Cillian Murphy Breaks Silence On Sam Neill’s Death With Gutting Peaky Blinders Tribute

The entertainment world is still absorbing the sudden loss of a beloved screen veteran this week, and the tributes keep pouring in from every corner of Hollywood. Sam Neill was a smoothly elegant and versatile actor whose career moved from art film to blockbuster over the course of decades. His passing at 78 has left collaborators, friends and fans searching for the right words to capture what he meant to them.

Neill died on Monday in Sydney, according to a statement posted to his own social media page, and his death was described as sudden and unexpected. The actor had disclosed in 2023 that he was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma, a rare form of non Hodgkin lymphoma, but his family confirmed he remained cancer free when he died. A specific cause of death was not given.

Among the many voices honoring him, Cillian Murphy’s tribute has struck a particularly personal chord. The account Film Crave shared his statement, in which the ‘Oppenheimer’ star said, “Like everyone who knew and worked with Sam, I admired him and adored him in equal measure. He was one of the kindest, funniest and gentlest people, and one of the finest actors. RIP.” The words carry extra weight given how closely their careers were intertwined on ‘Peaky Blinders.’

Neill and Murphy shared the screen during the show’s first two seasons, with Neill playing Chester Campbell, the relentless enemy of Murphy’s Tommy Shelby, before his character was shot and killed at the end of season two. Despite their characters’ bitter rivalry, the two actors reportedly stayed close long after their time on set together. According to a statement Murphy gave to Deadline, Neill was among the first to celebrate when Murphy won his Oscar in 2024, joking about catching up over a Bloody Mary or two and calling the performance in ‘Oppenheimer’ one for the ages.

Murphy was far from alone in mourning the loss. Steven Spielberg, who directed Neill in the ‘Jurassic Park’ franchise, also released a statement calling him exceptionally collaborative and noting how strange it was for Neill to play a character annoyed by children when he was such a devoted father in real life. Spielberg added that he and the rest of the ‘Jurassic’ family, including Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, would never forget him.

Neill’s résumé stretched far beyond those two franchises. He broke through internationally with ‘My Brilliant Career’ in 1979 and later starred in ‘Dead Calm,’ ‘The Piano,’ ‘The Hunt for Red October’ and ‘In the Mouth of Madness,’ among many others. He left behind a body of work spanning more than 150 acting credits.

Beyond the screen, Neill grew up in Northern Ireland before his family moved to New Zealand when he was seven, and he later became a vintner, producing pinot noir and riesling under his Two Paddocks label in Central Otago. He was also awarded a knighthood for his contribution to film, and he is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.

For fans who grew up watching Tommy Shelby and Chester Campbell circle each other across Birmingham’s underworld, the news hits differently knowing the real life bond between the two actors ran so deep. What is the ‘Peaky Blinders’ moment between Neill and Murphy that stays with you the most now that he’s gone.