NEWS & EVENTS SamNeill drops into College
Well-known New Zealand actor Old Boy Sam Neill visited College at the end of last year and delighted the audience with his laconic manner, self-deprecating humour and inside knowledge of the film industry.
and, to my relief, the call never came. While it would have been a lucrative role, it would have been a poisoned chalice as I would then forever have been known as a Bond.’’ Then it was question time and the sea of waving hands showed the boys had a range of things they were keen to ask Sam. When asked about being rich and famous, Sam had a quick answer. “I wouldn’t call myself famous. Even today I can walk down Colombo Street and perhaps only three people will recognise me. Really famous people get mobbed, even killed in the rush, but nobody mobs me,’’ he says with a grin. “If you have an ambition to be really rich and famous, I say good luck. For me it would be one of the worst things that could happen and I wouldn’t swap my life with that of my famous friends for quids. “School is about discovering yourself, finding your direction, making mistakes
One student who was especially thrilled was then Year 12 student Simon Brown, who bagged an autograph on two DVDs of Sam’s movies he had been carrying round all day hoping to grab the chance to talk to him. Sam was in Christchurch for an Australian television programme tracing the early part of his life at Christ’s College and Canterbury University, which was then sited in the Arts Centre. His last visit to College was in 1998 when he received a Senior Honours Tie. “School is about discovering yourself, finding your direction, making mistakes and learning from them. When I was at school, I discovered drama was something I was good at, although I wasn’t much good at at anything else,’’ he says with a self-deprecating laugh. “But drama then was all co-curricular so it meant doing three productions a year at the Repertory Theatre. I also think one of the reasons I got interested in acting was because we worked with St Margaret’s and it was a good way to meet girls.’’ Sam studied for an arts degree at university, and while he admits to not having a stellar academic record, he believes he benefited greatly from taking a generalised degree “Many people nowadays think it is best to take a career-type degree, but I am a firm believer in taking a liberal arts degree. It was the best
thing I ever did as it grounds you in so many things and is education in the broadest sense of the word. We all know that students will need to be more flexible problem solvers in the jobs of the future, so they should be thinking seriously about taking a liberal arts degree.’’ In the early 1970s, when Sam started acting, there was only a very small film and television industry in New Zealand. “There were really only four or five actors able to make a living here, and most of the talent was siphoned off by Hollywood,’’ he says. “However, early on, I decided I was most comfortable acting in the UK, Australia or New Zealand, even though Hollywood really pays well.’’ Sam found he was more interested in film rather than the stage. “I was asked to be the lead in Sleeping Dogs, the first film made in New Zealand for 17 years, but it was pretty chaotic, nothing was really planned, it just evolved.’’ After acting in more than 80 films and receiving many awards, Sam still remembers the time he was turned down for a part. He tells the story, once again in his particular brand of slow, laconic drawl. “It was for James Bond in 1983,’’ he says. “I had a particularly bossy agent who insisted I go for an audition. So there I was at Pinewood Studio, all dressed up as James Bond. However, I gave an absolutely terrible audition
and learning from them.” SamNeill
Christ’s College Canterbury
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