Post your questions for Sam Neill | film

TThere aren’t many actors here who have gone down in cinema history simply by taking off a safari hat and a pair of sunglasses. But when you think of Sam Neill, you probably think of that moment in Jurassic Park when he stands in the Jeep, pulls down his shades, and stares slack-jawed at the towering Brachiosaurus. Don’t let the explanation of how CGI worked in the ’90s spoil you. “What I’m actually looking at is Steven Spielberg holding a big long stick with a tennis ball at the end,” he told Graham Norton, even going so far as to recreate the scene for laughs. Sometimes great acting is just pretending to be too committed.

Born in Northern Ireland and raised in New Zealand, Neil first attracted attention wearing a white shirt and black tie in the historical drama My Brilliant Career, before turning to the dark side with Omen III: The Final Conflict, Possession and In the Mouth of Madness. Soon he was in Hollywood — as second-in-command to Sean Connery in The Hunt for Red October, as Holly’s husband Hunter in The Piano, and as an eccentric scientist in cult favorite Event Horizon.

In recent years, Neil, 78, has gravitated toward more intimate, director-driven projects, including an eccentric uncle in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a pious preacher in New West’s Sweet Country, and a sympathetic sheep rancher in Rams — roles in which he specializes in a kind of gruff, weather-beaten warmth. On television, he leans toward darker, less likable characters, such as Cardinal Wolsey in The Tudors, the cat burglar in The Simpsons, and the corrupt and cruel police inspector Major Chester Campbell in Peaky Blinders.

His next film, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, sees him returning to blockbuster territory alongside Kaitlyn Dever and Matthew Modine. But in this reader interview, we return once again to Dead Calm, his sunny, unnerving ocean thriller with Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane – which The Guardian rated as his third best performance ever. Dead Calm – featuring Neil in a cute blue denim shirt this time around – will be released in 4K later this year, so consider this an excuse to rewatch it and remember that open water can be just as terrifying as a T-Rex or a giant radioactive sea lizard.

So what do you want to ask him? Perhaps you’d like to know if there are any additions at his New Zealand farm, home to Susan Sarandon’s sheep, Helena Bonham Carter’s cow, and Taika Waititi’s pig? He also owns a winery, near the site of a proposed gold mine, which he is fighting hard to prevent from being approved.

In 2023, he published his memoir, Have I Ever Told You This?, in which he revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage III leukemia, from which he is now in remission. “I’m not afraid of death, but it would bother me,” he said at the time. “Because I really want another decade or two, you know? We’ve built all these beautiful terraces, and we have olive trees and cypress trees, and I want to be there to see it all grow. And I have my beautiful little grandchildren. I want to see them grow up. But as for death? I couldn’t care less.”

Please post your questions below before 6pm GMT, Thursday 16 AprilWe will publish his answers in a series of reader interviews.