Book Review: Did I Ever Tell You This by Sam Neill

Unremarkable Man Doing Remarkable Things. I began reading this book in the days after Neill's death not knowing I would be reading it through my cat's final days and finishing the book on the day we finally got confirmation that it was the right thing to do and had to end his suffering. Which, sitting to write this review roughly 36 hrs after that particular event, makes this review a bit more interesting - at least to me and so far as writing it goes.

There is actually an interesting parallel here, in that for all we the general public think we know of Sam Neill, this book doesn't really dive too deeply into that. If you're looking for a deep dive on his experiences in his most well known movies - Hunt for Red October, the Jurassic movies, etc - or even some of his lesser known ones - Wimbeldon? - you're not really going to find that here.

What you will find, instead, is a deeply personal and mostly more holistic look at a very private man who lived a very public life, writing knowing that he has recently been given what will most likely be a terminal diagnosis. The tale here isn't Red October or Jurassic, but Nigel - his government (and hated) name. It alternates between the "normal" and even mundane aspects of cancer treatment and recovery - including the travails of colonoscopies - and flash backs to earlier periods of his life, from his earliest memories in Ireland to growing up in New Zealand and proceeding roughly chronologically in these flash backs until they eventually get reasonably current to when he is sitting to write this book circa 2022 or so.

Yes, we do in fact get some stories from the public life we know of him, including tales featuring colleagues and coworkers over the years and his thoughts - good and bad - on many of them. Yes, we also get many of his political opinions too - but one gets the sense from reading this that while he never went out of his way to discuss them when promoting some project he was attached to - indeed, he was far too professional for this - he also never really shied away from sharing them with those who knew him in his actual, non-work, life. Including being in attendance at various rallies over the years, even in what turned out to be his final years.

I cannot stress enough: If you're looking for deep dives into literally any of his movie projects... that truly is *NOT* this book. But if you're curious for a peek behind the screen to the actual man who made all those characters come alive... this is *exactly* that book. Set your standards accordingly, and if you have no interest at all in the actual man... this really isn't the book for you.

Sam Neill was an amazing actor, and he, Laura Dern, Richard Atenborough, and Jeff Goldblum - combined with Steven Spielberg's direction and, perhaps most importantly of all, John Williams' score (combined with Neill's acting specifically in this moment) truly gave us one of *the* most iconic scenes in cinema history in the first reveal of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. That scene specifically is how I will always remember all I really knew of Sam Neill, the actor.

This book reveals the person behind that, and it does seemingly a great job of showing a truly average man who lived, loved, laughed, made mistakes, had colonoscopies, had cancer... and still managed to give the world a few moments of absolute joy even through all of it.

Sam Neill, the actor, will be remembered forever in various ways from various projects.

Sam Neill, the man, will be remembered forever by those he loved and who loved him.

Bucky, my cat, will never be remembered by anyone other than my wife and I, our family, and a *few* of our friends who saw him over the years - that cat hated *everyone* other than my wife and I, and he specifically chose us almost 17 yrs ago. Even at the rescue adoption org inside PetSmart, they told us that day all those years ago that this cat *HATED* EVERYONE - and yet he came directly up to us and demanded to be petted. We were petting him still the moment he finally stopped suffering.

RIP Sam. RIP Bucky.

And for those who choose to read this book, I hope you see this remarkable unremarkable man just as he seems to present himself here - a very ordinary person who got to work with some very extraordinary projects.

Very much recommended.

This review of Did I Ever Tell You This by Sam Neill was originally written on August 2, 2026.