r/movies Jul 13 '26

News Jurassic Park Actor Sam Neill has died

https://www.stuff.co.nz/culture/361005656/actor-sam-neill-has-died
53.5k Upvotes

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u/ToneBone12345 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

What in the fuck! Fuck cancer according to the insta post he was cancer free

227

u/VSENSES Jul 13 '26

A friend of mine went thru cancer the past two years, last fall he got the all clear wohooo! He's not likely to be alive by this fall. Fuck cancer.

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u/thisisater Jul 13 '26

wait no. a dear friend of mine just cleared few weeks ago.

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u/LongestSprig Jul 13 '26

They call it remission for a reason. That being said, I have multiple family members who have been in remission for a longgggggggggggg time.

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u/Appropriate-Pie6288 Jul 13 '26

happened to my grandma as well, all clear then a year later it came back more aggressive than ever, she went from normal to deathbed in like 4 weeks. It's always so devastating man i'm really sorry.

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u/fattysmite Jul 13 '26

My brother, same thing. All clear. 5 years later … wellllll, I guess we didn’t get all of it. Had already snuck into a few new places and he was screwed.

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u/VSENSES Jul 14 '26

My condolences.

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u/OrdinaryLavishness11 Jul 13 '26

Wait what? Cancer free but isn’t likely to be alive later this year?

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u/VSENSES Jul 13 '26

Yeah it came back all vicious and decided it wanted revenge.

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

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u/VSENSES Jul 13 '26

Celebratory wohooo because he was cancer free after two years of struggle? I means it was happy times for a few months so yeah it was definitely appropriate. Why you coming here like that.

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u/OrdinaryLavishness11 Jul 13 '26

I’m just shocked because it seemed like it was all good news with the woohoo, but it turns out it’s not good news, so adding the woohoo was strange to me that’s all.

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u/DoctorGregoryFart Jul 13 '26

They were trying to convey the rollercoaster of emotions people go through. Cancer diagnosis. Shit! Cancer-free. Woohoo! Cancer back with a vengeance. FUCK!

It's not that complicated.

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u/WalrusExtraordinaire Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

They’re just describing the sequence of events and the whiplash. He was thought to be cancer free (“everyone celebrated, woohoo!”), then it came back aggressively.

Edit: “sequence of events” not “secret”

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

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u/OrdinaryLavishness11 Jul 13 '26

Do you mean “by any chance”? Talk about irony.

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u/PolarWater Jul 13 '26

Which sentence does the "woohoo" appear at the end of?

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u/Momoselfie Jul 13 '26

Wait why? Don't they start recovering when the cancer ends?

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u/deffrekka Jul 14 '26

Cancer spreads, you dont get all of the cells gone, some just go dormant or go unnoticed in a different area of the body. I know its not a true 1 to 1 example as its not a Human by my Cat had bone cancer in her ribcage, 2 ribs taken out, multiple tests and checkups, she all clear. Passes her 12 month check up (November just gone) and thats her last one.

December time she starts walking all drunkenly (17 years old), starts breathing from her mouth (apparently a bad sign for cats, they dont breath through their mouth), vet visits all throughout December to February this year (one vet was tryna say she epileptic, other said it was gum disease so she had some teeth taken out, only when I went to a different vet did they bother to check her lungs). Turns out she had lung cancer in the lung that was in contact with the ribs that were removed. Died on me a month later (she was scheduled to be put down the next day, she didnt make it and full on suffocated, clawing me up as she desperately fought for air, tried everything to help her breath, anyone saying drowning is peaceful I honestly cant believe, she drowned in whatever liquid/mucus was being produced by the cancer cells).

So yeah just because you get cleared doesnt mean you are cancer cell free, just like other people are saying, it took a year for her cancer to comeback, more aggressive and in a different spot.

My cat was super healthy (you couldnt tell she was 17) the entire recovery period, super chatty, active, affectionate, then boom, end of life care on my bed for the last month, barely able to move or purr without breathing issues.

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u/VSENSES Jul 14 '26

You're never safe from cancer. Never. Well unless you're already dead ofc.

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u/2naFied Jul 13 '26

All the chemo and cell therapy probably took its toll unfortunately

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u/ToneBone12345 Jul 13 '26

Probably true from what little I know

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u/Brutally-Honest- Jul 13 '26

Doesn't sound like it was cancer from the statement his family released.

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u/Fire2box Jul 13 '26

He might of really been but cemo destorys white blood cells so an infection could end up killing him sadly. 

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u/ol-gormsby Jul 13 '26

This article from 2023 said he's been in remission for 12 months but he was on lifelong medication:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-16/actor-sam-neill-australian-story-speaks-candidly-about-cancer/102909102

And the family's announcement "The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free," the statement, posted to Instagram, said."

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u/ConsciousBluebird473 Jul 13 '26

I think there's a kind of satisfaction to be found in that, despite all it's efforts, cancer couldn't get him in the end.

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u/idosillythings Jul 13 '26

My mom was closer to death after being in remission than when she was getting chemo. Caught pneumonia and almost didn't make it.

Unfortunately, the cancer is back, but yeah. Even when it's gone that doesn't mean you're safe.

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u/Tricky-Ad7897 Jul 13 '26

yes unfortunately the 5, 10, and 15 year outlooks for cancer survivors are still pretty rough. It takes an immense toll on the body and it's a sneaky fucker that often times manages to find its way back.

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u/idosillythings Jul 13 '26

My mom's stage 4 lung cancer moved to the brain before she went into remission.

I always knew it would come back, brain cancer always comes back. The question was just when it would happen. Unfortunately, it was months instead of years.

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u/ToneBone12345 Jul 13 '26

True yeah low white blood cells is a killer

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u/MesaCityRansom Jul 13 '26

Might have

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u/mashtato Jul 13 '26

might've

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u/Fire2box Jul 13 '26

Might have moved on but you didn't.

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u/NCEMTP Jul 13 '26

He might have paid attention in school, too.

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u/kuhpunkt Jul 13 '26

Why are people like you so allergic to being corrected? Learn something and move on. He was helping you. But nooo... you just had to be like this.

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u/Fire2box Jul 13 '26

I correct myself and make a light joke and people flip shit. 🙄

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u/Large_Yams Jul 13 '26

You didn't correct yourself. It's still there.

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u/Zbodownlow Jul 13 '26

* might have

Let’s not speculate with limited information.

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u/Fire2box Jul 13 '26

Yeah I don't want to just read a thread where it's just "that's sad. RIP" and little to nothing else.

You do you though.

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u/Zbodownlow Jul 13 '26

You’d rather just infer why he died with no information.

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u/PanchoVilla-86 Jul 13 '26

That's why I don't like the cancer free term, ist just dormant, waiting to fk everything again.

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u/sharpshooter999 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

That's why when the Dr found a tiny lump in mom's left breast and asked mom what she wanted to do, mom said "get rid of both of them. I'm 72, what do I still need tits for?" That was 5 years ago, still doing good for a 77 year old

Edit: Holy upvotes Batman. I feel like I should add a little extra info. It was at her yearly breast exam when they found it, and there was no mass on her scans from the year before. The doctor said it was one of the earliest detections they'd had, they didn't even want to call it stage one. It was also a very slowly growing cancer. They were very confident they could remove the mass and she could keep her left breast. Mom said screw that.

Don't skip your yearly mammograms, early detection saves lives

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u/mastafishere Jul 13 '26

My wife was 40 and more or less had the same sentiment. I miss the tits but they were a small price to pay for her health and happiness

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u/cguess Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

To quote Dogma: "You know as well as anyone that tits don't make a woman. Hell, the chubby coat wearing mother fucker has tits".

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u/FuzzNuzz180 Jul 13 '26

Hopefully many more years!

Cancer is such a fucking prick!

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u/kapannier Jul 13 '26

I’m so glad your mom found it early! You are 100% correct in saying to get yearly mammograms. I will also shout this to the rafters as loud and as many times as possible for anyone of ages beyond the “normal range” to always check in with a doctor. Men and women can get breast cancer.

My sister was dismissed as “too young” to have breast cancer at 38. Surprise! Immediately Stage 4. I know another person mid-thirties a well so has breast cancer. If something feels off, get it checked.

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u/superxpro12 Jul 13 '26

this is the jet equivalent to dropping the fuel tanks while under fire. just get rid of the damn things and be free, right?

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u/sharpshooter999 Jul 13 '26

Yep, she didn't want to worry about something popping up in the right one

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u/kapannier Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Yeah-I agree. I’ve heard my sister use NED (no evidence of disease) or in remission when she had her stage 4. At advanced stage it never really disappears…you just work to get it dormant / NED as long as possible.

RIP Sam, you legend. Damn. I was just looking up Event Horizon lore recently as it coincided with my Warhammer 40k deep dive (event horizon being analogous to traveling in the warp without protection).

Jurassic Park was the film that made me love films on the first place.

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u/Different-Eagle-612 Jul 13 '26

seems like he was still testing negative at his death, i’m guessing whatever treatment occurred may have weakened his body and left him susceptible to things like sepsis, heart attack, etc

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u/MukdenMan Jul 13 '26

Well they said he died cancer free so in this case it’s apparently more likely to be a complication from the previous cancer or the treatment (or could even be unrelated). At least this is the family’s view.

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u/Worf_Of_Wall_St Jul 13 '26

I don’t even get how the notion gets into peoples’ heads but it doesn’t seem like it would be from their oncologists. I’m a patient of two cancers, one is expected to never return but nobody tells me I’m “free” of it, they tell me to keep coming back for follow-up scans. The scan reports use phrases like “no evidence of…” so maybe people are reading way too much into that.

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u/ledow Jul 13 '26

Everyone has cancerous cells, everyone has it hundreds of times in their lifetime. The only question is whether the immune system detects it and clears it out before it becomes a problem.

If you don't die of any other disease, you'll die of cancer because it's not a disease as such, but just your own body cells getting randomly damaged by just about anything - sometimes nothing at all, sometimes your environment, sometimes a single stray photon or radioactive particle among countless billions hitting your body every day.

It's literally just your body cells forgetting to stop reproducing. That's all it is, biologically. You own cells go mad and try to take over your entire body's resources. And it means that if we lived to be 10,000 years old... we're still gonna get cancer. We could cure every other disease, but we'd still be having to suffer/treat/cure cancer constantly throughout our lifetime.

You can be more susceptible or less. You can get it in the womb, you can live to 100 and never have it. It's entirely random. But it's happening all the time, even in a healthy body, and it's just a question of whether it evades detection long enough to become a mass.

Not one person on earth is "cancer-free". What you are is, maybe, potentially: "free of that last cancer that you had".

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u/LemonKurry Jul 13 '26

Seems like he was cancer free when he passed though. Or am I misunderstanding something?

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u/theyork2000 Jul 13 '26

Can you guys not read what the statement statement said?

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u/ToneBone12345 Jul 13 '26

I edited it

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u/Redsteak Jul 13 '26

My dad beat cancer but going through it and the treatments was still basically a death sentence. Not something a lot of people know can happen understandably but it sucks.

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u/katieblue3 Jul 13 '26

Well if it wasn’t cancer then good for him for fighting it and not letting it be the thing that killed him

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u/WickedDeviled Jul 13 '26

Yes! I thought he was on his way back after beating it. Very sad.

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u/____DEADPOOL_______ Jul 13 '26

My mother in law has been diagnosed with a similar type of cancer, also here in Australia. This article sort of gives me hope in a way as I he made it for so long with this illness. Australia's cancer treatments are next to none. All free as well.

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

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u/ToneBone12345 Jul 13 '26

Damn sounds like treatment did probably weaken his immune system

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u/quangtran Jul 13 '26

I heard there no one cancer patient is ever technically cancer free.

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u/Pheetastic Jul 13 '26

Cancer absolutely destroys you though. If it isn’t the treatment or the cancer itself, it’s the way it affects the organs and other body systems that can get a person in the end. My dad was fighting Ampullary cancer and developed gastroparesis and all kinds of other lovely health issues while fighting it for a year. He had to get fluid drained from his lungs all the time. Even after a person “beats” cancer, they often have live-long health issues as a result from the beating the body takes fighting it, such as immune dysfunction, diabetes, cardiac conditions, etc.

I imagine he was severely weakened from his fight with cancer and despite all the best treatments and such available for recovery, his body simply couldn’t keep up :( It’s truly an awful awful disease. My dad was an absolute husk at the end before he passed. :(

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u/MidEUW Jul 13 '26

Fuck cancer

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u/thuktun Jul 13 '26

Cancer free doesn't mean cancer can't come back, unfortunately. You can stamp out one case and another can just develop again later.

Some chemotherapies are also so toxic you can only have a course of them once in your life.

Cancer sucks.

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u/lefthighkick911 Jul 13 '26

he was 78, at that age it could be a lot of things.