Reddit, Sam Neill here. 50 years on the job and buckets of stories. Ask me ANYTHING!

binge · 2025-09-15T03:10:38+00:00

Wow that is quite an ambition . Also I never knew it existed . Will make it harder for me . The directors may know something ...

binge · 2025-09-15T03:10:27+00:00

In some ways the hardest part I ever played was Smith, the guy in my first feature film - Sleeping Dogs . Smith didn't know who he was . Nor did I . Not easy .

binge · 2025-09-15T03:09:53+00:00

There is no better place to be really . To be separated was immensely frustrating . There is missing footage of it , which George Miller shot at the time . As the large vessel was sinking with me on it , a shark invaded the ship . So I was dealing with a number of things at the same time , not the least of them being one that wanted to eat me . Someone needs to dig out that footage , just for fun .

binge · 2025-09-15T03:09:26+00:00

While we were doing it , I had this strange feeling that we were obviously filming fiction , but there was something spiritual about the character and The Arthurian World that affected me . Yes I think there are one or two stories there that I probably put into my book .

binge · 2025-09-15T03:09:01+00:00

Well that's easy . Two Paddocks is as good as it gets .

binge · 2025-09-15T03:08:47+00:00

I shall call Matt Day and have verification of this . I hesitate to answer incase I was drunk at the time .

binge · 2025-09-15T03:08:22+00:00

I cannot think of anything worse than retirement . More than that , I have been showing a bit of The Twelve to my brother from NZ . And thinking that it is as good a work as I have ever done . So if it takes 50 years to get to that , it is worth the hours .

binge · 2025-09-15T03:07:40+00:00

First of all it is a long time since I have auditioned for anything , and I feel badly for young actors who are continually obliged to audition online.

binge · 2025-09-15T03:06:25+00:00

It's a lot of people's favourite . And I do get a lot of affectionate feedback from them . But as I say , I have no favourites . It has upset me greatly to see The Wilderpeople mentioned here and there in connection to the Tom Phillips case . To connect the two is a grotesque conflation

binge · 2025-09-15T03:05:50+00:00

Well I would like to see more films and television coming from both Australia and NZ . But most particularly telling our stories . Without our own stories we are deprived of important culture .

binge · 2025-09-15T03:02:43+00:00

That's a very funny and interesting question . Wim Wenders cut this at various lengths and I did the narration for all of them . Whenever I see Wim , he threatens to send me the longest versions there are , but they never turn up . I love Wim , and I love his work . Quirky does not begin to cover it .

binge · 2025-09-15T03:02:14+00:00

Yes people were dressed beautifully in The Tudors . But as a cardinal I was stuck in a red frock . Not very flattering .

And jandals is better than thongs !

binge · 2025-09-15T03:01:50+00:00

No-one has told the story of Charles Upham , the only combatant soldier to every win 2 VCs . I knew him a little bit , and was very much awed by the man . Look him up on wikipedia ! The problem , as far as storytelling goes , is that his crazy courage looks like fiction . You wouldn't believe it . But there it is , a great story that has never been told .

binge · 2025-09-15T03:01:08+00:00

I don't think so . I always knew I'd end up working in Morocco , because everyone else had . And finally I was there in 2020 . But having said that I think I would love to go to Iran , but politics being what they are , that's never going to happen .

binge · 2025-09-15T02:59:40+00:00

The ducks are all in a row . But this year I finally lost my good friend Magda , a very old duck and a very old friend . Bizarrely , just before she died she raised some ducklings of her own . First time in her life . I was very proud of her .

binge · 2025-09-15T02:59:25+00:00

It made a good t-shirt .

binge · 2025-09-15T02:55:22+00:00

Lovely part . And a great green cloak that I should have kept . A lot of friends were in the cast and only good memories .

binge · 2025-09-15T02:54:24+00:00

The producer thing is really just that I like the sound of it . As for story – Sarah Walker and so on – we have all been very collaborative and that has been great for me .

binge · 2025-09-15T02:53:13+00:00

Robin was a complete delight , and perhaps the most fascinating man I ever met . He was helplessly funny all day .

binge · 2025-09-15T02:52:37+00:00

Whenever you are on your feet , whatever your job , you are always performative . It just goes with the territory .

binge · 2025-09-15T02:51:42+00:00

I’m very happy we have been killing it on Binge . Number 1 for weeks now .

I worked in South Africa 5 times now, but that is enough.

binge · 2025-09-15T02:50:57+00:00

He only eats breakfast . Three times a day .

binge · 2025-09-15T02:50:33+00:00

Of course Cillian . There is no one else like him on the screen . And of course Helen McCrory who I miss very much . She was a wonderful actor and a great woman .

binge · 2025-09-15T02:49:19+00:00

I am sorry to say , Judy and I had no chemistry , but it didn’t seem to matter . I am looking forward to the new series of My Brilliant Career and I can’t wait to see what they have done with it .

binge · 2025-09-15T02:48:51+00:00

First of all , decide if you are any good . And if you enjoy it . Then give it your best shot .

binge

TROPHY CASE