The world is a dark place at the moment, all of our circumstances seem to be changing every day and with no definitive end in sight there’s an obvious sense of despair hitting people randomly.
Don’t fret though as New Zealand’s living legend Sam Neill is here to put it all into perspective. Neill is at home, self-quarantining like everyone else at the moment. Had the coronavirus pandemic not hit, then he would probably be shooting “Jurassic World: Dominion” at this point.
On social media though, Neill has now spoken out about the production delay and says there are far bigger fish to fry than a temporary film shutdown to worry about:
“Suddenly, here we are. We have been cryogenically frozen, and Jurassic World: Dominion is on hold. Insects in amber. And like virtually every actor in the world right now, I’m not working. Dammit. But we will return. We will.
And what joy it will be to be back on a set, doing what I love best, with just the kind of people I love: other actors and all the remarkable people it takes to make a movie. That rare privilege. And to put things into perspective – there are many many worse things than a suspended movie.”
In fact Neill’s social media accounts have become a beacon of upbeat optimism, the actor finding joy in the small things and using his time as productively as possible:
“So what to do in the meantime? Most importantly of course – stay home. And I find myself surprisingly busy there. Fact is, most of the time at work, you actually spend a fair bit of the day staring dully at a trailer wall. Instead, here I find myself being busy with all the things I’m usually too busy to get busy about.
I’m playing my uke. I’m singing. I’m Skyping with my friends. I’m intimately involved in the rearing of my grandchildren 2000 miles away. I’m rediscovering poetry. I put silly stuff on social media to encourage people, to cheer them up with a message. I get pleasure out of ironing my shirts and polishing a silver platter within an inch of its life. I’m reading great novels I’d never opened. I planted a shrub. There is beauty in the everyday.”
You can find Sam Neill’s upbeat video blogging sessions at Samneilltheprop on Instagram.
