Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. One of my favorite interviews in the last few years was talking to Sam Neill about his career way back in 2014. I'd someday love to do a follow up in-depth chat with the man since we only really scratched the surface of his work there, but you take what you can get.
This interview with him was more focused, only 10 minutes, and is about a particularly great film he took part in recently called THE HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE, directed by Taika Waititi. This film is one of my favorites of 2016 so far, so I was very happy to chat with him about it, especially how he worked with young Julian Dennison. Those two are so damned good together on screen.
The flick hit limited release this past weekend and expands over the next few weeks. I know it opens in Austin sometime in July.
Mr. Neill was again a pleasure to speak with. Hope you enjoy our short chat!
Sam Neill: Hi, Eric.
Quint: How's it going, Sam?
Sam Neill: Fine. Ain't it cool? (laughs)
Quint: I don't know if you remember, but a few years ago we had a longer chat we did for the site and I still get emails about that interview. People really liked it.
Sam Neill: Remind me, what were we talking about?
Quint: It was for The Adventurer, but we spent a good 40 minutes going over your career.
Sam Neill: Oh, yeah!
Quint: I bugged you a whole lot about In The Mouth of Madness because that's one of my favorite movies of yours.
Sam Neill: It's having a little mini-revival, I think.
Quint: It definitely is. I hope that as more people find it they appreciate the crazy Lovecraftian madness you and John and everybody were going for with it.
Sam Neill: Let's get Netflix to put it up!
Quint: I'll start a petition! I'm really happy to talk to you again and not just because I'm a big fan of your work, but specifically for this film, which I'm a huge, huge fan of. It's in my tops of the year so far.
Sam Neill: Oh, thanks, Eric.
Quint: I don't know what I was expecting going into the movie, but I love how your character is very much in the background for the first act. I love that your character's arc is very much working towards the spot that his wife is already in at the beginning of the movie. You don't start out being happy father figure, which means you actually get to show some growth with the character. Is that something that appealed to you when you got the script?
Sam Neill: Yeah, but that's a difficult thing to talk about because it's a bit of a spoiler, but obviously the relationship between these two characters is absolutely central to the film. The kid is a smart ass and the old man is just full of grumpiness. They're not particularly likeable people. And they're damaged people. I think that's important. Hec's been to jail, the kid's been rejected by every foster home possible and has no family. No one wants these people. They're kind of marginalized. Whatever the age difference is, it takes a while to recognize something of yourself in the other person. Hector doesn't like people and nobody likes Ricky! That's just where it is.
Quint: I love how the relationship develops between those two characters because even when they start warming to each other they're still kind of dicks to each other, but it becomes less harsh and more loving dickishness if that makes any sense.
Sam Neill: They become allies against the world. The world is against them. I think that's part of the appeal of the film, that sort of anti-authoritarian segment they embody.
Quint: I also think the tone Taika hit is perfect, too, because it's a recognizable realty, but an exaggerated one.
Sam Neill: Someone yesterday described it as magic realism. If the audience is attached to these two characters and their journey then anything can happen on that journey and you will accept it.
Quint: Definitely. It's rare for me to watch a movie I invest in so wholeheartedly so early. I'm not saying I'm a cynical guy, I definitely open up myself to every movie, but it's usually something that happens over the runtime, but sometimes you see a movie that just grabs you from the very beginning and this was one of those movies. I don't know if you could ever tell that when you're approaching a project or if it's something that develops through the process, but did you feel something along the way that told you this might be one of the special ones?
Sam Neill: I could tell when the script first arrived and I started to flip through it. I said, “People are really going to enjoy this one.” You couldn't really anticipate how people would embrace this film with such enthusiasm. That wasn't something I was expecting.
We were very apprehensive, for instance, when we showed it at Sundance as to whether an American audience would get anything from it. It's very distinctly from our part of the world, but they laughed all throughout the film. That was a kind of a shocking relief to us.
Quint: Now that you mention it, it might help that I've spent quite a bit of time in New Zealand. Wellington's one of my favorite cities in the world. I just feel at home there.
Sam Neill: Oh, really?
Quint: Maybe that's part of the reason why I fell so in love with the movie so early. New Zealand is like a second home to me, so there was already that warmth there, maybe. Anyway, so much of the movie hinges on your relationship with Julian. Over the course of your career you've proven that you work well with young actors. Do you feel confident going into a movie like this where you know you're going to have so much to do with a young actor or do you just kind of “I hope they cast that one right kid” when you're looking at the script?
Sam Neill: You can never take anything like that for granted. I've seen Julian's stuff before and I knew he had the chops. He's a natural actor. He's a natural comedian. You can't be taught to be an actor. You can be taught skills as an actor, but you can't be taught to be an actor. Either you are or you aren't and he is. More than that, he's a very likeable kid and very amusing. We got on really well from day one. The chemistry between the two characters was a given, really. Once we had a bit of a read through and got to know each other, that was the last thing I had to worry about on the shoot.
Quint: One thing that struck me about Wilderpeople was that it'd make an oddly good double feature with Jurassic Park since in both you play a grumpy guy forced to look after a kid in the wilds.
Sam Neill: Yep.
Quint: I'd like to ask you about Jurassic World, if you don't mind. I'm curious how it is for you to just go and watch a franchise movie that you played a huge role in as an average ticket-buyer. Can you just sit and watch it as its own movie or do you feel some sense of ownership over the franchise?
Sam Neill: I don't feel any sense of ownership there at all. It's twenty years on and the world has moved on. I have to say, I enjoyed it. It's a fun ride, but I don't feel like I have any personal investment in it. The cast was excellent.
Quint: Yeah, Chris Pratt was a good fit for that universe.
Sam Neill: Definitely.
Quint: Thank you so much for the time. I really appreciate it.
Sam Neill: Thank you very much, Eric.
And that's that. It's always fun talking with this guy and I hope to do so again in the near future. Hope you guys dug the conversation!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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