Acting legend Sam Neill has updated fans after it was revealed yesterday he had been diagnosed with stage-three blood cancer in March 2022.
Sharing a video to Instagram, the Jurassic Park star said he has been in remission for eight months.
He also revealed information on his upcoming memoir, which he wrote during his cancer treatment.
“I’m alive and kicking and I’m going to work and I’m very happy to be going back to work,” he said. “We start filming in seven days’ time. I’m doing a thing called Apples Never Fall [with] Anette Bening and a really wonderful cast. Here I am, and I wish the headline wasn’t that thing because the main thing is that I have written this book, it’s called Did I Ever Tell You This?. And it does mention cancer because that’s the sort of context in which I wrote it.”
He added that he never really meant to write a book.
“I needed something to do while I was undergoing treatment, and I am used to going to work and I suddenly couldn’t go to work,” he said. “So that’s why I wrote the book, and I have to say there’s been great response to it. People seem to love it, which is great.”
Neill admitted he was nervous about the project as a first-time author.
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“We subtitled it Movies, Life, Love and Other Catastrophes. So it gives you an idea of all the crazy things that have happened to me,” he said. “The tone of the book is one of surprise. I never thought that I would have a career as an actor, let alone an actor on screen.”
The Guardian first reported Neill’s diagnosis and the forthcoming book release yesterday, revealing the narrative of the book’s opening chapter, which includes the line: “The thing is, I’m crook. Possibly dying. I may have to speed this up.”
Neill was on the publicity tour for the Jurassic Park franchise’s latest instalment, Jurassic World Dominion, when he discovered a lump and was swiftly diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma: a relatively uncommon blood cancer.
The BBC reported the actor had only decided to write a book after being given the bad news by a doctor, but he soon became so engrossed by the process he finished it quite quickly.
“I thought I need to do something, and I thought, ‘Shall I start writing?’ I didn’t think I had a book in me, I just thought I’d write some stories. And I found it increasingly engrossing,” he said.
“I suspect my publishers, they’re delightful people, but I think they wanted to get it out in a hurry just in case I kicked the bucket before it was time to release the thing.”
