Word: neill
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...neill's boutique winery outside Queenstown, New Zealand, his beloved pinot noir grapes are handpicked, gently pressed and aged in barrels for 10 months. The resulting wine's flavor "is always just beyond your grasp," Neill once said. "If you do manage to get hold of it, it's only for a fleeting moment." What's true of the wine is true of the actor. In the 25 years since My Brilliant Career launched him and co-star Judy Davis onto the world stage, Neill has suggested many things to movie-goers: from smooth leading man (Reilly: Ace of Spies...
...will reprise his wizardry in the just-wrapped sequel to the Merlin miniseries, be stalked as the husband of Susan Sarandon in the Melbourne-shot Irresistible, and speak in iambic pentameter (and play air guitar) as a disillusioned English politician in Yes. The piquant mix is typically Sam Neill. But as the closeted gay Sydney crime lord in the new Australian film Little Fish, his finish is almost unrecognizable. There's nothing remotely respectable about Bradley "The Jockey" Thompson, a character so crooked he seems straight. As the former lover of Hugo Weaving's ex-AFL footballer junky (in turn...
...Jockey wears tan dress shoes. The shirt is open-necked, the hand bejeweled, and the hair styled perhaps by radio star John Laws' barber. But it is the soft voice, as if medicated, that insinuates most. Even the early-'90s Jaguar his nouveau-riche "businessman" drives was chosen by Neill, who used legal contacts to get in touch with underworld figures for research. But it is the character behind the fa?ade that Neill articulates best. In one of the film's most poignant scenes, the Jockey, who is estranged from his wife and secretly gay, thanks his henchman...
...accompanies Neill in a round of press interviews before Little Fish's Sept. 8 Australian release. Elegantly attired in tailored jacket, crisp shirt and jeans, the actor enters the hotel foyer wearing what look like two spare tires on his feet - "they're my clown shoes," he says. In fact, they're his farm boots, which bear the U.S. brand name of Providence. An apt choice, since Neill is the most accidental of actors. It was while directing documentaries for the New Zealand National Film Unit that he was asked by director Gillian Armstrong to audition for My Brilliant Career...
...Last year Neill directed his first feature for Australian TV, but he's also skilled at directing public attention to causes he's passionate about. Since moving to Central Otago in 1987, he's successfully campaigned against rapid development around scenic Queenstown. Just the other week, he bobbed up at Helen Clark's election launch, introducing the Prime Minister with an attack on the war in Iraq. And don't get him started on GE foods. Otherwise, the accidental actor and activist is content to play vintner. "The best review I ever got for my pinot noir was when they...