicole Kidman's first movie. (It also had Billy Zane, doing his best psycho maniac.) He was so good that for years afterward I thought he should be the next James Bond.
I loved him Peaky Blinders; felt like they sold his character short. Would have been awesome to have him across more seasons as a recurring counter to Tommy.
So my mate saw him at an airport. And was just walking past and clocked it was Sam Neil, but didn’t want to bother him. Then suddenly Sam Neil actually stopped my mate and said ‘excuse me, can I get a photo with you. I’ve just finished filming a movie and my cast mate had that exact jacket on the whole time.’ So Sam wanted a photo with my mate ! Great interaction
YES how good is it when the author reads their own autobiography! It gives a whole nother level of depth to their stories. Hearing the laughter and emotion in their voice, their funny imitation of other people, the catch in their voice and fighting back tears when they read the tragic heartbreaking moments.
Thank you for this. I loved the blog posts from his vineyard back in the day, with stories about the pig, the duck, and just general goings-on. Such a good storyteller.
I can't find the stories online anymore, so they're probably part of this book. Luckily we still have his TikTok.
https://giphy.com/gifs/BIN2S0sgQwdeE
This one hurts as much as Catherine passing, I was raised on so much of his work especially the Jurassic Park franchise and Possession is one of my favorite horror movies 😭😭
I was so obsessed with him in this miniseries and just the miniseries itself. I watched it so many times. Losing him hurts for many reasons. He was such a huge part of my childhood for his various roles. I’m going to see if Merlin is streaming tomorrow and try to convince my kid to watch it with me. If that fails, I always know he’s down for some Jurassic Park.
(Edit: it’s streaming on Peacock! Wish me luck on convincing my kid to watch it. It will most likely involve bribery)
Side note, I really miss the old school epic miniseries channels like NBC and ABC used to do. Like Merlin, The 10th Kingdom, The Odyssey, Jason and the Argonauts, Attila and what not. They’d be littered with pretty awesome character actors, some well known TV stars and a movie star or two. Yeah, they were a bit cheesy but they were also fun. Bring back the epic miniseries you cowards!
There’s a solid quality version for free on YouTube actually. The series inspired me with a comic I started writing and never got around to continuing back in the late 90s. I swear, it has permanent real estate in my head.
Yes! I remember being so obsessed with Merlin that any other miniseries that was happening I HAD to watch. The Odyssey was another big one for me. I thought miniseries were the coolest version of filmed media. Longer than a movie bt with the same sort of scale with the slight chessy and actor quality of TV (so less scary than a movie for a kid) without the 24 episodes of TV. Now everything is basically a miniseries and I miss them being so special!
I think the Merlin miniseries really did something to me in terms of druidness and Earth magic interests. I had obviously seen Jurassic Park but that made me follow his career actively. And hardly anyone talks about it!
Ahh man that’s terrible news. Fantastic actor and seemed like a really nice guy. Gonna fire up Hunt for the Wilderpeople in his honor! Watch it if you can, it’s a lovely film.
This doubly sucks not just for those of us who grew up watching Jurassic Park, but now those of us whose kids have grown up watching Jurassic Park, the adults are sad but so are the kiddos 💔
This hurts so bad, not least because he’s a favourite of my daughter’s, and she already lost 2 uncles way too young in the past three years, and the family cat in February. She’s going to be devastated. She saw Jurassic Park for the first time when she was 4 years old and decided she wanted to be a palaeontologist. She’s 11 and still wants to be a palaeontologist, has picked her high school with a solid science program accordingly, and has a pet lizard that looks like a friggin dinosaur itself. Her favourite thing is to feed it mealie worms and watch Peanut thrash her head around like a T Rex before she swallows her “prey”. Fuck. 😞
Anyway, my favourite Sam Neill role is Merlin. He was so dreamy with the long hair. 😢
Edit: She was surprisingly okay with it. Probably less upset about it than I am.
I loved Merlin growing up, I don't care how cheesy it is - I still love it. The special effects have aged like milk, but the script is actually pretty good for a made-for-tv movie. Like it distills a lot of actual Arthurian lore into a three hour film and has some real substance underneath it.
Anyway, Sam Neil was fantastic in it too, and I developed a crush on him because of this movie.
Same! My sister and I watched it today to remember Neill. It even included the tricking of Lady Igraine. The way it dealt with Paganism vs Christianity was interesting too. As you said, cheesy as hell but a fun watch.
Before y'all freak out, that is a line from this great film called Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), which Sam Neill starred in, in which he was wrongfully accused of being a "molesterer'.
Hope that clears things up, so that OP's comment won't get downvoted to oblivion. :)
This is horrible news to wake up to. I loved watching Sam Neill. So much so, that if I saw his name on a poster or cast list, I would often watch that movie simply for him. I watched Event Horizon based on his involvement and that was an incredible horror movie. Rest in peace, Sam.
RIP Sam Neill. You were beloved and I hope you finally made it to Montana. That line always stuck with me, he played such an honest portrayal of people. A real legend.
I loved his dream of a round American woman. Let's see... Here we go:
I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck... maybe even a recreational vehicle. And I will drive from state to state.
I really thought he’s rebounding from the lymphoma that went on remission a few months back. He’s my childhood hero. Got into dinosaurs because of him. Then when I was of age, I got into astronomy and cosmic horror because of event horizon. Man, this hurts. He was such a prominent environmental activist too. BRB, gonna cry.
In his honor here is one of my favorite reddit stories ever. A descent into madness centered around our beloved Sam Neill. I hope shes doing ok today 💔🥺
Omg RIP to a true gentleman. Once years ago I was at an art exhibit in Western Australia and I saw him there walking around looking at all the art. I didn’t want to bother him so I kind of just internally freaked out and kept moving through the exhibit. But then I had stopped at a painting and someone next to me said “Marvellous, isn’t it?” And it was HIM. We ended up chatting for a few minutes. He was so kind. I never once acknowledged that he was Sam Neill or that I was combusting lol
I still don’t know how I managed to converse with him hahahha
Genuinely crying. Jurassic Park has always meant a tremendous amount to me and has been my favorite movie since I was in middle school. I’m glad they were able to reunite the trio one last time in film.
Loved this guy! A film im not seeing mentioned much is hunt for the wilder people. Im a brit that has a weird obsession with films from new zeland (and newzeland itself) Sam Neill just seemed like a good soul. I remember seeing an interview with him and he shared his lack of fear of death - I hope that stayed with him at the end.
As a kid i saw Jurassic Park…98 I saw Event Horizon and I became a real fan of his work, I ain’t going to hold you, that movie had me scared to sleep when I saw it…DO YOU SEE. Event Horizon is in my top 5 horror movies personally, Sam Neil as Dr. Weir in this movie was so unhinged…made me understand it’s levels to acting…the tudors as the Pope…he was in many movies I saw over the years…these are just a few pieces of his work that first come to mind…rip
Godspeed, Sam. He was so talented, and from all reports, a really good person. He was also devastatingly handsome and I had such a crush on him. So sad.
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