This is a collection of two of Sam Neill‘s interviews with Radio Times. They were first published in Radio Times magazine in 2016 and 2022.
The return of Jurassic World, cameos in the Thor movies and now a new streaming series… you’re bossing popular culture at 75.
That’s so nice of you to say, but I do find myself using odd phrases like, “What are the young up to these days?” and passing old-fart comments like, “Well, the music was much better in my day.” It used to drive me mad when I heard it from my father, but I’m turning more and more into him. It’s 45 years since I made my first feature film, which seems an unthinkably long time ago.
Has much changed in that time?
Televisions! When I’m at home on the farm in New Zealand, I watch on a nice big screen and think we’re so lucky. I remember the first television set that my father ever bought, a huge thing, the size of an Edwardian dresser. The screen was probably about 12in by 9in and the picture rolled as my father would fiddle and curse. There was an old aerial at the top of it. Now we’ve got these things that, if you sit at the right distance, it’s like being in a cinema. I find that extraordinary and the sound is beautiful.
Do you surround yourself with souvenirs of a long and successful career?
I don’t have things that would indicate I act. There is one award – it’s quite heavy and stops the door from slamming in a wind. And a photo of me taken when I was Reilly, Ace of Spies – but that’s because it’s by Lord Snowdon.
No animatronic dinosaur heads?
I have got my boots from the first Jurassic Park. I held on to them for no good reason. Then Laura Dern told me that she sold her boots for a lot of money for charity. So I thought, well, if she can then I can – so that’s what’s happening to them.
What are you watching now?
I really loved that last season of The White Lotus. Gary Oldman is terrific in Slow Horses and I really liked Babylon Berlin and Shtisel. I’m actually enjoying what’s going on with television at the moment – all these long-form binge-y things, like The Twelve.
The Twelve is a courtroom drama partly about women being judged unfairly. Is that what happened to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern?
Yes, and I’m very sad. In fact, I’m gutted about Jacinda Ardern leaving the scene, but I completely understand why she would do. She went from hero to zero in about two years and it made me realise that misogyny, sexism, are everywhere. I am baffled by that and disturbed by it. It was very disturbing in New Zealand.
You play a defence barrister in The Twelve. Are you more conscious now of the wider social and even political implications when you pick parts?
You’re being rather flattering there. I’d like to think I was that sort of profound thinker, but I suspect I’m really not. It’s interesting when these things surface that are contemporary like that. It’s actually very rare that those sort of issues are dealt with in a dramatic and interesting way, in the way they’re handled in The Twelve.
What’s your favourite movie?
It takes a lot to persuade me to go to the movies, but I absolutely loved The Banshees of Inisherin.
Favourite hobby?
I like collecting good photography. I have a Henri Cartier-Bresson print of a pair of rather gorgeous legs.
Is it time to slow down and spend more time in your vineyards?
I love going home and I love spending time with my vines and my pets, but the idea that I’d never work again is absolutely abhorrent. I love what I do and I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to do it for so long. I have a project I can’t tell you about. The idea of retirement is a complete anathema to me.
Do any of your own performances stick out for you?
When it comes to television, Peaky Blinders was a big highlight for me. It was a rare chance to play a really graphic character. I enjoyed that immensely and I’m very grateful for that opportunity. I’m very fond of Cillian [Murphy] and working opposite him was a privilege. It was great.
Do you always watch highbrow dramas, or are there some guilty pleasures in there as well?
I love guilty pleasures. On a wet afternoon, stuck in a hotel, I can normally find a Come Dine with Me. I find it both appalling and absolutely hilarious. Another thing that’s jaw-droppingly terrible is a Dutch thing called Adam Looking for Eve. It’s a dating game show set on a remote island and everyone’s naked. It is brilliantly poor taste in every possible direction.
If you love reality shows like that, you could always find yourself on a celebrity version…
I abhor anything that’s got “celebrity” in the title – I’d sooner get the flu.
What about radio?
I think Radio 4 is the best in the world, followed very closely by the ABC in Australia, and Radio New Zealand. And it’s no coincidence that all three are state broadcasters. They report in depth on these times, which are rather too interesting.
Interesting in the UK or internationally?
The UK and the US. We seem to be in a slightly chaotic corner of history and you need intelligent radio to make sense of a lot of it. Especially given there are still two or three decent newspapers in England, and there’s The New York Times, but everywhere else, newspapers have been absolutely disembowelled.
Are you a voracious news consumer?
I think we all need to be. How to say this? Democracy is all well and good, but people can make very bad decisions en masse without the benefit of good information. Does that sound diplomatic enough? Long live the BBC, is what I’m saying.
Would you like to do more British television?
I’d love to do more. In Peaky Blinders I had as great a character as I could possibly dream to play. I’d sooner not have left the series, but I understand why – Chester Campbell had become so horrible that he had to die. I’ve also got Tutankhamun coming out on ITV soon. I enjoyed making it.
You were born in Northern Ireland, your mother was English and your father a New Zealander. Which do you feel more keenly?
I suppose I’m mainly antipodean, especially in terms of humour. If you don’t develop a finely honed sense of self-deprecation you go down in flames here. When I feel buttoned-up, perhaps that’s my Brit coming out. And I have the Irish affinity for the surreal and the absurd.
