Kiwi actor Sir Sam Neill tears up after question from young journalism student

Kiwi actor Sir Sam Neill unexpectedly broke down in tears over a question posed to him by a young journalism student.

The star, 76 – who has had leading roles in blockbuster films and TV shows including Jurassic Park, Peaky Binders and Bicentennial Man – was the surprise guest during the premiere of ABC’s new series The Assembly, hosted by Leigh Sales.

The show, based on the UK format, sees high-profile figures appear in front of a classroom of Australian university students, all of whom are autistic – and all of whom are allowed to ask whatever they want.

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In decades of press across his glittering career, it’s safe to say that Neill had never experienced an interview quite like this one – but there was one question that completely floored him.

“What’s the best lesson you learned from your parents?” one of the students, Abby, asked.

“Ooft, wow. That’s a really interesting question... A really, really interesting question,” Neill responded, before abruptly pausing as tears visibly welled up in his eyes.

“I don’t know why that question has moved me so much, but it has.”

The actor explained that his parents were “of the generation that went through a lot” – including the Great Depression and World War I, in which his mother’s father was killed – leaving them both “very stoic”.

“And I’d done a year of university and I’d done bugger all. I was acting in plays and trying to find a girlfriend, you know... so it came to exam time and I realised I’d done almost no work,” Neill recalled.

“It got me very anxious. Anyway, I got home and Mum said, ‘How are you, darling?’ and I said, ‘I think I’m having a breakdown, I’ve got exams in a couple of weeks...’ and she just looked at me and said, ‘Well, you’re just going to have to pull yourself together’.”

He went on: “And I think that’s the best lesson I learned from her. Sometimes you just have to pull yourself together. It’s a tough lesson, but a good one – and thank you for that question.”

Elsewhere during the interview session, Neill spoke candidly about his recent cancer battle.

The Tudors actor, who lives in the South Island and owns a winery, revealed in March 2023 that he’d been undergoing chemotherapy for a year after being diagnosed with a type of blood cancer.

While it’s now in remission, Neill will require monthly treatments for the rest of his life.

The topic was raised during The Assembly, with student Evie asking: “I’ve heard how hard chemotherapy can be, and how some people can’t take it and would rather give in to their cancer. In those moments, what motivated you to keep going, and did you have anyone supporting you through it?”

Neill admitted the process had been “pretty brutal” and confirmed he was continuing to have chemotherapy “on a regular basis”.

“But it’s keeping me alive, and I’m on a different one, so at least I don’t look like somebody’s bald thumb – that’s what I looked like for quite a while, it was embarrassing,” he told the class.

“I lost my beard and everything... and my dignity went with it. But I’m also extremely grateful for it, because it’s kept me alive – and living is much better than the other thing.”

At another point within the no-holds-barred interview, Neill shared the surprising revelation that he’d “turned down” a starring role as one of the “drag queens” in the hit 1994 Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

“I would quite happily put on drag, no problem at all – but I didn’t ‘get’ it, I didn’t think it was funny,” he admitted.

“My reading faculties let me down, I thought, ‘Oh, it’s never going to work’. I could not have been more wrong. I thought the film was fantastic... and I’m happy I’m not in it.”

Neill didn’t specify which role he’d rejected – but the film ultimately starred Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp.

- Written by news.com.au and republished via NZ Herald with edits and permission