Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor who has died aged 78, was remembered by Guardian writer Zoe Williams for his warmth and candour during a 2024 interview conducted remotely while he was filming the Netflix series Untamed in Vancouver. The interview, ostensibly about the Australian courtroom drama The Twelve, revealed an actor unusually willing to speak frankly about his own work, in contrast to the guarded diplomacy typical of most actors, and this frankness had been sharpened by his recent treatment for angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, which had also prompted him to write his memoir.

Neill's career spanned decades, from his 1976 breakout Sleeping Dogs, the first New Zealand film to get a US release, through an arthouse period in the late 1970s including My Brilliant Career and Possession, to Hollywood hits such as Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October and Jurassic Park. Despite this success, he never wanted to relocate to Hollywood permanently, finding it stifling and unsuitable for raising his children, Tim and Elena, and instead split his life between acting and running a farm and vineyard in New Zealand. He named Possession as the film he was proudest of, praising co-star Isabelle Adjani, while The Piano was cited as his most impactful independent film.