75-years-old Sam Neill made his feature debut in Landfall in 1975. While still a youngster, Neill, and his family emigrated to New Zealand from Ireland. Neill is well recognized as a top name in the international acting industry. He has acted in films directed by a wide variety of acclaimed filmmakers from different countries.
Even though modern audiences recognize Neill most for his role in the dino-infested franchise, his career was much more fruitful than is commonly believed. Neill has worked on films ranging from low-budget indies to huge studio productions. To be sure, his film career is packed with critically acclaimed films that have helped him earn a name for himself among the industry’s elite. All in all, during his career, he has given many hit movies to the industry and the audience. The 10 bests among them are listed below:
Image Courtesy: The Kamloops Film Society
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Jurassic Park
Release year: 1993
Genre: Adventure, Action, Sci-fi
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Sam Neill, along with Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough
Available on: HBO Max, DIRECTV
Steven Spielberg’s epic science fiction revolutionized the genre of large-scale action pictures. It tells the cautionary tale of a genetic scientist who intends to bring dinosaurs back from extinction. So naturally, chaos ensues when the park’s electricity goes out. Jurassic Park is a big-budget action movie classic thanks to its groundbreaking visual effects, well-paced action sequences, and noteworthy ensemble (including Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum).
Sam Neill plays Dr. Alan Grant, one of a select group of professionals to give an early look at Dr. John Hammond’s proposed amusement park.
Image Courtesy: Decider
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The Piano
Release year: 1993
Genre: Drama
Director: Jane Campion
Cast: Sam Neill along with Holly Hunter, Kerry Walker, Genevieve Lemon, Harvey Keitel, and Sam Bei Kkm Anna Paquin
Available on: DIRECTV
Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) is a skilled Scottish pianist who communicates via music. Her father sells her to Geroge Baines, with whom she develops a hidden love affair. George Baines (Harvey Keitel) is a frontiersman who has adopted many Maori traditions.
Neill moved back to his native New Zealand to star in this period drama directed by Jane Campion to take part in the story of an illicit love affair in the late 19th century. Neill is fantastic as Alisdair, Ada’s icy husband, a character that is essentially the antagonist.
Image Courtesy: Screencrush
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Hunt for the Wilder People
Release year: 2016
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Comedy
Director: Taiki Waititi
Cast: Sam Neill, along with Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata, and Rhys Darby,
Available on: Netflix
Taika Waititi, a New Zealand filmmaker, has created a comedy masterpiece in Hunt for the Wilderpeople. The story follows a young orphan who experiences life with an unusual foster family. It is based on Barry Crump’s novel Wild Pork and Watercress.
Julian Dennison’s Ricky is ward of Neill’s Hec Faulkner. When trouble arises, the two have no choice but to go to the woods in an attempt to elude their pursuers.
Image Courtesy: IMDb
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The Hunt for Red October
Release year: 1990
Genre: Horror, Action
Director: John McTiernan
Cast: Sam Neill, along with Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin
Available on: Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube
An adaptation of Tom Clancy’s novel of the same name, The Hunt for Red October, was one of the year’s highest-grossing titles in theatres. For the first time, Alec Baldwin portrays Clancy’s iconic character, Jack Ryan, in this film.
The film is about a rogue Soviet naval captain who seeks to desert the United States during the height of the Cold War. Neill and Sean Connery co-star as the namesake captains of their Soviet submarine.
Image Courtesy: IMDb
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Possession
Release year: 1981
Genre: Drama, Psychological Thriller
Director: Andrzej Zulawski
Cast: Sam Neill, along with Isabelle Adjani
Available on: Metrograph
In the 1981 horror film Possession, Sam Neill played Mark, an international agent who returns from a mission in West Berlin. At home, though, his wife Anna has already requested a divorce. Soon after they split up, she starts acting quite strangely, causing him to fear for their son’s well-being.
Based on a horrific event that took place without Mark around to witness it, a chain of events unfolds that demonstrates the presence of the supernatural. Isabelle Adjani earned the award for Best Actress at Cannes for her portrayal in this film, which has since become a cult classic.
Image Courtesy: Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film
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The Dish
Release year: 2000
Genre: Comedy, History
Director: Rob Stich
Cast: Sam Neill, along with Kevin Harrington, Patrick Warburton, and Tom Long
Available on: Amazon Instant Video
In The Dish, an Australian comedy set in 1969, we learn about the part played by the Parkes Observatory in the worldwide transmission of Apollo 11’s historic first steps on the Moon. NASA’s reliance on Australian personnel at the site is exemplified by the telescope in New South Wales, which enabled the first-ever television broadcast.
The film’s plot and events are based on real life, but the characters are made up. Neill plays Cliff Buxton, the Park Observatory’s Pipe Smoking dishmaster.
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Sweet Country
Release year: 2017
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Crime
Director: Warwick Thornton
Cast: Sam Neill, along with Hamilton Morris, Ewen Leslie, and Shanika Cole
Available on: Prime Video
Sweet Country was a brutal and harsh Australian western in 1929. The story takes place in the desert of the Northern Territory, where Aboriginal Australians and European settlers are at odds over territory.
Neill portrays Fred Smith, a European colonizer who employs Aborigines as farmers and preachers. The film offers substantial social and political commentary through in-depth analyses of its characters.
Image Courtesy: IMDb
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A Cry in the Dark
Release year: 1988
Genre: Biography, Drama
Director: Fred Schepisi
Cast: Sam Neill, along with Dale Reeves and Meryl Streep
Available on: The Criterion Channel.
In 1980, a New Zealand couple named Lindy and Michael Chamberlain claimed their young daughter had been abducted from a campsite by a dingo, or wild Australian dog. This video is a dramatized account of their ordeal. The couple, whose claims were investigated by the media, is portrayed by Meryl Streep and Sam Neill.
The Chamberlains were tried for the murder of their daughter and had to try to prove their innocence in front of a skeptical audience. Streep’s work was recognized with an Oscar nod.
Image Courtesy: The Film Stage
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Rams
Release year: 2020
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Director: Jeremy Sims
Cast: Sam Neill, along with Michael Caton and Wayne Blair
Available on: Hulu, Kanopy, and Hoopla.
In 2020, Sam Neill starred in the drama-comedy Rams. Two estranged brothers are at odds in Western Australia. Colin (Neill) and his brother Les (Michael Caton) both tend to their own herds of sheep descended from the family’s best flock.
The brothers must join forces when one of their rams contracts a potentially fatal sickness. The local authorities order all of their sheep to be slaughtered. This film is an adaptation of a 2015 Icelandic film. It earned Neill a Best Actor nomination at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.
Image Courtesy: IMDb
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Little Fish
Release year: 2020
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-fi
Director: Chad Hartigan
Cast: Sam Neill, along with Olivia Cooke and Jack O’Connell
Available on: Peacock
Cate Blanchett plays a recovering heroin addict trying to save enough money to open her own video game store in Little Fish, a drama set in Australia. Her character, Tracey, is in financial straits when her ex-boyfriend Jonny (Dustin Nguyen) returns to town and persuades her to participate in the drug trade.
Hugo Weaving stars as Tracey’s abusive stepfather, a heroin addict. Brad “The Jockey” Thompson (Sam Neill) is a notorious drug lord in Sydney.
