In Memoriam: Sir Sam Neill, 1947–2026
FANZA joins the arts communities of Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, the UK and beyond in mourning the loss of Sam Neill, who died on 13 July in Sydney at the age of 78. A cherished FANZA Arts Patron and Ambassador, the New Zealand actor was more than a screen legend - he was living proof of the deep, generous creative bond that runs between our nations.
Born in Northern Ireland and raised in New Zealand, Sam belonged fully to both sides of the Tasman. He built a career of extraordinary range, but never lost sight of the local stories and filmmakers who first shaped him. To global audiences he will forever be Dr. Alan Grant, the reluctant paleontologist at the heart of Jurassic Park - but those closer to home knew a far richer catalogue.
It was Australia that gave Sam his breakthrough, as the dashing Harry Beecham opposite Judy Davis in Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career (1979), a landmark of the Australian New Wave. He returned to Antipodean cinema again and again: as the conflicted Alisdair Stewart in Jane Campion's Palme d'Or-winning The Piano (1993), and in Rob Sitch's beloved The Dish (2000), a film that captured a certain warm, self-deprecating national character that Sam embodied so effortlessly.
Above all, Sam championed New Zealand storytelling. His turn as the gruff, grieving "Uncle" Hec in Taika Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) is among the most treasured performances in Kiwi cinema - a masterclass in gentle comic timing giving way to real tenderness. Off screen, his advocacy ran just as deep: through his winery in Central Otago - where he felt truly at home - his environmental campaigning, and his tireless mentorship of emerging talent, Sam gave back to the land and the industry that raised him.
Marking the moment: Hunt for the Wilderpeople 4K cinema re-release and retrospective
Picturehouse Central, London will screen a 10th-anniversary 4K restoration of Hunt for the Wilderpeople on 30 July - a chance to gather and celebrate one of Sam's finest hours on the big screen along with a Q&A with writer-director Taika Waititi. The film will then be re-released across several cinemas in the UK from 7 August. We can think of no better way to honour him than in a full cinema, laughing and weeping alongside Hec and Ricky Baker one more time.
Ka kite anō, Sam. Wry, dry, and endlessly kind, you leave the screen a little emptier and both your homelands a great deal richer for having claimed you.
The FANZA team.