Neill starred as the film’s antagonist, Alisdair Stewart, a colonial settler who enters an arranged marriage with mute Scottish immigrant and pianist Ada McGrath (played by Holly Hunter).
Dame Jane Campion pictured with Sir Sam Neill during the Cannes Film Festival presentation of her film The Piano in May 1993. Photo / Getty Images
The Piano received rave reviews and a flood of accolades, including three Oscars and a Golden Globe, with Campion becoming the first woman to receive the Cannes Film Festival’s coveted Palme d’Or in 1993.
Aside from being “effortlessly handsome”, Campion said Neill was one of the few big movie stars to come out of New Zealand and Australia.
Despite this, she found him considerate and supportive, looking after her and others on set as he took on the jarring role of Stewart.
“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,” Campion said.
“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’s jealousy was terrifying.”
Sir Sam Neill as Alisdair Stewart in Dame Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning film The Piano (1993).
Campion recalled later visiting Neill and his then-wife, Japanese makeup artist Noriko Watanabe, at their Queenstown home to see the “intense beauty” of Central Otago and the surrounding regions.
She said the visit marked the beginning of her own family’s infatuation with the deep south.
“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’s response to his cancer diagnosis was to write a brilliant, entertaining memoir and he wanted me to check The Piano chapter.
“Turns out it was a lonely time for him, but he never showed it – except perhaps on screen.”
Campion said she saw Neill at several points this year, beginning with a stay at his Two Paddocks winery to celebrate him being cancer-free and the renewed outlook on his future.
Dame Jane Campion and Sir Sam Neill at the AMEX Gala Party for Campion’s film, The Power of the Dog, in London, 2021. Photo / Getty Images
“At that time I was struck by a gentleness and peacefulness, a grace that was all about him,” Campion said.
“Then only a few months later he was suddenly in hospital at St Vincent’s 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’t discuss illness, it seemed a waste of beautiful time.”
On her last visit to Neill in hospital, Campion said she brought a watercolour set to fill his time with painting and sketches, while they talked about her time at the Split Enz reunion concert, which Neill had followed 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’t think about it, I don’t think he did either.”
Each time Campion visited Neill recently had been “an intoxicating experience”, she said, with the actor appearing at peace and full of love.
“He didn’t seem to care about anything. He was just gently, gracefully there – but now he isn’t.“
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