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SAM NEWS
With the help of Mickey, our Sam Super Sleuth, we scour the world for news about Sam at work and at leisure. Recently, Sam has become involved in the realm of New Zealand politics. For more on Sam's new venture, click on Sam In Politics.
Articles On This Page:
Sam Neill's New Zealand Vineyard
A Glorious Romp Through History
TV Closeup: Sam Neill
Sam's Still Sexy At 60
Son Of Omagh
My Week Thanks for this, Pam!)
I Am Sam - Winemaker
Sam Neill Takes Wine Brand To Hong Kong Images and More!
New (Zealand) Honour For Neill
New Year Honours: Sam Neill Tops Bill
Neill 'tickled pink' For Arts Industry
Neill Stars In New Feature Role (Thanks for this one, Shy Fan!)
The Good Samaritan
Celebrities Gone Wild
Put It Away, Sam...
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Sam Neill And Dame Kiri To Head Actors Fund
WHO Magazine, 1993: Sexiest Man Alive
Order Two Paddocks Wine, Credits, Links
More Articles on Sam News Page 2
Sam Neill's New Zealand Vineyard
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com
Corie Brown
12:14 PM, Mar 20 2008
Like most Pinot Noir vintners, Sam Neill found his original inspiration in the red wines of Burgundy. But "we're hanging by our fingernails" in New Zealand's Central Otago region, he says. Rather than try to imitate Burgundy, Neill says he and the other pioneers in the world's southern-most wine region are finding Central Otago's marginal climate produces wines with "its own kind of excellence." In town for his day job as a Hollywood movie actor ("Jurassic Park", "The Piano" among his dozens of film credits), Neill sat down with me at the Four Seasons Hotel to talk about his passion for Pinot and his just-about-to-be-released line of "Picnic" wines. At $28, it's his "affordable" label.
Neill already was living in Central Otago when stone fruit trees started giving way to vineyards in the 1990s. He jumped on the bandwagon, planting 5 acres of Pinot Noir in Gibbston in 1993. He later added vineyards in the Alexandra District and is in the process of further expanding his vineyard acreage. For the 2007 vintage, he will make 1,400 cases of Two Paddocks wine. That's a "good year" in Central Otago, he says. An early frost can virtually wipe out a vintage, as it did in 2005.
"There will only ever be certain pockets for grapes in Central Otago," he says. Small producers will always dominate the local wine culture. That doesn't mean the ambitions are small, he says. "In our own modest way, we want to make the world's best Pinot Noir. And I'm completely delighted about the way things are going." The trick, Neill says, is to control crop yields to produce "concentrated" wines. But in this extremely cool climate, the alcohol levels on even blockbuster wines can be moderate, between 13% and 13.5%. "We're finding a style that is more or less unique to Central Otago," he says. "The tremendous clarity of expression in the Pinot Noir, the vividness of the fruit, I think, is connected to the utter clarity of the light in Central Otago."
The limited production, however, can make tracking down bottles of Two Paddocks a challenge in Los Angeles. That's part of the reason Neill started buying grapes from other New Zealand regions including Hawkes Bay and Marlborough to produce 2,000 to 3,000 cases a year of Picnic. In addition to Pinot Noir, he produces a Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Riesling under the new label. The 2006 vintage of Picnic arrives in Los Angeles-area stores next month. The 2006 Two Paddocks will be released in June. Both labels, like the vast majority of New Zealand wines, are closed with screw caps. After losing 25% of his 1999 vintage to cork taint, Neill went screw cap and never looked back. Things are edgy enough on New Zealand's South Island, he says, without worrying about corked wine.
A Glorious Romp Through History
Pam Brown
www.thewest.com.au
4th February 2008, 7:00 WST
|
The Tudors is the past as you would like to imagine it was, with a dead sexy young Henry VIII romping with the ladies between bouts of jousting, hunting and games of tennis. It is a glorious flip through British history, richly costumed and beautifully photographed.
Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers sizzles in the role of Henry, all well-honed muscle, smouldering blue eyes and pouting lip. He is not a bad actor either — the series and Rhys Meyers were both Golden Globe nominees this year.
The 10-part Showtime series begins about 1518, when Henry was 27 and had been married to Katherine of Aragon for 10 years. He is having a torrid affair with his wife’s maid-of-honour Elizabeth Blount and she soon falls pregnant.
But another of the Queen’s ladies, Anne Boleyn, has already caught his eye. This is the point where it is wise to forget about history, in real life it was 1533 before Henry had ditched the Catholic Church, divorced Katherine and married Anne. But where is the fun in being too correct?
This series ends with Anne triumphant and Henry in the process of breaking free of the Church of Rome. A second series has just been made that takes in the more famous part of Henry’s life, when the ill and increasingly paranoid king took four more wives.
In the real world, Henry was a giant of a man, both physically (Rhys Meyers is a teeny bit short) and on the world stage at the time. He was surrounded by powerful men and Sam Neill plays one, Cardinal Wolsey, who was locked in a struggle with the scholar and statesman Sir Thomas More for the ear of the king.
“I have to say I really enjoyed making The Tudors,” Neill said. “It was six months with a character that I found immensely intriguing, with a cast that I liked very much and |
with a story I found very compelling. It has elements that are hard to beat — revenge and betrayal, lust and treason, all the things that make for good stories.
“Wolsey was a statesman and an extraordinarily capable man. He was head of the Church in England as well as Chancellor of England, so he was as powerful as the prime minister is today. Not only that, he was a great builder. He built Hampton Court Palace and he endowed a college at Oxford. He even managed to sire two children. He was a busy boy.”
A few critics of the series, which was a hit when shown in the US last year, have questioned whether Rhys Meyers is too good-looking and fit to be Henry and queried the buzz cuts worn by the male characters.
But Neill points out that Henry was extremely handsome and trim when a young man. “It was when he got old and grumpy and had eaten too much that he got to be vast,” he said. “And if you look at Holbein’s paintings from the time, they generally kept their hair very short.”
Neill is relaxing at home in Sydney as we speak, after finishing filming a piece of whimsy called My Talks with Dean Spanley, the story of an Anglican dean’s past life as a spaniel. Peter O’Toole and Bryan Brown were also in the cast and it was, he says, a great deal of fun.
He has made five films since finishing The Tudors in 2006. Before Dean Spanley, there was Skin, a true story about apartheid in South Africa, and then the vampire film Daybreakers, shot on the Gold Coast with Ethan Hawke and Claudia Karvan.
He is not sure how much mileage there still is in vampires but muses that as he is one perhaps it is time for a revival. “I’m fanged and ready to go.”
He ruefully admits that hard work is necessary if he is to support his passion, the Two Paddocks vineyard in Central Otago on New Zealand’s South Island.
“I’d like the vineyard to support me but I’m afraid it is the other way round. It is not a very economic business.”
He also grows organic herbs and distils lavender oil but “our prime purpose is to grow the best wine in the world”.
That means the best pinot noir and that is where the problem lies. “If we were growing sauvignon blanc you can produce 12-14 tonnes to the hectare but with pinot noir it is three to four tonnes and what’s more you have to do everything by hand,” he said.
“It is a ridiculously time and money-consuming business. I would not do it if it was not so satisfying and fun — and it gets me pissed once in awhile.””
TV Close-Up: Sam Neill
by Eirik Knutzen
http://www.bendweekly.com
Apr 06,2007
Although born in the Emerald Isle, Sam Neill found himself a tad homesick after nearly seven months of shooting 10 one-hour episodes of "The Tudors" in and around Dublin. He loved the project, salivated over his role, met with friends all over Great Britain and had several visits by his wife and children; however, his heart and mind always remained focused on his country home in New Zealand.
Neill - a serious traveler who seldom films two movies in a row in the same country - felt the incredible urge to live and breathe with his wife, Noriko Watanabe, and daughter, Elena, in the pastoral beauty of his Two Paddocks vineyard in Central Otago, deep in New Zealand's South Island. He had been dreaming of such blessedly mindless tasks as mowing the grass between his vines.
When he returned to paradise, Fire - Neill's Staffordshire bull terrier employed for rabbit control in the vineyard - chased a bunny into the engine compartment of his late-model Mini-Cooper S. The canine then proceeded to dismantle the car's grill and bumper; a few smaller parts may have been digested.
The rabbit got away, but Fire still sleeps on the best sofa in the house while the Mini-Cooper remains in the shop and suspicious automobile insurance company agents try to piece the case together.
On the more positive side, Neill discovered that he had just been awarded the D.C.N.Z.M. at the 2007 New Year's Honours. Once the 59-year-old picked up the large Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit medal at the Government House in Wellington for his contribution to filmmaking - which fits very nicely with his fine collection of distinguished showbiz service awards, including the Order of the British Empire in 1993 for his contribution to acting - his life returned to normal.
Suddenly, the soft-spoken performer had a few weeks to think about his life and times, particularly his recent activities in Ireland shooting "The Tudors," a 10-hour limited series revolving around the intemperate lives of young King Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (Neill). Wolsey was the son of a butcher and a prostitute who became Lord Chancellor in 1515 while heading the Catholic Church of England during its split from Rome.
By the time both men became fat, disgusting beasts consumed with greed and power, Wolsey fell from the graces of Ann Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) and the king, after dragging his feet regarding a papal annulment of Henry's marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy). Stripped of his power and earthly possessions overnight, Wolsey died under hazy circumstances in 1530 on the road to London, where apparently he was falsely accused of rape.
It was also a matter of taking on a huge personal challenge on camera, according to Neill, a man who counts "A Cry in the Dark," "The Hunt for Red October," "The Piano," "Jurassic Park" and "Jurassic Park III" among his big-screen successes.
"It was a happy time for me, working with a great ensemble cast led by Jonny Rhys-Meyers, who is intelligent and charismatic. But it's a bit daunting to work with really fantastic British and Irish actors."
Neill was introduced to American television audiences in the brilliant series "Reilly, Ace of Spies," soon followed by the miniseries "Kane and Abel." He killed time while away from his family for half a year by visiting old friends in London and traveling the length of Ireland by car - including his birthplace in Omagh, Northern Ireland.
"It was quite by accident," said the actor-director-writer-producer.
Neill's mother was English, but his father was a third-generation New Zealander serving as an officer with a British-Irish regiment when he happened to be born. A fourth-generation Kiwi, he grew up in New Zealand and studied English literature at the University of Canterbury.
He met his wife - an upper-tier makeup artist who last earned an Academy Award nomination for "Memoirs of a Geisha" - on the set of "Dead Calm," working opposite Nicole Kidman. When both are working at opposite ends of the universe, their three children (his, hers and theirs) are likely to pursue their career or education simultaneously on three continents.
"Something unusual has happened during the past year," sighed Neill, "as Noriko has been home for the past few months we're parenting our 16-year-old Elena through school. I've spent as much time as humanly possible with her while overseeing our pinot noir from vine to bottle and after a slow start due to an early frost, it looks like a vintage year for the Two Paddocks label.
"However, I recently promoted my French film, 'Angel,' at the Berlin Film Festival and I'm about to start an as-yet-untitled film with Guy Pearce in Australia. I love acting, but there are few things as rewarding as opening a good bottle of your own wine."
Sam's Still Sexy At 60
Sunday Herald Sun
April 1, 2007
HE might be pushing 60 years of age, but New Zealand actor Sam Neill is not yet ready to say no to intimate bedroom scenes just yet.
In fact, says Neill, who has a seduction scene in the lavish new TV mini-series The Tudors, he relishes the opportunity now more than ever.
"I have one scene naked in bed with my mistress and at this time of my life I rather welcome that, actually," he says with a smile.
"Mostly if I get asked to do bedroom scenes these days they normally involve pyjamas, a book and some reading glasses and I'm the one who turns the light off.
"So this is, like, back to the old days."
Neill gets his chance for a bedroom romp in The Tudors despite the fact that he plays King Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor Wolsey, or Cardinal Wolsey, in the series which stars Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry. It was written by Michael Hirst, who wrote the 1998 movie Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett.
"All this is accurate," Neill says. "Wolsey had a mistress and he had two children.
"Apparently that was not unusual for members of the clergy in those times. And certainly sex and lust and also romance were important driving factors."
US cable network Showtime staged a Hollywood-style premiere for The Tudors this week at the landmark Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Neill walked the red carpet, but by the time two episodes of the 10-hour series had been screened inside he was on a flight home to New Zealand.
Apart from his storied acting career, the 59-year-old star owns Two Paddocks, which is actually three wineries producing Pinot Noir at Gibbston, on NZ's South Island.
After living abroad for many years while he chalked up myriad credits, Neil moved back to NZ permanently with his Japanese-born wife Noriko about 10 years ago.
They have a 16-year-old daughter, Elena, and Noriko has a daughter Maiko, from a previous relationship. Neill has an adult son, Tim, from his relationship with NZ-born actor Lisa Harrow.
He says he will make a mini-series called Iron Road and possibly two Australian movies over the next few months.
"We're getting into winter now so it's going to get cold and that's a good reason to go north," he says. "I've got a lot of children to feed so I need to work because children equal overheads.
"And I'm coming from about the most isolated place in the world, so there's still something very compelling about getting on an airplane and going to work somewhere different.
"I don't know how many different countries I've worked in - I must work it out one day - but I love going to new places and working with new people and making new friends."
Son Of Omagh
March 8, 2007
www.ulsterherald.com
A CELLO of a voice echoes in my ear, genteel and precise as I sit, beaming and humble by the kitchen table halfway down a big glass of red wine. The voice sounds as though he might be calling from the phone-box at the end of the road. He isn't, of course. He is thousands of miles away, 26 hours as the jet flies, on the opposite side of the globe, just about as far away from me, the wine and the phone-box as it is possible to be.
When Sam Neill rang last Thursday night, it would be fair to say he took me by surprise. Even though I'd been trying to track him down for a chat, it isn't every day a Hollywood wizard rings you at home.
Dinosaur expert, zookeeper, Russian submarine captain, son of the devil - Sam Neill has played them all – and with some aplomb. He has a back catalogue of films that makes the entire British film industry look like the dole queue and has starred in some of the best loved movies in modern cinema history, not least The Horse Whisperer, The Piano, The Dish, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm and Event Horizon. He is probably best known for his portrayal of Dr Alan Grant in Speilberg's blockbusters Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III and it has also been rumoured (though I forgot to ask him about it – dagnabit) that he will reprise his role as the mild-mannered palaeontologist in the possible 2008 film Jurassic Park IV.
Did I mention he's from Omagh?
"The memories I have of Omagh, tend to be memories from photographs," the cello tells me quietly. "I was back two or three years ago, though I only stayed briefly, just for the night. I found the house where I was born actually, which was kind of interesting. I can't explain where it is. It was in the countryside when I was small, though that's changed now."
Sam is thinking of Mullaghmore House on the Old Mountfield Road, although I am unaware of this at the time.
"Come to think of it, I don't know why I wasn't born in the hospital. I was born in the kitchen, according to my mother."
Speaking from his home on New Zealand's South Island, Sam Neill pelts questions at me about Omagh and Tyrone. How are people doing? Is it a good place to live? Are the troubles behind us? He seems interested and I get the distinct feeling this isn't feigned.
Born in Omagh on September 14, 1947, Sam Neill (originally Nigel John Dermot Neill) DCNZM, OBE, is the second son of Dermot, a Harrow and Sandhurst-educated army officer and his English wife, Priscilla.
"I moved to New Zealand when I was seven, though after Omagh I lived for a time in Armagh and Co. Antrim. I was also back in Omagh during the '70s. I was hitch-hiking around Ireland at the time.
"Of course these days we follow what's happening (in the North) with considerable interest; we keep an eye on what's going on. The last big story we had was about the bloke who got stuck in the door."
Sam refers to Michael Stone with a smile in his voice, but when I mention "the bomb" the levity evaporates.
"That was the worst," he says, grimly. "It's getting better but it was pretty desolate for a long time."
A few years back, Sam Neill was even approached to play the role of Elrond in The Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson, but turned it down due to contractual obligations. Not only that, but for a hair's breadth of chance, he narrowly missed out on the role of James Bond after Roger Moore's tenure came to an end back in the 1980s. And you just know you've arrived when you've had a cameo on the Greatest TV Show Ever - The Simpsons. Sam played the role of Molloy the Cat Burglar in Homer the Vigilante in 1994.
"I try to strike a balance with some of the smaller things, they tend to give me quite a lot of satisfaction," Sam remarks. "It's also good to go to Hollywood once in a while, to have a big trailer and get taken care of. Though they tend to be quite slow and take up a lot of your time."
"Is that right?" I add casually, as though cinematic legends talk to me about their lives all the time.
At present, apart from his continuing career in television and movies, Sam Neill has discovered he has a distinct penchant (and ability) for wine-making. Described by one reviewer as "sex in a glass," Two Paddocks wine is in high demand across the Antipodes and the southern hemisphere, a scarcity Sam attributes to the possibility that he and his friends drink quite a lot of it.
"There isn't enough to go round – and I like it too, which helps," he adds. "Two Paddocks is going great. It's nice to be in a position where demand exceeds supply. I'm very proud of it and I think it's exceedingly good wine. Next year we're going to be certified organic as well, which will be very satisfying. It's the classic grape of Burgundy, the Pinot Noir.
"It (wine) is something I developed an interest in, probably due to my affection for alcohol. When we first planted our vines we didn't have so many high hopes. But now we do. I'm lucky insofar as I am surrounded by people who know an awful lot about wine. I don't pretend to be an expert but I'm very interested."
Sam married makeup artist Noriko Watanabe in 1989 and he lives with her and their 16-year-old daughter, Elena at their home half an hour outside Queenstown on the South Island. He has another son, Tim, born in 1983 and two step-children.
Just returned from the 57th Berlin International Film Festival where he was promoting his new film, 'Angel,' which closed the festival, Sam's day at home is only beginning (it's around 10.30am with him). He confesses he plans on taking things easy apart from picking up Elena from school later on.
As for the future, the wine-making will continue and he has a promotional tour to do in the US for television series The Tudors when it airs in April. After that there's the rehearsals for another Australian film he's making.
"It's all go – but not all the time. I live a kind of country life at home," Sam says. "I have chickens and pigs and, of course, the vines. One of the good things about my job is that I could afford to buy a little farm. It's great."
I thank Sam for calling. It has been a real pleasure and I tell him so. I hang up the phone and drain my wine.
Dagnabit! I forget to ask if I could be in his next film.
My week
03/03/2007
www.telegraph.co.uk
Sam Neill, actor, describes his week to Alastair Sooke
Friday
I was at the Berlin International Film Festival because my new film Angel, directed by François Ozon, was in competition. I spent the whole of Friday afternoon doing German press at my hotel. One question kept rearing its ugly head: "Why weren't you James Bond?" I get asked that a lot - it's very tiresome. In the evening, I ended up at a party for a Russian horror film in what used to be East Berlin. There were a lot of tall women with Russian accents. I lasted about 10 minutes. Film festivals can be fun, but they can also be frenetic. Berlin is better than most.
Saturday
Angel closed the festival, which was an honour. But by this stage people were a bit sick of film, so I was a little apprehensive before the première. The film is an adaptation of a novel by the English writer Elizabeth Taylor. Ozon himself describes it as very strange. After it was shown, there was a party in a big restaurant with 300 people. I met Gael García Bernal, who's hilarious: he did a routine about Madrid taxi drivers that cracked me up. I drank too much. And you can still smoke with aplomb in Berlin, so I smoked too much, too.
Sunday
Feeling decidedly ordinary, I caught a flight to London. Michael Fassbender, who's also in Angel, was in far worse nick than me - his eyeballs actually looked as though they were bleeding. His date on Saturday was Miss Germany 2006, but I don't think the bleeding eyeballs were connected to her in any way. After arriving in London, I met my friend Tim Spall for dinner at the Ivy [restaurant in central London]. He was on hilarious form, but the management castigated him for his language. I was aghast: some sad eavesdroppers had dobbed him in. It happened at the end of dinner, so whether we were actually expelled or not is a moot point. In my view, there's far too much good behaviour in restaurants.
Monday
I spent the day in meetings for various film and telly projects - things look good for Blighty in 2007. In the evening, feeling jetlagged, I decided to see a play that could guarantee a laugh to keep me awake. I went to Boeing-Boeing, a silly farce with lots of doors but a bloody good night. It's always humbling to see really good British actors. Frances de la Tour, for instance, can hold a pause like no other. Then back to the Soho Hotel, where I was staying. I'm very fond of Soho: I like the way showbusiness rubs up against naughtiness. It's amusing.
Tuesday
Oddly enough for a city as big as London, good coffee is scarce. But Bar Italia in Soho is wonderful. I went there to get sorted with a couple of espressos in the morning. Then more meetings (I'm not in London much, so carpe diem). That night, I went with a bunch of friends to my favourite restaurant in the world: St John [in Smithfield, east London]. They serve things like chitterlings, bone marrow and venison offal. The roast lamb is irresistible, though Fergus [Henderson], the chef and owner, always refuses to provide mint sauce. Personally, I think that's a shame - like having toast without marmalade. It's hard to beat London, but I was looking forward to going home and jumping on my ride-on mower: I've got a couple of little vineyards back in New Zealand. It makes a nice contrast to cosmopolitan life.
Sam Neill stars in Until the End of the World, out now on DVD
I am Sam, Winemaker
South China Morning Post
February 1, 2007 Thursday
Actor Sam Neill is no ordinary celebrity vintner. He tells Susan Jung how his nose for Burgundy led to organic pinot noir and the happiest pot-bellied pigs in Otago
THERE ARE PROBABLY three things you didn't know about the actor Sam Neill. The first is that he plays the ukulele. Yes, the man who acted as the evil Damien (in Omen III - the Final Conflict); the super secret agent (in Reilly, Ace of Spies) and paleontologist Alan Grant in the three Jurassic Park movies, plays the totally uncool, tiny wisp of a guitar that was popularised by entertainers such as Don Ho and Tiny Tim. "I can't sing the falsetto [on Tiptoe Through the Tulips] but I can play the chords," says Neill.
Second, he also has a refreshingly down-to-earth website. If you log on to www.samneill.com , you won't find the expected filmography, photos of Neill in his many roles, or an unofficial online fanzine. The site, strangely enough, has nothing about Neill - the actor, but instead is identical to www.twopaddocks.com , the website devoted to news about Neill's Two Paddocks winery in Central Otago, New Zealand. (The site's "TP blog" is written by Neill in the third person [he refers to himself as the Proprietor] and is laugh-out-loud funny.)
And finally, Neill is in Hong Kong now, judging at his first wine show, WinPac (Wines of the Pacific Rim), where he's joining the likes of John Avery, MW (Master of Wine); Australian winemaker Peter Lehmann and Hong Kong judges Simon Tam and Debra Meiburg.
No one would argue that Neill is better known for his acting than his pinot noirs. But wine-making is an expensive habit, and he wouldn't have Two Paddocks without the income generated by acting. "Hopefully, the wine will start paying me back, but it doesn't seem to want to at this point," Neill says in an interview that takes place just an hour after he flew into Hong Kong from Sydney. "We're covering ourselves, which is quite all right; I'm happy about that. But the investment - if I put it on the Shanghai Stock Exchange I'd be a lot better off. But then I wouldn't have any wines on the shelves."
Born in Northern Ireland, but raised from a young age in New Zealand, Neill had the wine-drinking "seed" planted by his father, who was a wine and spirits importer. But it wasn't until he was living in London in the 1980s that he started to appreciate the drink.
"I suddenly discovered I could afford to buy good wine," he says. "I was in movies and no longer impoverished. The first thing I did was to start buying good wine. I rapidly realised my favourite wine was pinot noir, specifically from Burgundy. They were reasonably affordable then. Cut to 10 years later and I bought some land in Central Otago. I realised not only was this the place I wanted to live, but it was also a place where it was possible to grow outstanding pinot noirs, which is kind of a double happy coincidence.
"Central Otago is a kind of unnaturally beautiful part of the world. There were a couple of pioneers who started to grow pinot noirs there, and it was very interesting. I thought if they could do it, why couldn't I. So, I bought some more land and planted my first grapes in 1993. We're now in our 10th vintage. It's called Two Paddocks because my friend [film director] Roger Donaldson had a paddock next to me and we thought we'd have a little company together. But his grapes didn't grow for a few years - he had a lot of bad luck.
"Now he's gone separately, he has a place called Sleeping Dogs, and I've got three paddocks, effectively, because I bought two other properties."
By all reports, including Neill's, Two Paddocks is bucolic.
"We not only grow grapes, we also grow saffron and lavender. We've infected some oak trees with truffle spores and hope they grow. We have pigs and sheep and chickens. Without being too po-faced about it, we are interested in organics and sustainable farming. We are producing our pinot along the sort of lines they were using in Burgundy, I imagine, 200 years ago. We don't use pesticides and herbicides and I think we'll be certifiably organic this year."
The animals, though, aren't eaten, although it isn't Neill's choice. "I thought we were growing them for our own consumption, but my wife [makeup artist Noriko Watanabe] won't have anything killed. So, they just wander around looking decorative. The pigs are getting awfully big - they're pot-bellied pigs. They were cute and now they're just enormous. Pot-bellied pigs are no good for eating after about six months, apparently, so they're well past their due date. They just eat more and more, and get bigger and bigger. But they're extremely happy about it."
Over the three plots of land, only 12 hectares are planted with grape vines, producing just over 2,000 cases through Neill's team that also includes a viticulturist and winemaker. "We're very small, but that's kind of why I've always rather liked Burgundy as opposed to Bordeaux," says the 59-year-old. "Bordeaux has grapes grown by extremely wealthy people with vast estates and chateaux. Burgundy is grown by peasants like me, with little plots and charming pigs."
Although Two Paddocks is known primarily for its pinot noir, Neill grows a small amount of riesling, and he also makes chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and merlot from grapes purchased from other growers (the wines are sold in Hong Kong at ThreeSixty in the Landmark, Central).
"I planted riesling to please my wife, because after we started with the pinot, she came to the conclusion she no longer liked red wine. But after the riesling was planted, she decided she doesn't like wine at all. She only drinks beer now. I can't afford a brewery," he laughs.
Central Otago is the world's southernmost wine-making region. Neill calls it a "very marginal area. It's only just warm enough. That's the secret to a good pinot noir, you have to let the grapes hang on the vine until the last possible moment to get the greatest complexity of flavours. Some years will be disastrous, others will be absolutely extraordinary, that's just the luck of the draw. Frost is our greatest enemy."
Neill starts to practise for the WinPac wine judging by attempting to describe his own wines. "This is the sort of thing a wine judge should be able to do with great aplomb," he says. "I think what characterises them is very vivid fruit, a sort of exuberance, with balance, refinement and long finish. I think vibrant would be the best word - they sing, they're alive."
Neill has an Order of the British Empire and the Distinguished Companion to the New Zealand Order of Merit, but he gets a gleam in his eye when he's asked if he wants to add the Master of Wine initials behind his name.
"It's quite difficult to be an MW, isn't it?" he says. "I'm terribly lazy, it sounds like an awful lot of work. I would like to learn about wines formally, though, there are vast areas that I'm woefully amateur. That's the good thing about being the boss."
However, Neill eschews the "celebrity winemaker" label. "I don't really think of myself as famous. I'm happy to be lumped in with Francis Ford Coppola and Gerard Depardieu because they're film guys and serious about their wines. But then people start to write about celebrity vineyards and you start getting into Greg Norman and Cliff Richard and so on. I'm sure they're perfectly nice people, but I don't think we have anything in common. They don't make films and they're famous; they're celebrities and I'm not. I'm an actor who also makes wines."
Sam Neill Takes Wine Brand To Hong Kong
Tuesday January 30, 2007
http://au.news.yahoo.com
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One of New Zealand's most famous exports, actor Sam Neill, introduced his boutique line of wines to Hong Kong on Tuesday, and urged a rapidly expanding Chinese market to consider buying bottles from his country's vineyards.
Neill signed bottles of wine for customers and posed for pictures at a downtown organic food store that will exclusively carry four Two Paddocks wines - a Sauvignon Blanc, a Riesling and a Merlot, all from 2003, and a 2004 Pinot Noir.
Hong Kong is viewed as a launching pad for businesses targeting the Chinese market, but asked about his expansion plans for the mainland, where wine is popular among the newly rich, Neill said Two Paddocks wasn't the type of vineyard geared up for huge markets such as China's.
"We're a boutique winery. I think if we started expanding into China we'd be swallowed up in a minute," he said.
Two Paddocks runs three vineyards in the Central Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. Neill said they produce 3,000 cases of wine a year.
Still, Neill said he's pleased about the prospect of a new market in China.
"I'm very happy to hear that people are beginning to drink wine up here because there's a whole world of wines to discover. We're particularly proud of our wines from Central Otago," he said.
Neill's acting credits include The Piano, Jurassic Park and Dead Calm.
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New (Zealand) Honour For Neill
Arts Hub Australia
Thursday, January 18, 2007
New Zealand actor Nigel John Dermont Neill (aka, Sam), has been awarded with one of his country's highest accolades for his achievements on stage and screen.
Neill was presented with a New Zealand Order of Merit as part of the nation's New Year's honour roll. He was made a Distinguished Companion, the second highest of five levels of merit, in the order of chivalry which recognises “those persons who in any field of endeavor, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits.”
Neill, whose career spans some 60 films. was joined in the honours list by fellow countryman and actor, director and cabaret singer, Jennifer Ward-Lealand.
Ward-Lealand declared herself “thrilled” to receive the fourth highest level of merit, in recognition of her “services to theatre and community”.
Other New Zealand artists and creators honoured in the New Year shout outs include film director Vincent Ward, and NZ Film Commission chairman Barrie Everard.
New Year Honours: Sam Neill Tops Bill
Saturday December 30, 2006
www.nzherald.co.nz
By Chris Morris
Actor Sam Neill celebrates
the award at his Central
Otago vineyard, Two Paddocks.
Photo / Otago Daily Times
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When Hollywood star Sam Neill received a letter from the Governor-General offering him the honour of a DCNZM, the actor admits he wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
It was only after a bit of research on the internet that Neill, 59, discovered the acronym's true meaning, and learned he was to become a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to acting.
It turns out to be pretty big cheese, Neill said from his home near Queenstown.
"I was surprised and very flattered. I don't think there's anything more satisfying than being recognised by one's own country. But also I'm always pleased to see the arts get a nod.
"We produce marvellous actors in this country and I felt pleased to be one of them. This is for them as much as anything."
Neill has won international acclaim and recognition for his performances, which first brought him fame as the lead actor in the 1977 feature film Sleeping Dogs.
His career now spans more than 60 productions, including the blockbuster Jurassic Park and the acclaimed The Piano in 1993, and Perfect Strangers in 2003.
He has also enjoyed commercial and critical success through his work as a film producer.
He co-founded the Queenstown firm Huntaway Films to develop and produce films and television programmes in collaboration with writers and film-makers from throughout New Zealand and Australia.
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Neill's trophy cabinet boasts the Best Actor Award from the Australian Film Institute in 1988, an OBE for services to acting in 1991, and the Best Documentary Award of the New Zealand Film Institute in 1995.
But despite the glamour and accolades that have come throughout his career, Neill insisted New Zealand's third-to-top honour was top enough.
"I actually think this is as good as it gets and I couldn't be more delighted," he said. "It's the kind of thing you want to be able to go home and tell your Dad about, but unfortunately my Dad moved on about 12 years ago and he's no longer with us. So I will have to ring my old aunt."
Some confusion remained for Neill, however.
After discussing whether he would hang the insignia around his neck or pin it on his shirt, the proud New Zealander admitted he was still unsure exactly what his gong looked like. "We'll see when I get to Wellington," he said, laughing.
Neill 'tickled pink' For Arts Industry
By MIKE CREAN and TANYA KATTERNS
The Dominion Post
Saturday, 30 December 2006
www.stuff.co.nz
TICKLED PINK: Actor Sam Neill was "tickled pink and gratified
for the arts" after being made a Distinguished Companion
of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours.
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NEW YEAR HONOURS
When Sam Neill broke into the movies, being a Kiwi on world film sets was a rarity.
"Now New Zealand is part of the mainstream of film culture. We are part of world cinema now," he said.
Neill, whose full name is Nigel John Dermot Neill, was "tickled pink and gratified for the arts" with being made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. However, he does not see his part in the growth of New Zealand film as significant.
"I was no trail-blazer. I take no credit for that," he said from his Queenstown home.
Neill, who was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1991, felt lucky and privileged to have made a career in film. "I became an actor only because I showed no conspicuous talent in any other area. Acting is a pleasure. I am always completely surprised to have made a living from acting - let alone to have got a gong for it."
As the earliest and oldest New Zealander on the world film scene, he felt thrilled that many New Zealand actors and directors were now working around the world.
Greytown-born director Vincent Ward, who had a rough ride with his latest film River Queen, has also received a New Year honour. He is one of 25 people named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Camping beside the Ruamahanga River in southern Wairarapa with a sombrero perched on his head yesterday, Ward said he was "quite baffled but obviously really appreciative" of the honour.
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"I know there is other stuff I have done in the past, but for me personally I attach this to River Queen because it was the hardest film that I have ever worked on, yet remain proud of the end result."
River Queen, released in January, was beset with problems during filming around the Whanganui River in 2004.
Lead actress Samantha Morton fell ill, delaying shooting for eight weeks. Ward was fired and then reinstated.
Once his holiday is over, Ward will return to the Ureweras to continue work on a mixture of drama and documentary film that he has been working on off-and-on for four years.
"The stories are really exciting and though I don't want to talk too much about it, it is extraordinary true-life adventures of a Maori woman."
The film will be finished about September. In Ward's tent yesterday were a couple of scripts, one from Canada, that he was reading over. "I need to finish what I have started and I have my second son due to be born in February so we will just wait and see what grabs me."
His first feature, Vigil, was the first New Zealand film to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival, in 1984. He also directed The Navigator, Map of the Human Heart and What Dreams May Come and was an executive producer on The Last Samurai.
Actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand has also been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her more than 20 years' work in theatre, film, radio and television. Her feature film appearances include Desperate Remedies and Fracture and she has numerous television credits.
Film Commission chairman Barrie Everard is one of 13 people made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the film industry. A leading film distributor for many years, he also became involved in cinema ownership through the Berkeley Cinemas business in the Auckland region. He has been a member of the commission since 1998 and its chairman since 2002.
News clipping courtesy Shy Fan.
Click to enlarge.
The Good Samaritan
New Idea
December 2, 2006
 
Celebrities Gone Wild -- Part 2
Top TV critics once again share tales of Tinseltown terrors that left them licking their wounds.
Neal Justin, Star Tribune www.startribune.com
Last update: October 13, 2006
Bill Brioux, The Toronto Sun: "Years before Sam Neill did 'Jurassic Park,' I interviewed him in Los Angeles. He had just wrapped a historical miniseries in Toronto, and I thought I would get the scoop. I got to him at the end of the day after he had just been interviewed by at least 20 other writers.
"I asked him how he liked shooting up north. No response. Did he like portraying historical characters? A grunt. I asked him about his costars. Nothing. The guy wouldn't even look at me half the time. I literally stood up at one point and faced the wall. Finally, exasperated, I said to him, 'Look, I've got to file some sort of story for my editors. What do you want to talk about?'
" 'Whales,' he said."
Put It Away, Sam...
film.guardian.co.uk
Monday July 24, 2006
After almost 30 years in the movies, Sam Neill still gets the odd sex scene. But nowadays directors prefer him to keep his pyjamas on. How does that feel, asks Chrissy Iley.
It's the most sweltering day of the year and I'm having breakfast with Sam Neill in London's Charlotte Street Hotel. He's wearing a dark suit and striped shirt, which gives you an idea of how buttoned-up he is. I've always had quite a thing for him, though. He's so utterly comfortable to be with, yet so edgy at the same time. Sometimes his whole face is expressionless except for one eyebrow that raises like a little whip. He speaks so slowly, sometimes like a tape recorder on half speed. You wonder: is that because he's so laid back, or because there are so many wheels whirring in his brain?
He has come to London for the premiere of his latest film, Little Fish. In the Q&A session that followed it, his performance as Sam Neill was as compelling as his performance in the movie. He was dry, languid, meticulous. When a punter told him he looked like Terry Wogan, he was unfazed except for saying, "A little unfair on Terry." Another asked him a long question which ended "... how do you feel as an Australian actor?" "I don't know. I'm from New Zealand," he said, with a chill that iced the room, although he was actually born in Northern Ireland, in Omagh, and lived there till he was seven.
Now 58, he has worked thoroughly and prodigiously since taking up acting at 30. He is most noted for his parts in Jurassic Park, My Brilliant Career, The Omen, Plenty, The Piano and Dead Calm. But he's always turning up in unexpected places. In Little Fish he plays a drug baron about to retire. He brings to it an exquisite, sophisticated sleaziness and an excruciating kiss with a junkie played by Hugo Weaving.
"Kissing blokes is deeply unappealing," he says. "A bit like kissing an alsatian's arse. Horribly hairy. It gives me a new respect for women."
But there's nothing respectable about his character. He lives in the wealthy Sydney suburb of Sylvania Waters, which offers a respectable veneer for an extremely seedy life. Sexually ambivalent and harsh, he is a cold antidote to the desperate energy of the other characters, a recovering addict (Cate Blanchett), her one-legged brother (Martin Henderson), and their junkie father figure (Weaving).
Today Neill is depressed. He orders tea, toast and marmalade. He rests his head on to the pillowy cushions of the sofa, cosies into them. He looks like a large indolent cat, although he says he is a dog person. "It's just so bad to get up and see the news," he says. "The Middle East descending into more chaos than one can possibly ... What are you going to do when the west has no moral authority any more? Where's Ian Dury when we need him with his reasons to be cheerful?" When pushed, of course, he can come up with many reasons to be cheerful. "I won 1,000 euros betting on Italy in the World Cup. The corollary is that the World Cup is finished. It gave meaning and structure to one's life for a few weeks, although now I've got the Tri-Nations and I'm an All Blacks supporter."
He's filming in Ireland at the moment, so he goes to the rugby pub at 8am. "The first time I went I made the mistake of thinking, 'If I'm in a pub I should drink.' I'd had three Guinnesses by 10 am. It rather de-energises the rest of the day. Now I realise I am under no obligation to do that, and lime and soda will do just as well.
"How sad it is that we turn to sport for morale reasons," he says, deeply pained.
There is a long pause where I imagine he might be thinking of how sport bonded him with his father, how sport made him overcome his shyness when he was an effete little boy in a New Zealand playground. Nigel, as he was, overcame his stammer, changed his name to Sam and developed one of the most gorgeously rich voices since James Mason, who was at one time a mentor. Maybe he saw a little of himself in there?
"Bill Nighy," he says, seemingly out of nowhere. "He's a reason to be cheerful. Did you see him in The Girl in the Cafe? Immaculate bastard. His detail was so exquisite. He's droll, isn't he? I just saw him on the TV. He was at the Windbreaker premiere last night."
Windbreaker is what he calls Stormbreaker, which had a much bigger-deal, higher-profile party than Little Fish. "We got a pompous room in Australia House and a gift bag that contained a spider catcher and a jar of Vegemite. You used to go to Australia House and buy your combi [camper van] and head off for Europe. I bought a van there once for 410 quid, went round Europe, came back and sold it for 430. I should have been a capitalist."
Although his life has taken him all over the world, and he has spent large chunks of time in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, he does not appear rootless. He adores his farm, nestled between lakes and mountains in New Zealand. He feels at home in Ireland. "I don't know whether generations ago I was Irish and it's a DNA feeling that's been put back in place, or whether it's those formative years."
His stepdaughter Maiko Spencer, a rhythm and blues singer, lives in London, so he's happy to be here too. "I used to live up the road from Bill in Kentish Town in an old piano factory. I sold it before the property boom. It was a nice loft but there were a couple of attempts to burn it down from youths.
"Anyway, after they set fire to newspaper and shoved it through the letterbox I met my wife, so I went to live in Australia."
It seems odd to me that he's only had one wife. She is the makeup artist Noriko Watanabe, who won a Bafta for Memoirs of a Geisha. They have a 15-year-old daughter, Elena, "who is into boys, a social life and skirts that are rather too short. When I'm not working I'm in New Zealand. My family come and go."
Did you meet your wife when she was powdering your face? "Yes. We met on Dead Calm. It was on an island with plenty of time on our hands, so I leapt out in pursuit of her. I met with tremendous resistance for a long time. I got there in the end with dogged persistence."
Neill also has a 20-year-old son, Tim, who is the product of an on/off relationship with a New Zealand actor, Lisa Harrow. He speaks warmly of Tim, who has just left university and doesn't know what to do with his life. "And I can't tell him," he says.
He met Harrow on the set of The Omen. He can easily whip up a steam when filming. When he was in Sirens with Elle Macpherson, he once said, he used to have erotic dreams about her. At the moment Neill is filming Henry VIII in Ireland - he plays Cardinal Wolsey. "The good thing about the part is I can put on as much weight as I like for reasons of historical veracity. It's not hard in Ireland. The Guinness is so good. I see paintings of Wolsey and he really was a fat bastard, and conflicted. Dealing with the whims of a prince - it's a man's job."
He scrapes the marmalade on to his toast. "He's got a mistress, you know," he says, savouring the "stress" of mistress. Does he have sex scenes? "We had a bed scene the other day. There was activity but I won't call it sex. She was beating my back." "She" being Lorna Doyle, a young actor in her first part. Was she beating him in a lascivious way or like a masochistic monk? "I'll leave that for you to decide." His eyes suddenly seem very round and pin me into my chair.
"Mostly when I do bed scenes these days I'm in my pyjamas and reading glasses." Then he excitedly refers to Frances Barber, who had a small part in his TV series Reilly: Ace of Spies. "We were introduced and the director said, 'Now, you're three in a bed in this scene and you're going topless.' She went ashen and then to her credit said, 'Fine,' and we boxed on. What a great sport."
When he talks about his sex scenes his voice accelerates to almost normal speed, his inner heat palpable. By now he's taken off his jacket. Yet he is also happy to talk about his pot-bellied pigs and his sheep. "I don't think the pigs are fond enough of me to be called pets. They like me to feed them but they don't show any particular affection like a dog. They can't be bothered, whereas dogs are craven. That's why we love them. I have a staffie, Fire. A heart from hell. So adorable."
If you were a dog, would you be a staffordshire? "No, their temperaments are far too sweet for me. I'd be some lugubrious depressed-looking dog that hides under a sofa when the news comes on. A borzoi." He ignores what I am asking him and goes on: "I have very attractive black-faced sheep." Do they make chops? "No. They make other sheep. I have one ram called Bryan Brown, after my friend the Australian actor. They have similar interests. I have a goat but he can't bear the sheep. He's a racist. He feels they are unspeakably below him. I need to get a goat whisperer. Maybe from Wales."
He met some Druids once in Wales who came to prep him for his part as Merlin. "A young couple with no shoes came to my hotel with all sorts of interesting observations about the old religion. They gave me a crystal. I've never believed in crystals. I've always been cynical and jaded but I got them to sew it into my costume. Day one chasing around Snowdonia on horses, the crystal was gone. I was devastated. A hundred people were searching for the crystal in 500 acres of national park. There's no way we're going to find it. 'Please stop,' I said. I put my head into my hands and looked down and in the grass between my feet was the crystal, and now I'm never without it. It's always in my roly-poly bag."
After he has rolled back to Ireland he says he will be very cheerful. He says he wants to go home. The main thing that goes on on his acres is wine-making. "The finest pinot noir in the world - but I would say that, wouldn't I? I miss it, but if that's all I did I'd be bored, claustrophobic. If all I did was acting, I'd go out of my mind."
I try to compliment him on The Piano, on the power of his performance, but he completely ignores it as if he's uncomfortable with the praise. I have to say it again. "It was very hard to do that movie, chopping off your wife's finger in a rainstorm in the mud. Could have a bad effect on you. Holly Hunter was such a firebrand. She fought back like buggery. After three takes I was absolutely exhausted."
He doesn't look as if he's nearing 60, but one senses that he might be worried about love scenes that only involve pyjamas. Does the ageing process disturb him? "Obviously. Let's be realistic. There are limits to what I can do. I won't be asked to play the sprinter in Chariots of Fire II but I'm always astonished that I work at all."
It seems like he works all the time. "Yes," he says. "The pathetic thing about actors is they don't feel valid unless they're acting."
No More Mr. Nice Guy
By Nina Caplan, Metro
18 July 2006
www.thisislondon.co.uk
Even for an actor who has managed to strike a reasonable balance between Jurassic Park-type blockbusters and smaller, artier films, Sam Neill's character in Little Fish is quite something.
'Brad is very different material from the stuff I usually get,' he remarks. 'The role is really off the wall. I mean, an ageing, gay drug-dealing gangster isn't one you'd see on the CV all that often...'
But surely, at 59, with more than 20 years of solid filmmaking behind him - most recently as Kirsten Dunst's ultra-competitive father in Wimbledon and the cuckolded husband in Sally Potter's oddball romance Yes, spoken entirely in rhyme - nothing can phase him?
'These things make you anxious,' he says. 'You worry about whether you're suitable for the part. But you have to take the punt, don't you?'
Brad is certainly one to take risks. He's the linchpin of Rowan Woods's oddly tender thriller Little Fish: a married, closeted homosexual who, for years, has been having an affair with Lionel (Hugo Weaving), a former Aussie rules football star - and supplying his heroin habit as a twisted love offering.
The upshot of Lionel's addiction was that he turned young Tracy (Cate Blanchett) on to drugs. As the film opens, Tracy is clean and struggling to rebuild her life. In an odd parallel, Brad, too, is trying to tidy things up: getting divorced, closing his business and finishing his relationship with Lionel - a double blow to the crumbling ex-athlete's heart and thirsty veins. 'Before it all goes terribly wrong, Brad is working towards some sort of resolution,' Neill points out.
The film's drama stems from a bad deal but, unusually for a drugs flick, Little Fish is very warm-blooded. This has a lot to do with the actors' calibre and with Neill and Weaving taking such unexpected parts.
'It's a very ambitious piece of writing,' explains Neill's co-star Weaving. 'Lionel is so far removed from where my life is but I was instantly excited by the prospect of playing him because he exists in a number of different worlds.
'The football player was the base. Then I needed to have some understanding of what heroin does to someone over a period of 20 years. His sexuality was not really important to me but, in terms of the film, it is because one of his many relationships is with Sam Neill's character.'
Neill, too, feels great sympathy for the person he plays. 'There's something desperately lonely about him,' he muses. 'He has certainly lived in a very duplicitous way for a long time.'
Still, like Weaving, he's keen to stress the gulf between himself and this brutal, conflicted man: 'Perhaps he's happy with rent boys, although I don't see the attraction myself.'
Weaving and Neill are almost unrecognisable in the film: while Weaving has a full complement of face fuzz, Neill is overweight, with an unforgiving jawline. But despite the occasional need to pile on the pounds, acting has been good to Neill, as he's happy to acknowledge.
'My life is itinerant but interesting,' says the Northern Ireland-born Kiwi, who grows wine ('very agreeable wine of which I drink far too much') when not on set. He claims to take whatever work is offered, though adds modestly: 'I'm always slightly startled to be in work at all.'
I ask him if Kiwis suffer from what Australian writer Peter Carey describes as 'the rage of the periphery' - resentment at feeling on the cultural sidelines.
'There's not a lot of rage in New Zealand,' he laughs. 'We're a mild lot, the All Blacks aside.' Mild? I've just watched him portray a man (an Aussie, admittedly) who feeds his lover heroin and sleeps next to a loaded gun. It's a good thing Sam Neill can act.
Sam Neill and Dame Kiri To Head Actors Fund
04 July 2006
www.stuff.co.nz
Successful performers Sam Neill and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa were last night announced as patrons of an actor's fund set up to support New Zealand performers who are yet to make it big.
The Actors Benevolent Fund (ABF) was launched at the Auckland Art Gallery at the same time as the establishment of the union, Actors Equity, which will represent performers.
"The ABF is a wonderful and practical initiative providing performers with a chance to help each other while they build their community," Equity president Simon Burke said.
"Performers are thrilled that performance icons such as Sam Neill and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa recognise the importance of the fund for all performers."
Speaking by video from a film set in Dublin, Neill said that while life was uncertain, the life of a performer was even more uncertain and he encouraged performers to get involved with the ABF.
Dame Kiri congratulated the establishment of the fund in a message saying: "The fund's objective is as sensible as it is simple: To provide good, sound, practical help to performers who need it."
Mr Burke said ABF would be administered by a committee of performers and would start with a series of fundraising initiatives.
"So when you see a bucket with the ABF logo passed around at a theatre, or you're asked to buy a raffle ticket, or to come along to a fundraiser you'll know you're being asked to support performers who really need your help."
TO ORDER TWO PADDOCKS WINEDue to the fickle nature of farming and Sam's current acreage, his wine can be difficult to find.
Best bet is to go directly to Distributors on Sam's Two Paddocks web site. You may be able to coordinate through your local spirits provider. Good Luck!
WHO HELPS WITH THIS WEBSITE?
EVERYONE ON THE MAILING LIST HAS A VOTE ON WHAT GOES ON THIS WEBSITE. YOU CAN SAY IT IS ALL FOR ONE AND ALL FOR SAM! WE ARE REALLY NICE PEOPLE, COME JOIN US FOR SOME SAM FUN!
LINKS TO OTHER SITES
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Sam In Politics
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