Arabic version: تارا فيتزجيرالد تحتفي بسام نيل في قصيدة تأملية
Tara Fitzgerald has written a poem remembering her Sirens co-star Sam Neill and the moments they shared on set and off.
According to The Guardian, Fitzgerald recalls that Neill had “already assumed a kind of mythic status” in her household after playing Reilly on Ace of Spies and that her stepfather was his boss. She describes meeting him again 11 years later to play Norman Lindsay in Sirens (1994) and captures his on-set presence with lines such as “Electric-minded” and “Some fantastic mischief lurking just around the grin.”
The poem details Neill’s generosity and ease with other actors: Fitzgerald writes that he made acting “seem so simple,” was “there for the other actor,” and could “conjure anything.” She recounts personal moments including a first tasting of Two Paddocks Pinot noir “Chez lui,” the ritual of swirling and sipping, and the actor’s “softly softly take.” The verse also speaks of “Fine unbuttoning of stories and some Past glories,” and stresses that he was “Never boastful Never cruel Only A delight at the sharing.”
Fitzgerald paints a cinematic tableau in the poem, describing a close-up in a garden where children watch a fairy show staged by the artist’s models and Neill’s face is “flooded With imagination, With his own wonder, His own childlike joy.” The poem concludes with Puck-like imagery and the final lines of motion: he walks through the weeping grass toward the house with the light on, and the others follow in his wake.
Why this matters: the piece offers readers a personal, behind-the-scenes portrait of a well-known screen actor drawn from a co-star’s memory. It supplies specific on-set and off-set details — from scene description to shared rituals like wine tasting — that illuminate Neill’s approach to performance as being present, generous, and playfully inventive. The poem’s spare, lineated form echoes recollection and stage direction, reinforcing its immediacy.
What happens next: the poem ends with Neill walking ahead through the weeping grass toward the house with the light on, leaving the others to follow in his wake.
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