Before The Raptors, Sam Neill Almost Became James Bond

His Actual Breakout Wasn't A Dinosaur Movie — It Was A Judy Davis Romance

Years before Alan Grant, Neill made his name as the romantic lead in 1979's My Brilliant Career, opposite Judy Davis, in what became a huge international hit. It followed his first splash in Sleeping Dogs two years earlier, kicking off a run that took him from New Zealand TV to global stages.

He Actually Screen-Tested To Replace Roger Moore As Bond

Neill was one of the leading candidates to become the next James Bond after Roger Moore stepped down, doing a real screen test for the franchise in 1986 before the producers ultimately handed the role to Timothy Dalton for The Living Daylights. Neill later said he wasn't exactly heartbroken about it, admitting he didn't really want the part in the first place.

The Piano Gave Him One Of His Coldest, Most Acclaimed Roles

The same year Jurassic Park made him a blockbuster star, Neill played the cold, cruel frontiersman Alisdair Stewart in Jane Campion's Palme d'Or-winning drama The Piano. He later wrote that the shoot was a lonely one, since his scene partner Holly Hunter's character was, by necessity, kept remote from him for most of filming.

He Went Full Horror Villain In Event Horizon — And Critics Slept On It

Neill played Dr. William Weir, the haunted designer of a doomed spacecraft, in 1997's Event Horizon, a film that bombed on release and grossed only $42 million against its $60 million budget. It's since been reassessed as a cult classic, with Variety naming it one of the 94 best horror films ever made in 2024.

He Played A Peaky Blinders Villain So Good, The Show's Creator Was Scared To Kill Him Off

Neill terrified audiences for two seasons as the sadistic Chief Inspector Chester Campbell in Peaky Blinders, going toe-to-toe with Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby. When creator Steven Knight finally called to tell him Campbell's storyline had to end, Neill reportedly just said he didn't want to die — and Knight almost caved.

He Ran A Real, Award-Winning Winery This Whole Time

In 1993, Neill founded Two Paddocks, a small organic winery in Central Otago, New Zealand, that's still producing acclaimed pinot noir today. He wasn't shy about his modest ambitions for it either, once joking on the winery's own website that he wanted a pinot his friends would enjoy, and that they'd "pretty much drink anything."

His Memoir Was Never Supposed To Be A Book At All

Neill wrote Did I Ever Tell You This? in just a few months in 2022 while undergoing chemotherapy for a rare blood cancer, saying he never intended to write a book but needed something to do while he couldn't work. In it, he wrote defiantly about surviving treatment: "Now I'm a living man, with every intent of going on living and living and living."