The summer of 1993 was a big one for Sam Neill. The world watched Steven Spielberg’s megahit Jurassic Park, where he starred as Dr. Alan Grant. The movie grossed over $900 million worldwide during its original run and kicked off an international franchise. Actors like Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern became recognizable faces on the big screen.
Neill had a career after Jurassic Park, returning for sequels and starring in TV shows like Peaky Blinders, but didn’t become a huge star, even though he was at the center of the movie. Why not? Neill reflects on this in his memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?
“I owe so much to Spielberg and everyone involved, but I don’t think the Jurassic series made any seismic shifts in my career,” Neill wrote. “I didn’t become Mr. Action Hero or anything … Between Jurassic Park and Jurassic World Dominion, I went back to making films that interested me here and there, of varying quality.”
Why didn’t Sam Neill become a huge star after Jurassic Park?
Neill spoke more on this in an interview with Empire, stating that he never thought he was “a terribly ambitious kind of bloke.”
"I think you probably get the gist from the book that looking back, which is not something I’m given to do a lot, I’m sort of surprised that anything happened for me at all. But I’m immensely grateful for doing a film like Jurassic Park. As for being a movie star, I’ve got friends who are movie stars and I’ve never seen myself in that light. But I just love making movies, and I’m very comfortable on set."
Neill also shared that when he was writing his memoir he felt that he was “writing against the clock,” because he had been diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer (he is now in remission). Neill wanted to make sure that in case anything happened to him he got his memoir completed so he could share his life with the world, and what a life it has been!
Sam Neill’s memoir Did I Ever Tell You This? is now on sale from Text Publishing.
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h/t SYFY Wire