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Sam Neill: My accent on Jurassic Park was an actor's nightmare

Sam Neill on his wavering accent in Jurassic Park credit:Bang Showbiz
Sam Neill on his wavering accent in Jurassic Park credit:Bang Showbiz

Sam Neill has joked working on 'Jurassic Park' was an "actor's nightmare".

The 74-year-old star - who was born in Northern Ireland but moved to New Zealand as a child - played Dr. Alan Grant in the 1993 classic and initially spent a month mastering an American accent for the role until he was told by director Steven Spielberg to use his own, and then something "in between".

He said: "[Steven] came up to me halfway through the day and he said, ‘Hey, Sam, you know the accent we were talking about?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ve been working on it for four weeks...’ He said, ‘Don’t worry about it, just use your own voice.' I said, ‘That’s great, Steven, thank you so much.’ And then four days later, he came up to me and said, “You know that voice you’re using now?’ I said, ‘Yeah, my voice?’ He said, ‘Somewhere in between.’ It was an actor’s nightmare!"

The film tells the story of a team of genetic scientists who create a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs, and the 'Sleeping Dogs' star admitted he still to this day gets "a lot of flak" for his ever-changing accent in the movie.

He told Vanity Fair: "So that’s why I get a lot of flak to this day: Sam Neill’s American accent in Jurassic Park was a load of T. rex poo!"

Sam is set to reunite with former 'Jurassic Park' costars Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum - who played Dr. Ellie Sattler and Dr. Ian Malcolm in the film series respectively - for the latest instalment, 'Jurassic World Dominion' and Laura admitted that they all "became a family" when Hurricane Iniki tore through the Hawaiian island of Kauai where they were filming back in 1992.

She said: "[We're close] partly because of the hurricane, I think we really made a family. Steven, [producer] Kathy Kennedy, I mean, these are family members now, through all our lives together, including the amazing Jeff Goldblum and my gorgeous Sam!"

Read the full story "Jurassic Park Reunion: Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum's Exclusive Interview" by Anthony Breznican on VanityFair.com