“Jurassic World Dominion”: Chris Pratt directs the dino-heavy action
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard star in Jurassic World Dominion alongside original Jurassic Park cast members Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum.
USA TODAY
Sam Neill has been in remission for a year and has returned to acting and winemaking after being diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in early 2022.
Every two weeks, Neill receives infusions of a drug to which his tumor responds well – for now. He will do so indefinitely until the treatment inevitably stops working, 76-year-old Neill revealed in a 30-minute documentary released on Monday for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Australian Story program.
It’s like “doing ten rounds with a boxer, but it keeps me alive, and being alive is far preferable to the alternative,” Neill said.
“I’m not afraid of dying at all. It never worried me from the start. But I would be upset because there are things I still want to do,” he said. “Very irritating, dying. But I’m not afraid of it.”
In March, the star of the “Jurassic Park” franchise revealed in his memoir “Did I Ever Tell You This?” that he was battling stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. He has been in remission for a year and remains busy with film and television projects as well as his New Zealand vineyard.
His son Tim Neill-Harrow said in the documentary that his father doesn’t like to talk about his illness. “I’m not interested in cancer,” Sam Neill explained. “I have other things on my mind and it’s not cancer.”
“I’m not afraid to die”: Sam Neill reveals he is being treated for stage three blood cancer
Sam Neill was in a “fight for my life” and was undergoing chemotherapy
In March 2022, Neill discovered he had swollen glands while promoting “Jurassic World Dominion” in Los Angeles. When he had his neck scanned in Sydney, Australia, “the nurse dropped her machine and ran out of the room,” he recalled.
Shortly thereafter, Neill began several months of “conventional chemotherapies,” which he described as “brutal.”
“There were times last year when I had to look at myself in the mirror and it wasn’t a pretty sight,” Neill said. “I was robbed of all dignity.”
“I was really fighting for my life,” he said.
Before doctors found a treatment effective against Neill’s “aggressive” tumor, the actor was “all bones and skin,” his son said – “I could barely hug him.”
Sam Neill is “prepared” for the cancer drug to stop working
In the documentary, hematologist Dr. Orly Lavee said that “the tumor began to outsmart the drugs before we even went through the first therapy.” So they had to find another drug.
“For Sam’s second line of treatment, I chose more novel agents, a drug to which Sam had an excellent response very quickly,” she said.
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“That was a year ago now and I’ve been in remission ever since,” Neill added. “And I am eternally grateful for that. (The cancer drug is) not something I can finish. I will take it for the rest of my life.”
He added: “A doctor said to me, ‘This stuff won’t work one day either.’ So I’m prepared for that. I’m ready for it.”
The thought of retirement fills Sam Neill with “horror”
Neill is best known for his role as Dr. Alan Grant is known in the “Jurassic Park” films, but has also appeared in more than 100 film and television projects, including “Peaky Blinders”, “The Tudors” and “The Vow” in 2012. In addition to his acting career, he represents It has also been producing wine for 30 years.
“The thought of retirement actually fills me with dread. Not being able to do the things you love would be heartbreaking,” he said.
He recently promoted his memoirs and filmed an adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s novel Apples Never Fall, as well as a new season of the miniseries The Twelve.
“I never thought I would still be working,” Neill said. “But I can’t seem to stop.”
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