Steven Spielberg has paid tribute to his “Jurassic Park” star Sam Neill, who died on Monday at the age of 78.
In a statement to Variety, the director said he was “saddened” by the news of Neill’s death. “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in ‘Jurassic Park,’” he continued, referencing Neill’s earlier movies “Sleeping Dogs” (1977), “My Brilliant Career” (1979), “The Final Conflict” (1981) and “Dead Calm” (1989).
“Sam was exceptionally collaborative,” Spielberg said. “It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children.”
Spielberg concluded his statement by saying: “I adored making all the ‘Jurassic’ movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our ‘Jurassic’ family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in “Jurassic Park” (1993) as well as follow-ups “Jurassic Park III” (2001) and “Jurassic World Dominion” (2022), was diagnosed in 2022 with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a form of blood cancer. However, earlier this year he revealed he was cancer free.
In a statement on Monday, Neill’s family said that his death was “sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.”
“Jurassic World Dominion” director Colin Trevorrow also honored the actor in an Instagram post, writing: “Sam Neill was a deeply soulful and beautiful man. He was a friend and collaborator at a challenging time, and his strength gave us all strength. 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. Forever grateful.”
Besides his work in the “Jurassic Park” franchise, highlights from Neill’s five-decade career include films like cult classic “Possession” (1981), spy thriller “The Hunt for Red October” alongside Sean Connery (1990) and Jane Campion’s Oscar darling “The Piano” (1993), as well as series “Reilly, Ace of Spies” (1983), “Merlin” (1998), “The Tudors” (2007) and “Peaky Blinders” (2013-14).
(Pictured above, from left to right: Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Steven Spielberg on the set of “Jurassic Park.”)
