Sam Neill Locked in the Kitchen

New Zealand actor Sam Neill talks to the UK’s Observer about shunning fame, putting his latest movie on hold, online cooking … and playing Radiohead’s Creep on the ukulele.

Neill, star of Jurassic Park, The Piano and Peaky Blinders, is one of the best known screen faces of the last 30 years. Yet the actor finds the idea of fame ridiculous and spends much of his time now laughing at celebrity culture, he told the Observer.

The actor and his latest team of Jurassic co-stars were due to start filming in England on Jurassic World III this month, until the pandemic struck, but he said there is still hope that some work can resume in July.

“I should be going into Pinewood at 6am. All the sets are there, waiting,” Neill, 72, said.

Instead, Neill has come to unexpected prominence during the last few months with a series of quirky solo ukulele performances that he has uploaded from his home of well-known yet unlikely tunes, such as the Bruno Mars hit Uptown Funk and Radiohead’s Creep.

“I have always found social media quite involving, and so I’ve been taking the mickey out of myself recently on Twitter and Instagram. It is an amazing diversion,” he said.

A wine enthusiast, he has also hosted wine-tasting and cooking sessions online.

Original article by Vanessa Thorpe, The Observer, May 23, 2020.

Photo by @samneilltheprop/Instagram.