The Assembly (2024) s01e01 Episode Script
Sam Neill
1
MAN: Main light fading up.
Testing. Testing. One, two, three.
One, two, three. Look at me.
I'm, like, nervous.
WOMAN: He's coming. Is he here?
Oh, here he is.
LEIGH SALES: Everyone, this is Sam.
Hello.
Hi, everybody.
This is your seat, Sam.
Good to see you.
Welcome.
Thanks. Thanks for having me.
I am Dale.
I'm Abbey.
Hi, Abbey.
Hi, Sam.
I That's a creature of some kind.
Uh
Tyrannosaurus rex.
That'll be it.
Uh, a velociraptor?
Yes.
I'm doing well so far.
(LEIGH CHUCKLES)
My God!
Hi, Sam!
Hi. Nice to see you all.
Getting, like, a big crowd, isn't it?
Bigbig friendly crowd.
That's me!
Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
We're going to welcome today's
guest, who is Sam Neill,
Hi, Leigh.
Hello, Sam Neill.
We are a collective
of autistic journalism students.
We are very delighted
to have you join us here today.
Our rules are,
no subject is out of bounds,
no question is off the table,
and ANYTHING might happen.
Ooh!
So sit back,
and welcome to the Assembly.
Thank you very much.
Quiet on set.
Andaction.
For the first time in Australia,
autistic students are undertaking
an autism-friendly
Introduction to Journalism course.
WOMAN: They will
attend classes at university
What is journalism,
and why is it important?
..and be mentored by one of
Australia's best journalists.
This is the chance
to work with people
who haven't really
had a voice in media,
and to help them kind of figure out
how to do it their way.
MAN: 1 in 40 Aussies
are on the autism spectrum
and it's time for those voices
to be included
in national conversations.
To test their skills,
the students will interview some
of Australia's most famous people
Hello!
Hello!
Yeah.
To get behind the spin,
to find the real person.
Do you think you are hot?
(LAUGHTER)
What are the last sounds
you'd like to hear in life?
What a question!
What is your favourite thing
about yourself?
Are you a really annoying dad?
Who is the meanest Prime Minister
you've met?
Boom!
I'm gonna cry.
Wow. What a question.
ALL: We are The Assembly!
I'm feeling very nervous.
Like, I feel like things are, like
..there's something
eating up inside of me,
and I feel like I'm going to
explode of anxiety.
To have this opportunity
is gonna be amazing.
I wanted to study journalism before,
but I didn't have the confidence.
Wow!
Look at this place!
So cool.
This is so cool!
Wow.
Feeling a little bit nervous
to meet new people.
But also, I'm excited, as I'll get
to be on TV and be famous.
(BOTH BREATHE DEEPLY)
(LAUGHS)
WOMAN: Hi, everyone. Welcome.
How are you feeling?
How's everyone going?
ALL: Good.
So, Ty and I will be your teachers,
but
..you're going to get
a journalist mentor
(EXCLAMATIONS)
..to help you prepare
What the?
..for your celebrity interviews.
So, who will that be?
Your mentor is going to be
..Leigh Sales.
What?!
Oh! Here she comes!
Here she comes now!
(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
Aww! That's so nice.
That's so lovely. Oh
WOMAN: One of the most iconic
Australian journalists of all time
is going to be our teacher?
I'm shocked.
Very, very shocked.
Thank you very much.
Our mentor is a famous person!
And you'll do, like,
one-on-one with us as well?
One-on-one, and so I'll help you all
when you're workshopping
your questions
and to just help you
if you get stuck with anything
or if you just want
to bounce ideas off me,
I'll be here to help you
with all of that.
MAN: I don't think they could have
picked anyone better.
She has been around and doing this
sort of thing for longer than
..I don't want to make her feel old,
but longer than a lot of us
have been alive.
OK, so, would you all
be interested in knowing
who our celebrity interview
is going to be?
MAN: Oh, yes, please.
Our first guest
..you might have seen him
in Jurassic Park
Oh, my God.
..in Thor, in Peter Rabbit,
in the Hunt For The Wilderpeople.
Wow.
He splits his time between
Australia and New Zealand.
Our first guest
..is Sam Neill.
(EXCLAMATIONS, CHEERING)
MAN: I have never
heard that name before.
(LAUGHTER)
It's just like a flock of birds
evading a predator.
MAN: Sam Neill has been acting
for over 50 years.
He owns a winery and a farm.
He's ahe's very successful.
Not many people
do get the opportunity
to interview
very big people like this,
and I think it's crazy to say, like,
"Hey, I interviewed Sam Neill."
LEIGH: Alright, well, let's get
into talking about Sam Neill.
So, Evie, tell me
what you're thinking about.
Uh
If, I guess, he's ever, like,
gotten, like, nervous
when he's about to do a scene
and what, like, tips he has
for, like, nerves and stuff.
That's a great question.
He must have got nervous, surely.
This is my wonderland. (LAUGHS)
These are my headwear,
meerkat ears that I made,
and some clips.
Autism, for me, it feels like
crash-landing on Earth.
And I'm like an alien
from a different planet
where, like, my planet is filled
with musicals and, like,
cartoons and bubbliness,
and I come into this world
and it's like I don't
speak the language.
This drawing represents
neurotypical society trapping me.
I wanted to do this course
because, like, when I watch
my idols being interviewed,
I was like,
"Oh, I wish I could do that,
"but I'm not sure
if I have the skills."
How are you feeling
about meeting Sam Neill?
Confident.
(LAUGHS) Good on you.
And I brought
my imagination dinosaurs.
Oh! Cool.
But they're not real.
So are you going to bring them
to meet Sam?
Yes.
Oh, awesome. That'll be great.
Let's just brainstorm
some questions.
In the prep session,
I'm really trying to do two things.
One is to give the students
confidence,
because that's hard to get out there
and, you know,
ask questions of somebody.
What interests you about Sam?
The first thing that comes up to me
is him having chickens.
(LAUGHS) Good.
I think that's interesting too.
The other thing is to help them find
the clearest way to ask
what they want to ask.
When you were acting
in Jurassic Park,
did you have any
have a favourite or
..of any dinosaur in movie
and history?
Oh yeah. Like,
what's his favourite dinosaur
Yeah.
..basically?
Yeah.
If anyone comes with a similar
question to any of those ones
Yeah. We'll weed
We'll weed it out.
I'll have them taken out the back.
Gotten rid of.
Oh
No, I'm joking.
No, no, no.
I won't. I won't.
So, before you tell me
any specific questions,
like, what kind of themes
are you interested in around him?
Mostly his acting.
I think that's where I'm going
to focus all my questions
because that's
what I'm interested in, so
Acting is definitely
one of my passions.
You get to live a character
that may be doing this,
and you never got to experience that
growing up.
Like, for example, I had to play
a character that went to a party,
and I never went to parties
growing up.
This is where I used to spend
a lot of my time.
I would spend up to 22 hours
in my room.
I would sit here and I would game,
watch YouTube, watch a show,
go to bed, and repeat.
That's all I would do.
If you asked me to do this, like,
four years ago,
I would never do this in my life.
Like, I couldn't even go up
to a counter and get a straw.
I was that awkward
and so non-confident.
See it right there,
that's where I'll be working.
My mum, she put all her effort
into helping me,
and I think it's paid off now.
Dale has always been told
no, he can't.
Even as a child,
his kindergarten teacher told me,
"The best thing you can do
is put him in a home.
"Just" You know
See, I told you I'd get upset.
(TEARFULLY) She told me that
he would never amount to anything.
And it was really hard to hear.
So I just went and grabbed his hand
and took him home,
and I never took him back to school.
And I always tell him,
"You can do anything you want."
Autism does not mean no.
It just means
it's a little bit harder.
I might just go "Why wine?"
Yeah, yeah, that's a good one.
Yeah. And then I'll have another
one just in case.
You've all done fantastically well
there. That's great.
I can't wait to hear how he answers
some of those questions.
(WOMAN SIGHS)
Do you feel nervous?
Oh, my God!
Testing. Testing. One, two, three.
One, two, three.
It's DJ Mitch in the house.
(HUMS)
The big challenge with
interview number one is that
it is a complete unknown.
We just do not know what will happen
because we haven't done it before.
He's coming.
(EXHALES)
Under pressure, will they be able
to ask what they want to ask?
And so I feel just, "Oh, God,
are they going to be alright?"
You know, that kind of feeling.
Thank you.
WOMAN: Oh, here he is.
(LAUGHTER)
Legend.
Come and say hello to everyone.
Everyone, this is Sam.
Hi, Sam.
Hi, everybody.
MAN: Very nice to meet you.
MAN: Welcome to the Assembly.
Great to have you.
Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Oh, my God, oh, my God.
Oh, my God, he's beautiful. Oh!
Oh!
Feeling a bit uncertain
about what's going to happen.
(CHUCKLES) Yeah.
Just uncertainty.
Girl coming through.
I'm nervous.
Very nervous.
Scared.
I recognise the hat.
OK, everybody,
let's all gather together.
And we're going to welcome
today's guest,
who is Sam Neill.
It's lovely to have you in with us,
Sam. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Leigh.
Andrew, would you give us
our inclusion statement, please?
Welcome, Sam.
This is a safe space.
Everyone can relax
and be themselves.
There will be no judgement.
Please do what you need to join in.
For example, fidget, move,
take a break.
Ask if you need anything
to help you be included.
Welcome.
Thank you.
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
Fletcher, would you start us off
today, please?
FLETCHER: Of course, Leigh.
Good evening, Sam.
My first question for you is,
when to have to look terrified
in a movie,
what are you thinking about?
When I look terrified in a movie?
Yeah.
(LAUGHS) That's a really good
question.
I'm thinking
I'm thinking, "Am I being real?"
"Am I real or is it just me?"
"Is it What"
"Is the director happy with me?"
"Am I Am I a fool?
What am I doing here?"
"Am I a fraud?"
(LAUGHTER)
You know.
There's a lot of imposter syndrome
withwith acting.
Yeah. Alright. Thank you, Sam Neill.
Fletcher, thank you so much.
You're welcome.
(APPLAUSE)
That was very good.
Anastasia.
Give me the mike! Alright.
Uh, you worked with Chris Pratt
in Jurassic Park,
and you worked with Chris Hemsworth
in the Thor franchises.
Who is your favourite Chris?
Ooh.
(LAUGHS)
Um, I don't have a favourite Chris.
They're just big guys.
Big, wide boys.
They're sweet men, andand
and both really funny, actually.
The last film I did with Hemsworth,
he seemed to be, like,
twice as big as he was
the first time I worked with him.
(LAUGHS) Oh, my God!
And I said to him, "You've
really let yourself down," you know?
"Why aren't you going to the gym?"
(LAUGHS) Oh, God. OK.
Second question.
In the movie Rams,
you killed most of the sheep.
What was the sheep's blood
made out of?
And did you eat it?
And what did it taste like?
(LAUGHS)
We didn't really kill any sheep,
but there was a lot
of fake blood around.
And, uh, I'm glad you saw that.
It's a It's a film I liked.
It was actually the school's idea.
Like, the school was like,
"Congratulations!
"We're gonna go see Rams!"
And we're all like, yay
(LAUGHTER)
Well, that's honest. Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
When you came out,
were you still going, "Yeah"
or were you going,
"That was better than I thought"?
What did you think?
It was OK.
It was OK. It was OK for me.
But were you
MAN: Brutal.
We're in high school.
We like cartoons.
Come on, Anastasia.
(APPLAUSE)
LEIGH: Stephanie, where are you?
Would you like to have a turn?
STEPHANIE: Yep.
Come on, you can do it.
OK.
You've said that you're more scared
of retirement than dying.
Um, can you tell us more about that?
Yeah.
Look, I've had to sort of think
about dying a bit,
more than I would normally,
uh, for the last couple of years,
because I've been, you know,
living with cancer.
And, uh,
you know, we're all going to die
oneone day,
but, um, retirement's far scarier,
not doing anything, you know?
And a lot of people are forced
to play golf, you know?
This is This is
(LAUGHTER)
I mean, that's where the old man's
hobbies are normally.
Yeah. Old Man Hobby is playing golf
with other old men.
I cannot think of anything
less appealing.
Mmm, yeah.
I hate it, you know.
And I'm not good at it.
That doesn't help.
I think you might need to,
like, find a hobby that you like
when you're, like, retired.
My job is my hobby. Really.
Aw.
Yeah. That's nice.
But more than that,
I'm a bit of a farmer.
And I've got animals and my pigs
and mymy sheep and
and my silly chickens and so on.
Aw
Um
They're my hobby as well.
I like looking after them.
I think they're lovely as well.
Can I ask you a question?
Do I get to ask a question?
Yeah, of course.
You can do whatever you like.
Why not? Yeah.
MAN: Anything can happen, remember?
Yeah, anything can happen.
What do you
I mean, I think it's a sort
of question about humanity as well,
but whatwhat do you all
have in common?
MAN: We have autism.
(LAUGHTER)
You have autism.
We have disabilities!
We see the world a certain way.
MAN: Yeah.
WOMAN: We all dream
to be in this career.
I'm pretty sure
that's what we have in common.
I think we allwe all wantfame.
We all want fame.
No. No.
MAN: No.
I thinkI think we all just
kind of, like, you know,
love stories, love telling stories,
and sharing stories with each other.
Yeah.
Good.
And sharing with people like you.
Yeah. Yeah.
Right.
LEIGH: Thanks, Steph.
Evie's next.
EVIE: Oh, no.
Come on, Evie, you can do it.
Come on.
You got it, Evie. Come on!
OK. Um Alright (LAUGHS)
OK. Um
(INHALES SHARPLY)
You can do it.
Um
Come on.
Um Uh Um
Um, when you get nervous,
what things do you do
to calm yourself down?
Wow.
Um Yes.
Uh, when I get nervous
..I probably, um, eat some toast
or something like that.
Oh!
You know.
I'm (LAUGHS)
I'm a bit of a snacker.
More of a snacker than I
than I should be.
I also have a bit of a talk
to myself.
(GASPS)
And
And so, you know, what is there
to be nervous about?
You're fine. You'll be OK.
You've done this before.
You'll be right.
Anyway And
Oh, my God, no.
My next question.
I've heardI've heard
how hard chemotherapy can be
and how some people can't take it
and would rather give in
to their cancer.
In those moments, what motivated
you to keep going through
..keep going,
and did you have anyone
supporting you through it?
It's It's pretty
It's pretty brutal.
And I still have chemotherapy
on a regular basis.
But it's keeping me alive.
And I'm on a different one now,
so at least I don't look like
a bald, you know,
like somebody's bald thumb.
That's what I looked like
for quitequite a while.
It was embarrassing.
And, you know, I lost my beard
and everything, you know,
and my dignity went with it.
But I'm also extremely grateful
for it
because it'sit's kept me
it's kept me alive,
andand living is much better
than the other thing.
Yeah. I agree.
Yeah. Thank Thank you.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks, Evie.
(APPLAUSE)
MITCH: Well done, Evie.
Oh, I'm next?
OK.
So, um, in the past,
are there any roles that you wish
you had gotten at the time?
Um
I did turn down one role.
It was one of the drag queens
in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Oh! Oh.
Quite happily put on drag.
No problem at all.
Um, but I didn't get it.
I didn't think it was funny.
You know?
I just I did
My reading faculties let me down.
I thought, "No, this is
never going to work."
I could not be more wrong.
I thought the film was fantastic,
and unhappy that I'm not in it.
Yeah.
Um, I actually try some
I actually sometimes try at accents,
but how did you nail
the Northern Irish accent
as Inspector Campbell, I think it
was, in Peaky Blinders so well?
(NORTHERN IRISH ACCENT) That's a very
rich voice right there, isn't it?
Hey!
Uh, there was a couple of things.
First of all,
Liam Neeson is a friend of mine.
Oh, yeah.
So I got him to give me a few tips.
Yeah, he seems like that
And then there's New ZealandNew
Zealand actor called Michael Hurst,
who said, "Remember this one thing."
(NORTHERN IRISH ACCENT) "Northern
Irish can be very, very harsh.
"It's a very, very harsh voice,
but it can be also very tender.
"Absolutely tender, you know."
So I thought,
"That's all I need to know."
Alright. Um, OK.
Well, that's it for my questions.
Thank you, Mitch.
Good man.
Jackson, would you like
to have a turn?
Yes.
G'day, Sam.
(LAUGHS)
I love the way you move that mike.
That was cool.
Well, thank you.
WOMAN: How did he move it?
I write stories.
Some of my stories
have been inspired by dinosaurs
in Jurassic Park.
What was it like seeing yourself
running from velociraptors
at 60 kilometres per hour?
Do you think you could still run
fast enough?
(LAUGHTER)
Um, yes. Absolutely. No question.
We did another one
a couple of years ago,
and everyone else was about
100 years younger than me,
and I wasI was worried about
the running-away bit.
Um, but here I am.
I'm undamaged, and nobody bit me,
so no worries.
Excellent question, Dinosaur Man.
(LAUGHS)
Were you excited about
getting to play Dr Alan Grant again
in Jurassic World,
21 years after Jurassic Park 3
in 2001?
Yeah, it was a long time
between drinks, wasn't it?
And I mostly excited about getting
back with my old friends,
um, Laura and Jeff
because we formed such good
friendships on that first film.
But we did film it in 2020,
and for a few months there,
we were the only film that
was being made in the world,
and we were living under
very strict protocols.
I still don't know what
any of the crew look like,
because they all wore masks
the whole time,
and we would take our masks off
at the very last minute
and run from a dinosaur or something.
But, yeah, so it was filmed under
very difficult, very unusual
circumstances.
It sounds like fun.
Thank you, Jackson.
(APPLAUSE)
Um, Dylan.
Oh, yeah. That's me.
Oh, yeah. Dylan! Here you go.
MAN: Go, Dylan.
Thank you.
Take care of it.
Dylan.
Hi, Sam Neill.
Hi, Dylan.
Um, I have a first question.
How do you find so many girlfriends?
(LAUGHTER)
II Have I had a lot
of girlfriends? Have I?
Yeah.
I have?
You do.
WOMAN: Dylan knows everything.
I
I know everything.
(LAUGHS)
You've really put me on the spot
there, Dylan.
III
If I've had a lot?
No, no, I've just been around
for a long time, OK?
(LAUGHTER)
(LAUGHS)
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
OK.
We're going to go to Chow next.
So would you like to pass the mike
to Chow?
I'll stand I'll stand up.
I'll stand up for my question
and sit back down.
Whatever you like, Chow.
Alright.
Sam Neill, um, would you rather be
in an old film
with Humphrey Bogart
and Ingrid Bergman,
or in a new film with Ryan Gosling
and Emily Blunt?
That's a really good question.
And
And I've already done a film
with Emily Blunt,
so she's out of the way.
And Ryan Gosling's popular
enough as it is.
Uh (LAUGHS)
And wasn't he great
in the Barbie movie?
Oh, he was so good.
Yeah, he was terrific.
He was very sexy as Ken.
(LAUGHTER)
Sexy is something else. OK.
Um, so I'd take the old movie, um,
Humphrey Bogart and?
Ingrid Bergman.
..Ingrid Bergman. I mean, fantastic.
There's something about those
old movies that was so wonderful.
I was brought up on those films.
I'm not sure if movie stars are
magical anymore like they were then.
They still are.
It's all around you.
(LAUGHS)
(APPLAUSE)
Andrew, would you like to ask Sam
a question?
Yeah. Andrew. OK.
Welcome, Sam.
You have played a scientist,
a priest,
and the antichrist in films.
Which was your favourite?
Um, well, look, is it OK
if I say the antichrist?
That's fine. Yeah. Thank you.
That's good. Yeah.
And I think the reason for that was
I felt sort of sorry for him.
I felt really sorry for him.
That's right.
It must be such a lonely job.
Thank you.
No-one likes you
if you're the antichrist.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for that.
Thank you, Andrew.
OK.
Bethany, you're up.
Hello.
Hi.
Sam Kneel.
That's good.
(LAUGHS)
Lovely to meet you, Sam.
Um, in your long career
as an actor and creative,
I'm sure you've worked alongside
a lot of people
who are neurodivergent.
What is good about being different?
MAN: Oh, yes.
Mmm.
Wouldn't it be boring
if we're all the same?
Wouldn't it be dull?
And I And I love the fact
that people have
different abilities
and different perspectives,
different ways of thinking.
Um
One of my children has ADD,
and he is just
the most wonderful company.
You know, he's witty and
..he's so much funnier
than any of the rest of us.
Um, I think conformity is overrated.
And I love the fact that
people can be different.
Yeah.
It surely feels a bit more at home
here with all of us, then.
(LAUGHS) Yeah.
Ummany autistic people
communicate differently
and learn to speak late.
You had a stutter as a child.
What was that experience like
for you?
Yes, I did have a, um
..a really crippling stutter,
actually,
and it kind of faded away during
my sort of high school years.
I think acting helped a bit.
In fact, I think it probably
helped a great deal that
..that I realised I could go on stage
and, uh
I'm sort of stuttering a bit now,
actually
..but I could be, you know
Nothing wouldwould faze me
in terms of that.
So I was very silent as a child.
I hardly spoke,
certainly not to adults,
and not at all to adults
I didn't know.
I was unable to speak.
Yeah, wow.
Because I was worried about,
you know,
someone would ask me a question
and I would worry about going,
"Mhm, mhm, mhm, mhm, mhm."
And so I'd just sort of avoid them
so that no-one asked me a question.
Had to put that mask up.
Confidence in acting.
Yeah.
Very cool. Thank you so much.
(APPLAUSE)
Savannah, would you like
to take a turn?
DYLAN: You got this, Savannah.
I love chickens because
they are round and fluffy
and they go brrrrk
(LAUGHS)
They are also cuteness overload,
and I just want to squeeze them.
Why do you love your chickens?
Um, yeah.
Well, they don't answer back.
They're just
And they flock around me
when I go out to see them.
And, um, I'm popular because I feed
them. That's the truth of it.
It's not because of my glowing
personality or something.
It's just they know I'm the guy
that gets the food
out of the food thing.
Oh.
Are you allowed to let them
through your house?
The chickens are not allowed
in the house.
It's a It's a It's a
(LAUGHTER)
..a hard and fast rule.
There's no chickens in the house.
Because they tend to do
their business on your floor.
And sometimes they come up
to where I
I like to sit in the sun
in the morning with a cup of tea.
And they've
Someone's done their business
on myon my seat.
Oh!
Andand that's where I think,
just stop, stop shitting on my seat.
You know.
(LAUGHTER)
They jump on your seat
just to have a little sit-down.
But then they end up
doing their business
and then make the seat dirty.
Yeah.
Thank you, Savannah.
Angus, you're up.
Come on, Angus, you can do it.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Hello, Sam.
Um, you've been knighted. Sir Sam.
As part of your role
being a knight,
how many dragons
have you had to fight?
(LAUGHTER)
Yeah. It's, um I'm
I'm sorry you had to bring that up,
because I'm slightly embarrassed
about the 'sir' thing.
It was a fantastic honour,
and I'm baffled as to why they gave
me such an honour, but they did.
And II said
I didn't want the title
for about 10 or 12 years
or something like that,
but I'll take the medal, thanks.
Andand then when I thought
I was dying a couple of years ago,
I thought, "Oh, bugger it,"
you know. "I'll
"I'm dying. I might as well go out
with the title."
So
So I changed my mind.
Well, thank you.
Thank you very much, Sam.
Thank you, Angus.
Thank you so much.
Dale, do you want to have
the next turn?
I understand currently
that you are single
and you have a liking
for Australian journalists.
We happen to have a single
Australian journalist with us
..with us today.
Would you consider Leigh Sales?
(LAUGHTER)
I can feel myself blushing.
I thought I thought
Me too, Leigh.
I thought you were all supposed
to run your questions past me.
That's a very interesting question.
I justI'm already
feeling out of my depth.
(LAUGHTER)
But thanks for the question.
I finally took the step
into full-time acting two years ago.
One of the biggest things I struggle
with in acting is memorising lines.
No matter how many videos I watch
and methods I use,
I still find it hard and spend
a lot of time memorising my lines.
How do you memorise lines?
What are your tricks?
I have a bit of trouble myself,
you know,
particularly with lists and names.
You know, that's
Apparently there is a different part
of your brain that remembers names,
and I'm really bad at that.
And names and scripts, you know,
they just,
they just drop out of my head,
but, you know, banal conversation,
I can learn six pages
in 10 minutes.
Like, so just if you had any tricks,
that would be awesome.
Practice. Practice makes perfect.
Keep practising.
Yeah.
Awesome. Thank you.
Thank you, Dale.
Silas, you want to go?
Uh
Hello.
Hi.
Uh, if you could speak with anyone,
living or dead,
who would you choose?
And what would you talk about?
If I
Wow, what a question.
If I could speak with anyone,
living or dead, who would I choose?
Oh, my goodness, there's so many,
isn't there?
I I think Winston Churchill.
I don't think we have anything
in common particularly.
He was an aristocrat.
He was a conservative politician,
all those sort of things.
But he's a great conversationalist.
And he could write books
and he was great on his feet.
And I would ask him to accompany me
to dinner and talk to me.
And, yeah, I think I'll probably
think of someone much better
as soon as I've left here, but
we'll say Winston Churchill for now.
What are your highest hopes
for your descendants?
My highest hopes for my descendants.
Yes.
Wow.
I earnestly hope that the planet
is in good condition for them,
and that they can pass the place
on in better nick than they found it.
I am extremely concerned about
what they call climate change.
That sounds like a euphemism to me.
In fact, I think
it's probably climate cataclysm.
So I hope, I hope the best for them.
But I'm not all that optimistic,
frankly.
I'm sorry to have to say that,
but I
Yeah.
Let's let Abbey have a turn.
What is the best lesson
you learned from your parents?
Oh
Wow. That's a really interesting
question.
That's a really, really interesting
question.
I think there were
Yeah Um
I don't know why that question
has moved me so much,
but, um, it has, um
My parents were of the generation
that went through a lot of things.
They went through the Depression.
Um, my mother lost her father
in the first war.
Um, so she grew up
without her father.
Yeah. So, they went through
a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff.
But they were very stoic people.
And I had a year at university
where I'd done bugger all.
I, you know, I was acting in plays
and I'm trying to find a girlfriend
and, you know, things,
all that sort of
It came to exam time and I realised
I'd done almost no work.
It got me very anxious.
Anyway, I got home and Mum
said, "How are you, darling?"
And I said, "Oh, Mum,
I think I'm having a breakdown
"and I've got exams
in a couple of weeks
"and I don't know
how I'm going to go."
And she just looked at me
and she said,
"Well, you're just going to have to
pull yourself together, aren't you?"
And I think that was the best lesson
I learned from her
is sometimes you just
have to pull yourself together.
It's a tough lesson,
but it's a good one.
But thanks for that question.
That was very interesting.
You're welcome.
You're about to cry.
Yeah. Did he Was he crying?
Actually, I've got a tissue
in my pocket if you need it.
Oh.
No, it hasn't been used.
Don't worry.
Alright. OK.
I'll dry my eyes and thank you.
Now, Sam, some of the students
have prepared
something else for you.
Step out for a second
if you're involved in that.
You know what you need to get.
Well, what is this?
Don't tell him anything.
Do we have the scripts?
I'm a little bit anxious.
I don't quite know
what's going to happen, but
My wings will fit perfectly.
This is going to be so good.
Here we go.
This year almost marks
the 50th anniversary
of Sam Neill's acting career.
To celebrate this milestone,
we would like to re-create
your very first play,
a midsummer Night's Dream.
Wow.
Uh Oh, so this is our script?
Yes.
OK.
And we would be honoured if you
would take the part of narrator.
Absolutely. Um
OK. Good.
Actors ready?
Ready.
Actors ready.
We're ready.
Our story takes place
in a mystical forest
where Oberon, king of the fairies,
and his queen Titania
(GIGGLING)
..have argued fiercely.
Seeking revenge, Oberon casts
a spell on the sleeping Titania
to make her fall in love
with the first creature she sees
when she awakens.
Whatever you see when you awake
as your true love, you will take.
Are we all here?
Yes.
I don't think we should
have any scary things in it.
(CHUCKLES)
Puck transforms Bottom's
head into that of a donkey.
# La, la, la, la, la.. #
Fairies, come here.
ALL: Greetings.
She falls in love.
It's like love at first sight.
And so our story concludes here
for now,
with Queen Titania hopelessly in love
with the ass-headed Bottom.
Sam, we've all had so much fun
having you here.
I wonder if Abbey
could do the vote of thanks.
Thank you so much
for coming today, Sam.
It was an honour having you here,
and we will see you later.
Yeah.
Thank you very much for having me.
ALL: (CHANT) Sam. Sam. Sam. Sam.
Sam. Sam. Sam. Sam.
It was It was a privilege.
And it was a really fun afternoon.
Thank you so much.
What a day.
It was lovely, Sam.
Thank you so much.
I have no idea if I was any good.
Alright, we're gonna get ready
for a photo with Sam.
Oh, my God, I made him cry
with my question.
You did.
Did you hear that Sam
is now officially my boyfriend.
This is your beautiful seat, sir.
Thank you.
Hello.
Hi.
Yeah.
OK. Thanks for having me, guys.
You are welcome.
Simon says big smiles.
I had a fun afternoon.
It was a roller-coaster.
A roller-coaster. Yeah. Right.
(LAUGHTER)
Beautiful.
Now, our next guest has a long
history as a comic presenter.
He's got two gold Logies.
Who is it?
Who is it?
Hamish Blake.
What?
Wow.
I feel like Hamish
will be amazing in this
because he's so authentic, and I
think he'll be absolutely lovely.
You guys know what you're doing?
I don't know what's going on.
But I also feel a little nervous
on his behalf
because I know the kind
of questions coming his way.
Have you ever told a joke
that you've regretted telling?
Is that
because of your own childhood,
or, like, in spite
of your own childhood?
Do you think making people laugh
is the same as making people happy?
Nice.
Already I love this
because that's questions
that I've never got before.
Got plenty more of those.
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
MAN: Main light fading up.
Testing. Testing. One, two, three.
One, two, three. Look at me.
I'm, like, nervous.
WOMAN: He's coming. Is he here?
Oh, here he is.
LEIGH SALES: Everyone, this is Sam.
Hello.
Hi, everybody.
This is your seat, Sam.
Good to see you.
Welcome.
Thanks. Thanks for having me.
I am Dale.
I'm Abbey.
Hi, Abbey.
Hi, Sam.
I That's a creature of some kind.
Uh
Tyrannosaurus rex.
That'll be it.
Uh, a velociraptor?
Yes.
I'm doing well so far.
(LEIGH CHUCKLES)
My God!
Hi, Sam!
Hi. Nice to see you all.
Getting, like, a big crowd, isn't it?
Bigbig friendly crowd.
That's me!
Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
We're going to welcome today's
guest, who is Sam Neill,
Hi, Leigh.
Hello, Sam Neill.
We are a collective
of autistic journalism students.
We are very delighted
to have you join us here today.
Our rules are,
no subject is out of bounds,
no question is off the table,
and ANYTHING might happen.
Ooh!
So sit back,
and welcome to the Assembly.
Thank you very much.
Quiet on set.
Andaction.
For the first time in Australia,
autistic students are undertaking
an autism-friendly
Introduction to Journalism course.
WOMAN: They will
attend classes at university
What is journalism,
and why is it important?
..and be mentored by one of
Australia's best journalists.
This is the chance
to work with people
who haven't really
had a voice in media,
and to help them kind of figure out
how to do it their way.
MAN: 1 in 40 Aussies
are on the autism spectrum
and it's time for those voices
to be included
in national conversations.
To test their skills,
the students will interview some
of Australia's most famous people
Hello!
Hello!
Yeah.
To get behind the spin,
to find the real person.
Do you think you are hot?
(LAUGHTER)
What are the last sounds
you'd like to hear in life?
What a question!
What is your favourite thing
about yourself?
Are you a really annoying dad?
Who is the meanest Prime Minister
you've met?
Boom!
I'm gonna cry.
Wow. What a question.
ALL: We are The Assembly!
I'm feeling very nervous.
Like, I feel like things are, like
..there's something
eating up inside of me,
and I feel like I'm going to
explode of anxiety.
To have this opportunity
is gonna be amazing.
I wanted to study journalism before,
but I didn't have the confidence.
Wow!
Look at this place!
So cool.
This is so cool!
Wow.
Feeling a little bit nervous
to meet new people.
But also, I'm excited, as I'll get
to be on TV and be famous.
(BOTH BREATHE DEEPLY)
(LAUGHS)
WOMAN: Hi, everyone. Welcome.
How are you feeling?
How's everyone going?
ALL: Good.
So, Ty and I will be your teachers,
but
..you're going to get
a journalist mentor
(EXCLAMATIONS)
..to help you prepare
What the?
..for your celebrity interviews.
So, who will that be?
Your mentor is going to be
..Leigh Sales.
What?!
Oh! Here she comes!
Here she comes now!
(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
Aww! That's so nice.
That's so lovely. Oh
WOMAN: One of the most iconic
Australian journalists of all time
is going to be our teacher?
I'm shocked.
Very, very shocked.
Thank you very much.
Our mentor is a famous person!
And you'll do, like,
one-on-one with us as well?
One-on-one, and so I'll help you all
when you're workshopping
your questions
and to just help you
if you get stuck with anything
or if you just want
to bounce ideas off me,
I'll be here to help you
with all of that.
MAN: I don't think they could have
picked anyone better.
She has been around and doing this
sort of thing for longer than
..I don't want to make her feel old,
but longer than a lot of us
have been alive.
OK, so, would you all
be interested in knowing
who our celebrity interview
is going to be?
MAN: Oh, yes, please.
Our first guest
..you might have seen him
in Jurassic Park
Oh, my God.
..in Thor, in Peter Rabbit,
in the Hunt For The Wilderpeople.
Wow.
He splits his time between
Australia and New Zealand.
Our first guest
..is Sam Neill.
(EXCLAMATIONS, CHEERING)
MAN: I have never
heard that name before.
(LAUGHTER)
It's just like a flock of birds
evading a predator.
MAN: Sam Neill has been acting
for over 50 years.
He owns a winery and a farm.
He's ahe's very successful.
Not many people
do get the opportunity
to interview
very big people like this,
and I think it's crazy to say, like,
"Hey, I interviewed Sam Neill."
LEIGH: Alright, well, let's get
into talking about Sam Neill.
So, Evie, tell me
what you're thinking about.
Uh
If, I guess, he's ever, like,
gotten, like, nervous
when he's about to do a scene
and what, like, tips he has
for, like, nerves and stuff.
That's a great question.
He must have got nervous, surely.
This is my wonderland. (LAUGHS)
These are my headwear,
meerkat ears that I made,
and some clips.
Autism, for me, it feels like
crash-landing on Earth.
And I'm like an alien
from a different planet
where, like, my planet is filled
with musicals and, like,
cartoons and bubbliness,
and I come into this world
and it's like I don't
speak the language.
This drawing represents
neurotypical society trapping me.
I wanted to do this course
because, like, when I watch
my idols being interviewed,
I was like,
"Oh, I wish I could do that,
"but I'm not sure
if I have the skills."
How are you feeling
about meeting Sam Neill?
Confident.
(LAUGHS) Good on you.
And I brought
my imagination dinosaurs.
Oh! Cool.
But they're not real.
So are you going to bring them
to meet Sam?
Yes.
Oh, awesome. That'll be great.
Let's just brainstorm
some questions.
In the prep session,
I'm really trying to do two things.
One is to give the students
confidence,
because that's hard to get out there
and, you know,
ask questions of somebody.
What interests you about Sam?
The first thing that comes up to me
is him having chickens.
(LAUGHS) Good.
I think that's interesting too.
The other thing is to help them find
the clearest way to ask
what they want to ask.
When you were acting
in Jurassic Park,
did you have any
have a favourite or
..of any dinosaur in movie
and history?
Oh yeah. Like,
what's his favourite dinosaur
Yeah.
..basically?
Yeah.
If anyone comes with a similar
question to any of those ones
Yeah. We'll weed
We'll weed it out.
I'll have them taken out the back.
Gotten rid of.
Oh
No, I'm joking.
No, no, no.
I won't. I won't.
So, before you tell me
any specific questions,
like, what kind of themes
are you interested in around him?
Mostly his acting.
I think that's where I'm going
to focus all my questions
because that's
what I'm interested in, so
Acting is definitely
one of my passions.
You get to live a character
that may be doing this,
and you never got to experience that
growing up.
Like, for example, I had to play
a character that went to a party,
and I never went to parties
growing up.
This is where I used to spend
a lot of my time.
I would spend up to 22 hours
in my room.
I would sit here and I would game,
watch YouTube, watch a show,
go to bed, and repeat.
That's all I would do.
If you asked me to do this, like,
four years ago,
I would never do this in my life.
Like, I couldn't even go up
to a counter and get a straw.
I was that awkward
and so non-confident.
See it right there,
that's where I'll be working.
My mum, she put all her effort
into helping me,
and I think it's paid off now.
Dale has always been told
no, he can't.
Even as a child,
his kindergarten teacher told me,
"The best thing you can do
is put him in a home.
"Just" You know
See, I told you I'd get upset.
(TEARFULLY) She told me that
he would never amount to anything.
And it was really hard to hear.
So I just went and grabbed his hand
and took him home,
and I never took him back to school.
And I always tell him,
"You can do anything you want."
Autism does not mean no.
It just means
it's a little bit harder.
I might just go "Why wine?"
Yeah, yeah, that's a good one.
Yeah. And then I'll have another
one just in case.
You've all done fantastically well
there. That's great.
I can't wait to hear how he answers
some of those questions.
(WOMAN SIGHS)
Do you feel nervous?
Oh, my God!
Testing. Testing. One, two, three.
One, two, three.
It's DJ Mitch in the house.
(HUMS)
The big challenge with
interview number one is that
it is a complete unknown.
We just do not know what will happen
because we haven't done it before.
He's coming.
(EXHALES)
Under pressure, will they be able
to ask what they want to ask?
And so I feel just, "Oh, God,
are they going to be alright?"
You know, that kind of feeling.
Thank you.
WOMAN: Oh, here he is.
(LAUGHTER)
Legend.
Come and say hello to everyone.
Everyone, this is Sam.
Hi, Sam.
Hi, everybody.
MAN: Very nice to meet you.
MAN: Welcome to the Assembly.
Great to have you.
Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Oh, my God, oh, my God.
Oh, my God, he's beautiful. Oh!
Oh!
Feeling a bit uncertain
about what's going to happen.
(CHUCKLES) Yeah.
Just uncertainty.
Girl coming through.
I'm nervous.
Very nervous.
Scared.
I recognise the hat.
OK, everybody,
let's all gather together.
And we're going to welcome
today's guest,
who is Sam Neill.
It's lovely to have you in with us,
Sam. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Leigh.
Andrew, would you give us
our inclusion statement, please?
Welcome, Sam.
This is a safe space.
Everyone can relax
and be themselves.
There will be no judgement.
Please do what you need to join in.
For example, fidget, move,
take a break.
Ask if you need anything
to help you be included.
Welcome.
Thank you.
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
Fletcher, would you start us off
today, please?
FLETCHER: Of course, Leigh.
Good evening, Sam.
My first question for you is,
when to have to look terrified
in a movie,
what are you thinking about?
When I look terrified in a movie?
Yeah.
(LAUGHS) That's a really good
question.
I'm thinking
I'm thinking, "Am I being real?"
"Am I real or is it just me?"
"Is it What"
"Is the director happy with me?"
"Am I Am I a fool?
What am I doing here?"
"Am I a fraud?"
(LAUGHTER)
You know.
There's a lot of imposter syndrome
withwith acting.
Yeah. Alright. Thank you, Sam Neill.
Fletcher, thank you so much.
You're welcome.
(APPLAUSE)
That was very good.
Anastasia.
Give me the mike! Alright.
Uh, you worked with Chris Pratt
in Jurassic Park,
and you worked with Chris Hemsworth
in the Thor franchises.
Who is your favourite Chris?
Ooh.
(LAUGHS)
Um, I don't have a favourite Chris.
They're just big guys.
Big, wide boys.
They're sweet men, andand
and both really funny, actually.
The last film I did with Hemsworth,
he seemed to be, like,
twice as big as he was
the first time I worked with him.
(LAUGHS) Oh, my God!
And I said to him, "You've
really let yourself down," you know?
"Why aren't you going to the gym?"
(LAUGHS) Oh, God. OK.
Second question.
In the movie Rams,
you killed most of the sheep.
What was the sheep's blood
made out of?
And did you eat it?
And what did it taste like?
(LAUGHS)
We didn't really kill any sheep,
but there was a lot
of fake blood around.
And, uh, I'm glad you saw that.
It's a It's a film I liked.
It was actually the school's idea.
Like, the school was like,
"Congratulations!
"We're gonna go see Rams!"
And we're all like, yay
(LAUGHTER)
Well, that's honest. Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
When you came out,
were you still going, "Yeah"
or were you going,
"That was better than I thought"?
What did you think?
It was OK.
It was OK. It was OK for me.
But were you
MAN: Brutal.
We're in high school.
We like cartoons.
Come on, Anastasia.
(APPLAUSE)
LEIGH: Stephanie, where are you?
Would you like to have a turn?
STEPHANIE: Yep.
Come on, you can do it.
OK.
You've said that you're more scared
of retirement than dying.
Um, can you tell us more about that?
Yeah.
Look, I've had to sort of think
about dying a bit,
more than I would normally,
uh, for the last couple of years,
because I've been, you know,
living with cancer.
And, uh,
you know, we're all going to die
oneone day,
but, um, retirement's far scarier,
not doing anything, you know?
And a lot of people are forced
to play golf, you know?
This is This is
(LAUGHTER)
I mean, that's where the old man's
hobbies are normally.
Yeah. Old Man Hobby is playing golf
with other old men.
I cannot think of anything
less appealing.
Mmm, yeah.
I hate it, you know.
And I'm not good at it.
That doesn't help.
I think you might need to,
like, find a hobby that you like
when you're, like, retired.
My job is my hobby. Really.
Aw.
Yeah. That's nice.
But more than that,
I'm a bit of a farmer.
And I've got animals and my pigs
and mymy sheep and
and my silly chickens and so on.
Aw
Um
They're my hobby as well.
I like looking after them.
I think they're lovely as well.
Can I ask you a question?
Do I get to ask a question?
Yeah, of course.
You can do whatever you like.
Why not? Yeah.
MAN: Anything can happen, remember?
Yeah, anything can happen.
What do you
I mean, I think it's a sort
of question about humanity as well,
but whatwhat do you all
have in common?
MAN: We have autism.
(LAUGHTER)
You have autism.
We have disabilities!
We see the world a certain way.
MAN: Yeah.
WOMAN: We all dream
to be in this career.
I'm pretty sure
that's what we have in common.
I think we allwe all wantfame.
We all want fame.
No. No.
MAN: No.
I thinkI think we all just
kind of, like, you know,
love stories, love telling stories,
and sharing stories with each other.
Yeah.
Good.
And sharing with people like you.
Yeah. Yeah.
Right.
LEIGH: Thanks, Steph.
Evie's next.
EVIE: Oh, no.
Come on, Evie, you can do it.
Come on.
You got it, Evie. Come on!
OK. Um Alright (LAUGHS)
OK. Um
(INHALES SHARPLY)
You can do it.
Um
Come on.
Um Uh Um
Um, when you get nervous,
what things do you do
to calm yourself down?
Wow.
Um Yes.
Uh, when I get nervous
..I probably, um, eat some toast
or something like that.
Oh!
You know.
I'm (LAUGHS)
I'm a bit of a snacker.
More of a snacker than I
than I should be.
I also have a bit of a talk
to myself.
(GASPS)
And
And so, you know, what is there
to be nervous about?
You're fine. You'll be OK.
You've done this before.
You'll be right.
Anyway And
Oh, my God, no.
My next question.
I've heardI've heard
how hard chemotherapy can be
and how some people can't take it
and would rather give in
to their cancer.
In those moments, what motivated
you to keep going through
..keep going,
and did you have anyone
supporting you through it?
It's It's pretty
It's pretty brutal.
And I still have chemotherapy
on a regular basis.
But it's keeping me alive.
And I'm on a different one now,
so at least I don't look like
a bald, you know,
like somebody's bald thumb.
That's what I looked like
for quitequite a while.
It was embarrassing.
And, you know, I lost my beard
and everything, you know,
and my dignity went with it.
But I'm also extremely grateful
for it
because it'sit's kept me
it's kept me alive,
andand living is much better
than the other thing.
Yeah. I agree.
Yeah. Thank Thank you.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks, Evie.
(APPLAUSE)
MITCH: Well done, Evie.
Oh, I'm next?
OK.
So, um, in the past,
are there any roles that you wish
you had gotten at the time?
Um
I did turn down one role.
It was one of the drag queens
in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Oh! Oh.
Quite happily put on drag.
No problem at all.
Um, but I didn't get it.
I didn't think it was funny.
You know?
I just I did
My reading faculties let me down.
I thought, "No, this is
never going to work."
I could not be more wrong.
I thought the film was fantastic,
and unhappy that I'm not in it.
Yeah.
Um, I actually try some
I actually sometimes try at accents,
but how did you nail
the Northern Irish accent
as Inspector Campbell, I think it
was, in Peaky Blinders so well?
(NORTHERN IRISH ACCENT) That's a very
rich voice right there, isn't it?
Hey!
Uh, there was a couple of things.
First of all,
Liam Neeson is a friend of mine.
Oh, yeah.
So I got him to give me a few tips.
Yeah, he seems like that
And then there's New ZealandNew
Zealand actor called Michael Hurst,
who said, "Remember this one thing."
(NORTHERN IRISH ACCENT) "Northern
Irish can be very, very harsh.
"It's a very, very harsh voice,
but it can be also very tender.
"Absolutely tender, you know."
So I thought,
"That's all I need to know."
Alright. Um, OK.
Well, that's it for my questions.
Thank you, Mitch.
Good man.
Jackson, would you like
to have a turn?
Yes.
G'day, Sam.
(LAUGHS)
I love the way you move that mike.
That was cool.
Well, thank you.
WOMAN: How did he move it?
I write stories.
Some of my stories
have been inspired by dinosaurs
in Jurassic Park.
What was it like seeing yourself
running from velociraptors
at 60 kilometres per hour?
Do you think you could still run
fast enough?
(LAUGHTER)
Um, yes. Absolutely. No question.
We did another one
a couple of years ago,
and everyone else was about
100 years younger than me,
and I wasI was worried about
the running-away bit.
Um, but here I am.
I'm undamaged, and nobody bit me,
so no worries.
Excellent question, Dinosaur Man.
(LAUGHS)
Were you excited about
getting to play Dr Alan Grant again
in Jurassic World,
21 years after Jurassic Park 3
in 2001?
Yeah, it was a long time
between drinks, wasn't it?
And I mostly excited about getting
back with my old friends,
um, Laura and Jeff
because we formed such good
friendships on that first film.
But we did film it in 2020,
and for a few months there,
we were the only film that
was being made in the world,
and we were living under
very strict protocols.
I still don't know what
any of the crew look like,
because they all wore masks
the whole time,
and we would take our masks off
at the very last minute
and run from a dinosaur or something.
But, yeah, so it was filmed under
very difficult, very unusual
circumstances.
It sounds like fun.
Thank you, Jackson.
(APPLAUSE)
Um, Dylan.
Oh, yeah. That's me.
Oh, yeah. Dylan! Here you go.
MAN: Go, Dylan.
Thank you.
Take care of it.
Dylan.
Hi, Sam Neill.
Hi, Dylan.
Um, I have a first question.
How do you find so many girlfriends?
(LAUGHTER)
II Have I had a lot
of girlfriends? Have I?
Yeah.
I have?
You do.
WOMAN: Dylan knows everything.
I
I know everything.
(LAUGHS)
You've really put me on the spot
there, Dylan.
III
If I've had a lot?
No, no, I've just been around
for a long time, OK?
(LAUGHTER)
(LAUGHS)
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
OK.
We're going to go to Chow next.
So would you like to pass the mike
to Chow?
I'll stand I'll stand up.
I'll stand up for my question
and sit back down.
Whatever you like, Chow.
Alright.
Sam Neill, um, would you rather be
in an old film
with Humphrey Bogart
and Ingrid Bergman,
or in a new film with Ryan Gosling
and Emily Blunt?
That's a really good question.
And
And I've already done a film
with Emily Blunt,
so she's out of the way.
And Ryan Gosling's popular
enough as it is.
Uh (LAUGHS)
And wasn't he great
in the Barbie movie?
Oh, he was so good.
Yeah, he was terrific.
He was very sexy as Ken.
(LAUGHTER)
Sexy is something else. OK.
Um, so I'd take the old movie, um,
Humphrey Bogart and?
Ingrid Bergman.
..Ingrid Bergman. I mean, fantastic.
There's something about those
old movies that was so wonderful.
I was brought up on those films.
I'm not sure if movie stars are
magical anymore like they were then.
They still are.
It's all around you.
(LAUGHS)
(APPLAUSE)
Andrew, would you like to ask Sam
a question?
Yeah. Andrew. OK.
Welcome, Sam.
You have played a scientist,
a priest,
and the antichrist in films.
Which was your favourite?
Um, well, look, is it OK
if I say the antichrist?
That's fine. Yeah. Thank you.
That's good. Yeah.
And I think the reason for that was
I felt sort of sorry for him.
I felt really sorry for him.
That's right.
It must be such a lonely job.
Thank you.
No-one likes you
if you're the antichrist.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for that.
Thank you, Andrew.
OK.
Bethany, you're up.
Hello.
Hi.
Sam Kneel.
That's good.
(LAUGHS)
Lovely to meet you, Sam.
Um, in your long career
as an actor and creative,
I'm sure you've worked alongside
a lot of people
who are neurodivergent.
What is good about being different?
MAN: Oh, yes.
Mmm.
Wouldn't it be boring
if we're all the same?
Wouldn't it be dull?
And I And I love the fact
that people have
different abilities
and different perspectives,
different ways of thinking.
Um
One of my children has ADD,
and he is just
the most wonderful company.
You know, he's witty and
..he's so much funnier
than any of the rest of us.
Um, I think conformity is overrated.
And I love the fact that
people can be different.
Yeah.
It surely feels a bit more at home
here with all of us, then.
(LAUGHS) Yeah.
Ummany autistic people
communicate differently
and learn to speak late.
You had a stutter as a child.
What was that experience like
for you?
Yes, I did have a, um
..a really crippling stutter,
actually,
and it kind of faded away during
my sort of high school years.
I think acting helped a bit.
In fact, I think it probably
helped a great deal that
..that I realised I could go on stage
and, uh
I'm sort of stuttering a bit now,
actually
..but I could be, you know
Nothing wouldwould faze me
in terms of that.
So I was very silent as a child.
I hardly spoke,
certainly not to adults,
and not at all to adults
I didn't know.
I was unable to speak.
Yeah, wow.
Because I was worried about,
you know,
someone would ask me a question
and I would worry about going,
"Mhm, mhm, mhm, mhm, mhm."
And so I'd just sort of avoid them
so that no-one asked me a question.
Had to put that mask up.
Confidence in acting.
Yeah.
Very cool. Thank you so much.
(APPLAUSE)
Savannah, would you like
to take a turn?
DYLAN: You got this, Savannah.
I love chickens because
they are round and fluffy
and they go brrrrk
(LAUGHS)
They are also cuteness overload,
and I just want to squeeze them.
Why do you love your chickens?
Um, yeah.
Well, they don't answer back.
They're just
And they flock around me
when I go out to see them.
And, um, I'm popular because I feed
them. That's the truth of it.
It's not because of my glowing
personality or something.
It's just they know I'm the guy
that gets the food
out of the food thing.
Oh.
Are you allowed to let them
through your house?
The chickens are not allowed
in the house.
It's a It's a It's a
(LAUGHTER)
..a hard and fast rule.
There's no chickens in the house.
Because they tend to do
their business on your floor.
And sometimes they come up
to where I
I like to sit in the sun
in the morning with a cup of tea.
And they've
Someone's done their business
on myon my seat.
Oh!
Andand that's where I think,
just stop, stop shitting on my seat.
You know.
(LAUGHTER)
They jump on your seat
just to have a little sit-down.
But then they end up
doing their business
and then make the seat dirty.
Yeah.
Thank you, Savannah.
Angus, you're up.
Come on, Angus, you can do it.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Hello, Sam.
Um, you've been knighted. Sir Sam.
As part of your role
being a knight,
how many dragons
have you had to fight?
(LAUGHTER)
Yeah. It's, um I'm
I'm sorry you had to bring that up,
because I'm slightly embarrassed
about the 'sir' thing.
It was a fantastic honour,
and I'm baffled as to why they gave
me such an honour, but they did.
And II said
I didn't want the title
for about 10 or 12 years
or something like that,
but I'll take the medal, thanks.
Andand then when I thought
I was dying a couple of years ago,
I thought, "Oh, bugger it,"
you know. "I'll
"I'm dying. I might as well go out
with the title."
So
So I changed my mind.
Well, thank you.
Thank you very much, Sam.
Thank you, Angus.
Thank you so much.
Dale, do you want to have
the next turn?
I understand currently
that you are single
and you have a liking
for Australian journalists.
We happen to have a single
Australian journalist with us
..with us today.
Would you consider Leigh Sales?
(LAUGHTER)
I can feel myself blushing.
I thought I thought
Me too, Leigh.
I thought you were all supposed
to run your questions past me.
That's a very interesting question.
I justI'm already
feeling out of my depth.
(LAUGHTER)
But thanks for the question.
I finally took the step
into full-time acting two years ago.
One of the biggest things I struggle
with in acting is memorising lines.
No matter how many videos I watch
and methods I use,
I still find it hard and spend
a lot of time memorising my lines.
How do you memorise lines?
What are your tricks?
I have a bit of trouble myself,
you know,
particularly with lists and names.
You know, that's
Apparently there is a different part
of your brain that remembers names,
and I'm really bad at that.
And names and scripts, you know,
they just,
they just drop out of my head,
but, you know, banal conversation,
I can learn six pages
in 10 minutes.
Like, so just if you had any tricks,
that would be awesome.
Practice. Practice makes perfect.
Keep practising.
Yeah.
Awesome. Thank you.
Thank you, Dale.
Silas, you want to go?
Uh
Hello.
Hi.
Uh, if you could speak with anyone,
living or dead,
who would you choose?
And what would you talk about?
If I
Wow, what a question.
If I could speak with anyone,
living or dead, who would I choose?
Oh, my goodness, there's so many,
isn't there?
I I think Winston Churchill.
I don't think we have anything
in common particularly.
He was an aristocrat.
He was a conservative politician,
all those sort of things.
But he's a great conversationalist.
And he could write books
and he was great on his feet.
And I would ask him to accompany me
to dinner and talk to me.
And, yeah, I think I'll probably
think of someone much better
as soon as I've left here, but
we'll say Winston Churchill for now.
What are your highest hopes
for your descendants?
My highest hopes for my descendants.
Yes.
Wow.
I earnestly hope that the planet
is in good condition for them,
and that they can pass the place
on in better nick than they found it.
I am extremely concerned about
what they call climate change.
That sounds like a euphemism to me.
In fact, I think
it's probably climate cataclysm.
So I hope, I hope the best for them.
But I'm not all that optimistic,
frankly.
I'm sorry to have to say that,
but I
Yeah.
Let's let Abbey have a turn.
What is the best lesson
you learned from your parents?
Oh
Wow. That's a really interesting
question.
That's a really, really interesting
question.
I think there were
Yeah Um
I don't know why that question
has moved me so much,
but, um, it has, um
My parents were of the generation
that went through a lot of things.
They went through the Depression.
Um, my mother lost her father
in the first war.
Um, so she grew up
without her father.
Yeah. So, they went through
a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff.
But they were very stoic people.
And I had a year at university
where I'd done bugger all.
I, you know, I was acting in plays
and I'm trying to find a girlfriend
and, you know, things,
all that sort of
It came to exam time and I realised
I'd done almost no work.
It got me very anxious.
Anyway, I got home and Mum
said, "How are you, darling?"
And I said, "Oh, Mum,
I think I'm having a breakdown
"and I've got exams
in a couple of weeks
"and I don't know
how I'm going to go."
And she just looked at me
and she said,
"Well, you're just going to have to
pull yourself together, aren't you?"
And I think that was the best lesson
I learned from her
is sometimes you just
have to pull yourself together.
It's a tough lesson,
but it's a good one.
But thanks for that question.
That was very interesting.
You're welcome.
You're about to cry.
Yeah. Did he Was he crying?
Actually, I've got a tissue
in my pocket if you need it.
Oh.
No, it hasn't been used.
Don't worry.
Alright. OK.
I'll dry my eyes and thank you.
Now, Sam, some of the students
have prepared
something else for you.
Step out for a second
if you're involved in that.
You know what you need to get.
Well, what is this?
Don't tell him anything.
Do we have the scripts?
I'm a little bit anxious.
I don't quite know
what's going to happen, but
My wings will fit perfectly.
This is going to be so good.
Here we go.
This year almost marks
the 50th anniversary
of Sam Neill's acting career.
To celebrate this milestone,
we would like to re-create
your very first play,
a midsummer Night's Dream.
Wow.
Uh Oh, so this is our script?
Yes.
OK.
And we would be honoured if you
would take the part of narrator.
Absolutely. Um
OK. Good.
Actors ready?
Ready.
Actors ready.
We're ready.
Our story takes place
in a mystical forest
where Oberon, king of the fairies,
and his queen Titania
(GIGGLING)
..have argued fiercely.
Seeking revenge, Oberon casts
a spell on the sleeping Titania
to make her fall in love
with the first creature she sees
when she awakens.
Whatever you see when you awake
as your true love, you will take.
Are we all here?
Yes.
I don't think we should
have any scary things in it.
(CHUCKLES)
Puck transforms Bottom's
head into that of a donkey.
# La, la, la, la, la.. #
Fairies, come here.
ALL: Greetings.
She falls in love.
It's like love at first sight.
And so our story concludes here
for now,
with Queen Titania hopelessly in love
with the ass-headed Bottom.
Sam, we've all had so much fun
having you here.
I wonder if Abbey
could do the vote of thanks.
Thank you so much
for coming today, Sam.
It was an honour having you here,
and we will see you later.
Yeah.
Thank you very much for having me.
ALL: (CHANT) Sam. Sam. Sam. Sam.
Sam. Sam. Sam. Sam.
It was It was a privilege.
And it was a really fun afternoon.
Thank you so much.
What a day.
It was lovely, Sam.
Thank you so much.
I have no idea if I was any good.
Alright, we're gonna get ready
for a photo with Sam.
Oh, my God, I made him cry
with my question.
You did.
Did you hear that Sam
is now officially my boyfriend.
This is your beautiful seat, sir.
Thank you.
Hello.
Hi.
Yeah.
OK. Thanks for having me, guys.
You are welcome.
Simon says big smiles.
I had a fun afternoon.
It was a roller-coaster.
A roller-coaster. Yeah. Right.
(LAUGHTER)
Beautiful.
Now, our next guest has a long
history as a comic presenter.
He's got two gold Logies.
Who is it?
Who is it?
Hamish Blake.
What?
Wow.
I feel like Hamish
will be amazing in this
because he's so authentic, and I
think he'll be absolutely lovely.
You guys know what you're doing?
I don't know what's going on.
But I also feel a little nervous
on his behalf
because I know the kind
of questions coming his way.
Have you ever told a joke
that you've regretted telling?
Is that
because of your own childhood,
or, like, in spite
of your own childhood?
Do you think making people laugh
is the same as making people happy?
Nice.
Already I love this
because that's questions
that I've never got before.
Got plenty more of those.
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright
Australian Broadcasting Corporation