DID I EVER TELL YOU THIS? by Sam Neill

New Zealand actor Sam Neill released an unexpected memoir late in 2022 titled Did I Ever Tell You This? and I recently listened to it via audiobook. Narrated by Neill, it is a series of generally short chapters on all manner of topics such as family, his life growing up in Northern Ireland and then New Zealand, his career, his colleagues and much more.

Neill tells a terrific story and at times, I was racous with laughter. The chapters of stories from the front were especially funny.

At other times, it was hard not to have tears, listening to some of the sad stories and the cancer battle Neill is currently dealing with. As a survivor, I could certainly relate to those chapters and his honesty and attitude to his illness was humbling.

Neill has had a celebrated career, most likely best known for Jurassic Park (which I have never seen). My personal favourite is The Dish. I was sorry he didn’t talk about his role in The Tudors as he was fantastic in that too, as Cardinal Wolsley.

Overall, it could be said that Neill has been a supportive colleague, particularly of women. However, he speaks about his working relationship with Judy Davis, which began with My Brilliant Career. Clearly, Davis doesn’t like Sam Neill and he doesn’t like her. This leads to an extended monologue about how awful Davis was to work with, how poorly she treated him and other cast and crew and how generally awful he thinks she is.

Davis has a well documented reputation for poor behaviour, so Neill’s story sounds entirely plausible. However, I have to say that, after a while, it jarred me how willing he was to really pile onto her. Maybe she deserves it, maybe not. I don’t know. I don’t object to him telling his truth and saying he doesn’t like her (he says the same of Harvey Keitel without as much detail). But his opinion sharing went on longer than I thought was dignified. If Davis has behaved poorly, it’s fine to say so. But to labour the point - and I think Neill does - started to make me feel that the chapter was a very public personal attack. It reduced my respect for Neill - if he was truly respectful of Davis’ career or female colleagues in general, he could have said as much and left it at that. He doesn’t just spill tea - he throws the kitchen sink at her. By the time his stories about Davis finished, I felt like his choice to publicly denigrate her was little better than her behaviour on movie sets. I wish he’d taken the high road on that one.

I’m glad I listened to this rather than read the book - I think it lent a wonderful charm to Neill’s stories and a genuine humanity. I liked it a lot, notwithstanding the Davis stuff, and I hope his health continues to improve and he lives many more happy years.