“I found myself with nothing to do,” Neill told the Guardian.
The Kiwi star, who is now in remission, has been working up a storm in Australia.
His latest series sees him unite on the screen with one of Hollywood’s classiest leading ladies.
This month, the forever-working 75-year-old is due to start filming Apples Never Fall, in Queensland, with double Golden Globe winner and multiple Oscar-nominated actor Annette Bening.
The American miniseries is based on Liane Moriarty’s bestselling novel of the same name. The Aussie author also wrote Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, which was also filmed for TV in Australia.
Bening — of Being Julia fame — plays Joy Delaney and Neill — who got his blockbuster break starring in Jurassic Park in the 1990s — plays her husband, Stan.
The Peacock series revolves around Joy and Stan — former tennis coaches — who sell their famed academy to retire.
But when Joy disappears, her children are forced to re-examine their parents’ marriage and their family history with fresh eyes.
Recently, Neill filmed an Aussie movie in Queensland, mob thriller Bring him to Me, alongside veteran Aussie actress Rachel Griffiths.
And next month his mystical adventure movie The Portable Door, also filmed in Queensland, will be released to stream on a variety of channels worldwide. He co-stars with double Oscar winner Christoph Waltz in the movie, which is set in London.
Neill is also starring in action-thriller movie Assassin Club, which has been released in some territories, with Paramount expected to give it a wider international release soon.
Neill’s memoir Did I Ever Tell You This? which he wrote over a few months last year is being released this week. And he’s had some pretty big endorsements already.
“Hilarious, wicked, wonderful, kind, thoughtful, engaging and wise,” is how UK actor Stephen Fry describes the book. Former Evil Angels co-star and icon Meryl Streep describes the book as “Just wonderful, so funny and charming and sharp. Lively, lovely book made me laugh out loud.”
Neill’s book charts his early years as an actor in New Zealand in the 1960s and 1970s where there was no film industry, through to his break-out film role in 1977 in Sleeping Dogs and the international career in film and television that followed. He has starred in almost 100 films and dozens of TV series.
He became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Streep to Sean Connery, and directors from our own Jane Campion to Steven Spielberg.
Campion has also reviewed the book calling it “unbearably sad and deliciously companionable”.
Did I Ever Tell You This? also shares insights into Neill’s family life, especially around his vineyard, Two Paddocks, in Central Otago.
