‘I could not be more wrong’: Sam Neill reveals the role he regrets turning down

Despite a stellar career in the entertainment industry with appearances in a number of major blockbusters over the years, there is one role that Sam Neill passed on that still haunts him to this day.

While Neill’s adoring fanbase has enjoyed seeing the 76-year-old embody a variety of intriguing characters on both the big and small screens, they missed out on the chance to see him get all glammed up in the Aussie hit The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Neill made the career revelation during a wide-ranging interview with ABC iview’s The Assembly where he revealed that he had regrettably turned down a major role in the iconic Australian film.

“I turned down one role, it was one of the drag queens in Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” he revealed.

“I’d quite happily put on drag no problem at all, [it was that] I didn’t get it.

“I didn’t think it was funny. My reading faculties let me down, and I thought, ‘This is never going to work’.

“I could not be more wrong. I thought the film was fantastic.”

Elsewhere in the program, Neill reflected on the “brutal” nature of his chemotherapy when he was first diagnosed with blood cancer, revealing that he is now undergoing a less intense regimen.

“I’m on a different one now, so at least I don’t look like somebody’s bald thumb,” he said.

“That’s what I looked like for quite a while — it was embarrassing, and I lost my beard and everything, and my dignity went with it.”

Neill also shared that he is “extremely grateful” for his new treatment plan “as it’s kept me alive, and living is much better than the other thing”.

While audiences missed the chance to see Neill in the immensely popular Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, they also missed the opportunity to see him take on the iconic role of super spy James Bond.

However, the public were offered a sneak peek of what Neill’s Bond would have looked like when, during a recent appearance on the TODAY show, hosts surprised him with the footage of his audition for the role.

Did you know SAM NEILL was once up for James Bond (for The Living Daylights)? Well, he did, and here’s his audition… pic.twitter.com/qnnTF06AlQ

— FilmFrame (@FilmFrameATRM) May 17, 2020

Although he was initially caught off guard by the clip, Neill eventually laughed off the embarrassing moment before admitting that he was relieved to have not been offered the role.

“Oh, my God, no – That is so cruel to play that, so cruel,” Neill told the hosts as footage appeared on the screen.

“I felt so awkward all the day that we made that thing and it just went on and on and on.

“I am so relieved they offered it to someone else, they are welcome to it – you don’t want to be the Bond that no-one likes, you know – that is a fate worse than death.”

In the resurfaced footage, Neill enters a hotel room as Bond, sporting an unbuttoned shirt and brandishing a pistol.

“My friends call me Bond. James Bond,” he says to a partially clothed woman reclining on a hotel bed.