Sir Ian Mune: Award-winning Actor and Director pays tribute to the late Sir Sam Neill

The world is mourning Sir Sam Neill – a Kiwi icon who's career spanned more than five decades. 

The 78-year-old died suddenly in a Sydney hospital after revealing earlier this year he was cancer-free.  

Neill has more than 150 acting credits to his name, including Jurassic Park, The Piano, and Peaky Blinders. 

Award-winning actor and director Sir Ian Mune told Mike Hosking their friendship goes back more than 50 years.  

He says Neill hated being seen to act, and that was part of the appeal – whenever someone went to see his films, they knew they were getting the truth. 

Mune told Hosking that Neill had a wicked sense of humour and never cracked a smile, so you had to really pay attention to know if he was insulting you, complimenting you, or just making a joke. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The passing dives for Sam Neil seemed to come out
of the blue last night, given he had declared himself,
of course, cancer free, just recently from Sleeping Dogs did
Jurassic Park. A lot of box office in between. One
of the country's great acting exports that Ian mune is
with us Ian morning to.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
You, Good morning there.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
When did you last see him?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
A couple of months ago? We had dinner when I
took him for a lift back to his hotel after
dinner and I let up the smoke in the car.
Sam was amazed. He said, I haven't seen anybody smoking
a car for years. He never smoked himself, but he

(00:42):
did on that occasion, simply to celebrate my smoking in
my own car.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Fair enough to say you would go back? I mean,
I'm guessing, but you'd go back what fifty years?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh yeah, yep, fifty plucks.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
And when you met him first, what was it for?
Was it?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
I had met him Dan Wellington, He was at the
National Film Unit making documentaries and then Roger cast him
in Sleeping Dogs and I learned an awfully lot working
with Sam. I thought he was showing no emotion and

(01:24):
I thought that day he's pretty but God, a pit
of performance, please. And I watched him in one scene
where he is sitting on the bed in his motel
room and he's expected to press the alarm at midnight
so that the rebels can come in and murder all
the American.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Soldiers, and he doesn't want to do it.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
He hates murder and violence. And then he decides and
he does. He gets up and he hits the alarm button.
And I watched him do that scene and thought, well,
come on, sam I couldn't see anything. But the next
day I looked at the Russias totally different on screen.

(02:11):
I saw him change his mind, which I didn't see
in life.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Easy to say, easy to see with benefit of hindsight.
But at that time, did you see he was going
places that there was a talent here?

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (02:26):
God? Yes, oh ye. He hated performance, He hated being
seen to act, and it was part of his appeal.
Whenever anybody went to see a Samuel film, they knew
they were getting the truth.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Everyone speaks well of them. There's not a I mean,
he just seems like a genuinely nice guy. Everybody genuinely liked,
if not loved him.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, pretty much.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
He had a wicked sense of humor, and he never
cracked a smile, so he had to really pay attention
to know whether he was insulting you, complimenting you, or
just making a joke.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Great insight, Sirien, appreciate time very much, Surien Mune. In
the American media this morning, they referred to him as Jurassic.
Of course in the UK it's a peaky blinder story
and of course sleeping dogs and will be people, I
guess from this part of the world. Tony Collette, I
love you ds Sam, you hero, you legend, you sweetheart,
are great friend. You are already missed so very much,

(03:34):
which is good. Ari Grant Richard E. Grant guided and
helped me through a very difficult time in my life
as an officer and a gentleman in the truest sense.
And Colin trevorro who was a director in Jurassic. I'll
remember him for his tranquility, his love of wine, and
for the calm, assuredness he brought to his characters. It's
not every lifetime you get to befriend a legend.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
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