{"id":801311,"date":"2026-07-14T12:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T12:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/801311\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T12:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T12:55:12","slug":"jane-campion-remembers-sam-neill-he-was-radiating-peace-beaming-love-sam-neill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/801311\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Campion remembers Sam Neill: \u2018He was radiating peace, beaming love\u2019 | Sam Neill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam. So effortlessly handsome, and that rare thing in New Zealand<\/a> and Australia: a movie star.<\/p>\n

My hands actually shook when I met him at a cafe in Vulcan Lane, Auckland, to discuss rehearsals. He had arrived, we all had, to start pre-production on The Piano<\/a>. He was to play the repressed and violent Stewart, the one who would chop off his wife\u2019s finger. Who but Sam could play that part, could surprise with that part?<\/p>\n

Holly Hunter & Sam Neill in The Piano. Photograph: Jan Chapman Productions\/Allstar<\/p>\n

Sam was kind, committed and supportive. He looked after me and actually everyone on the set. He stomped through mud, organised dinners, bossed me around at rushes and told me off if he thought I was letting the lighting get too dark. I loved him as Stewart. I can remember gasping as he pulled Holly [Hunter] out of his hut, into the streaming rain and mud, with a force I had not expected but at once realised the story needed. He already knew, Stewart\u2019s jealousy was terrifying.<\/p>\n

Sam and his then wife Noriko invited me to their Queenstown house one summer and showed me the intense beauty of New Zealand\u2019s deep south. It was the beginning of my family\u2019s love affair with the south \u2013 the lakes, the mountains, the beech forests.<\/p>\n

At the Cannes premiere of The Piano. Photograph: Pool BENAINOUS\/REGLAIN\/Gamma-Rapho\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

As time went on we sometimes confided in one another, shared our life stories, talked like girls and discussed prep for the end of life. Part of Sam\u2019s response to his cancer diagnosis was to write a brilliant, entertaining memoir<\/a> and he wanted me to check The Piano chapter. Turns out it was a lonely time for him, but he never showed it \u2013 except perhaps on screen.<\/p>\n

Jane Campion and Sam Neill at the London film festival premiere of The Power of the Dog, 2021. Photograph: Dave Benett\/Getty Images for Netflix<\/p>\n

I saw Sam at the beginning of this year with his partner Heather and my and his friend Griz. We stayed the night at his beautiful winery and celebrated what seemed like impossible good fortune; that he was cancer-free and could now imagine new chapters. At that time I was struck by a gentleness and peacefulness, a grace that was all about him.<\/p>\n

Then only a few months later he was suddenly in hospital at St Vincent\u2019s in Sydney. I dropped in with coffee and food. Rachel Ward was there too and we all joked and chatted. The sense of love in and around Sam had intensified. We didn\u2019t discuss illness, it seemed a waste of beautiful time.<\/p>\n

On the last occasion I saw Sam he was still in hospital. I brought him a little watercolour set from the Macquarie art school shop because he said time was hard to fill \u2026 he was thrilled to crack out a few dreamy sketches. We talked about the incredible Split Enz reunion concert that I had seen and he had followed on audio from his bed. Our goodbye was a kiss, followed by him thanking me for coming by, for taking the trouble. Did we know it would be the last time? I didn\u2019t think about it, I don\u2019t think he did either.<\/p>\n

In these last few months, each time I saw Sam, it was an intoxicating experience. He was radiating peace, beaming love. He didn\u2019t seem to care about anything. He was just gently, gracefully there \u2013 but now he isn\u2019t. Thank you for everything Sam. I miss you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam. So effortlessly handsome, and that rare thing in New Zealand and Australia: a movie star. My hands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-801311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}