Steven Spielberg spoke about Sam Neill in a tribute message. Saddened by the sudden death of the late Jurassic Park star, he called the actor “exceptionally collaborative” and said he would “never be forgotten.”
What did Steven Spielberg say about Sam Neill?
Steven recently spoke to Variety and paid his tribute to the late actor, Sam Neill, who passed away on Monday, 13 July.
In the statement, Spielberg stated, “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 also added, “Sam was exceptionally collaborative. 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 and Neill first worked together in the 1993 Jurassic Park movie. Recalling those days, the director stated, “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.”
Moreover, Colin Trevorrow, who directed Jurassic World Dominion (2022), which starred the late actor, paid tribute in an Instagram post, calling him a “deeply soulful and beautiful man.” It further read, “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.”
In 2022, Neill was diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, which is a type of blood cancer. However, it was revealed that he was cancer-free earlier this year. On Monday, his family shared the news of his passing, stating that his death was “sudden and unexpected. but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.”
