I interviewed Sam Neill in 2024. He was even more charming than I’d expected

The actor, who has died aged 78, was refreshingly candid about Hollywood, filmmaking, his cancer treatment – and why he preferred life on his New Zealand farm to the movie business

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• A life in pictures

• ‘A true gentleman’: actors, directors and leaders pay tribute to Sam Neill

• Obituary

• Neill interviewed in 2023, 2024 and 2026

I interviewed Sam Neill in 2024, remotely: he was in Vancouver filming a Netflix series, Untamed, but we were there to talk about a quirky Australian court-room drama, The Twelve. He was immediately, disarmingly frank. Its second season, he said, was “considerably stronger” than the first, which was absolutely true, the first being a little schlocky, and the second showing more trust in its audience and our tolerance for nuance.

But actors, generally speaking, will never say anything remotely critical of any project, it’s just not worth the hassle. This can make even the most reflective among them sound anodyne, and the feeling of being in a conversation with a real, three-dimensional human was unfamiliar and warm.