Miranda Richardson remembers Sam Neill: 'Cool, suave and weirdly shy'

Recalling her first meeting with Sam Neill, Miranda Richardson thought he was handsome, cool, and weirdly shy. She calls him a rare mix of suave and down-to-earth – a great, democratic guy with no nonsense. She loved how he seemed to cruise through life with ease. Acting was just one part of his life; he was always eager to get back to his farm, his wine, and his animals.

Richardson recounts a wine anecdote from 1998 while filming Merlin: Neill took her to lunch and shared a delicious pinot noir, saying that was what he aimed for with his winery Two Paddocks. Then in 2015, on the set of And Then There Were None, he brought bottles of his own pinot noir and advised letting it breathe for a full two hours. Skeptical, Richardson tasted it after 45 minutes – it was awful. She worried about having to lie, but after two hours the wine was perfect. She never told Neill, who would have said she deserved that.

In 2020 they worked together on Rams in Australia. With little screen time, Richardson spent her days exploring the region, driving hundreds of miles. When she told Neill, he replied, "Oh, good for you!" – high praise that meant a lot to her. He appreciated that she hadn't just hung around the hotel.

Richardson never visited his farm, but recalls a possibility that an animal might be named after her – she wasn't sure which species, but ducks would have been nice. She was delighted that many people discovered Neill during COVID via social media. She admired his courage about mortality: he said he didn't worry about it. She hopes he had a great deal of fun and that his was a full life to be celebrated.