Neill’s canine enactment

Sam Neill, 61, plays the title role of Edwardian clergyman the Dean in Paramount Pictures film Dean Spanley, which opens in UK cinemas on December 12. In a Guardian interview Neill discusses the film, his reputation in New Zealand as a “rabble-rousing leftie”, vineyards and the word ‘celebrity’. He seems a bit anxious about the premiere, and one of the first things he says about Dean Spanley is that he turned down the part three times. Hardly surprising, since it’s a role that requires him to literally howl at the moon – the Dean believes he was a cocker spaniel in a previous life. Neill appears genuinely concerned as to whether he has pulled it off. “I was very daunted by the part. I thought: ‘I can’t do this. I’m not the man for the job.’” I mention this a few days later to New Zealander Toa Fraser, the film’s director. “He’s a nervy bugger,” he replies. “He always gets like that.”