Sam Neill, the actor who rose to fame 30 years ago with Jurassic Park, recently announced that he has blood cancer and is undergoing treatment to fight the disease, which is already in stage 3 of its evolution. He explained it in an interview with The Guardian on the occasion of the publication of his book, Did I Ever Tell You This?. The news caused a stir among his followers, which is why the actor has decided to step up to reassure them.
“The fact is that I’m wrong. I’m possibly dying,” the 75-year-old New Zealand interpreter heartbreakingly admits in the first chapter of the book, where he opens and admits that “I may have to speed up all this,” making reference to to his cancer in the blood. Neill first experienced swollen glands while promoting Jurassic World Dominion in March of last year, and was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma shortly thereafter.
“I can’t pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark moments,” he stated in the interview, and also assured that he has a vital vision of his career: “Those dark moments shed light in a clear glow, you know, and I have made me grateful for each day and immensely grateful for all my friends. Just glad to be alive.”
Seeing the great stir caused by his confession, Sam has reappeared this Saturday through his Instagram account to give a health update. The actor assures that he is well and that he already has projects on his hands. “Hi, I’m Sam Neill, sort of an actor, vintner and author,” he begins by saying in a video shared on social media of him. “I’m alive and well and I’ve been in remission for eight months, which feels really good. I’m alive and well and I’m going to work,” he said.
“I’m very happy to be back at work. We start filming in seven days. I’m doing something called Apples Never Fall with Annette Bening and a really wonderful cast. So here I am,” he said, trying to reassure all his fans. On the other hand, the Hunter actor went on to share more details about his new book and how he came to write it. And it is that this very personal project arose during his pause in interpretation due to his illness.
“The main thing is that I’ve written this book, it’s called Have I ever told you this? It mentions cancer because that’s the kind of context I wrote it in, but I didn’t really intend to write a book, I needed something that to do while I was in treatment, and I’m used to going to work and suddenly I couldn’t go to work. That’s why I wrote the book, and I have to say, it has had a great response,” he began by saying.
“People seem to like it, which is great. I was very nervous, obviously as a first-time author. Anyway, I think it’s fun. We subtitled it ‘Movies, Life, Love and Other Catastrophes.’ So it gives you an idea of all the crazy things that have happened to me. The tone of the book is one of surprise,” he continued. “I never thought I would have an acting career, let alone a screen actor. But that’s more or less what happened and I’m filled with gratitude as I look back on this life, and that’s what the book is about,” he said. .
“I hope you enjoy. I enjoyed reading the audiobook the other day, I hadn’t looked at the book for quite some time, but I found it more entertaining than I expected. And I was looking through the glass window at the audio engineer/producer and he seemed laughing a lot, so I take it as a good sign,” he said. With this, the actor appreciates the support received and assures that he has sane for a long time.
