'You are so loved': Taika Waititi remembers dear friend Sir Sam Neill

<p>Kiwi director Taika Waititi has remembered his "dear friend" Sir Sam Neill following the screen legend's death on Monday aged 78.</p> <p>Sir Sam <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/13/kiwi-screen-legend-sir-sam-neill-dies-aged-78/" target="_blank">died suddenly and unexpectedly in a Sydney hospital on Monday</a> aged 78.</p> <p>Waititi joins some of the <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/14/the-genuine-article-nzs-screen-community-remembers-sir-sam-neill/" target="_blank">country's biggest stars of stage and screen</a> in paying tribute to the Jurassic Park actor.</p> <p>He worked with the late actor famously on Hunt for the Wilderpeople and also a year later when Neill made a cameo appearance in the director's MCU film Thor: Ragnarok.</p> <p>The Boy director shared several photos to his Instagram on Wednesday, including photos from the set of Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a walk up Mount Eden the pair took with actor Julian Dennison, as well as screenshots of Neill's work in the 1997 film Event Horizon and 1981's Omen III: The Final Conflict.</p> <p>"So long my dear friend,” Waititi captioned the post.</p> <p>"You are so loved and will be sorely missed by us all. Even though you didn’t even remember it, I still think your best work is when you explain space travel by poking a pen through a piece of paper in Event Horizon (also the awesome eyes bit), and playing the antichrist, Damien Thorn, in Omen 3.</p> <p>"I’m not sure what other roles you did but whatever.</p> <p>"Love you and see you soon, sweet Nigel."</p> <p>Sir Sam Neill was called Nigel at birth, but changed his name to Sam at age 11, saying there were too many Nigels at his school.</p>