Sam Neill’s guide to sheep
The actor, real-life farmer and star of new dramedy RAMS offers his tips for budding farmers
WHEN SAM NEILL isn’t battling dinosaurs, he’s hanging out with sheep. The actor owns a vineyard and farm in New Zealand, which — as well as producing the acclaimed Two Paddocks wine — is home to a menagerie of animals, including around 25 sheep, all named after former co-stars (including Jeff Goldblum the ram, and Susan Sarandon the ewe). That made him perfect for the role in his new film, Rams, where he plays a sheep farmer forced to hide his herd in his house after a disease sweeps his valley. He is not short on woolly wisdom, then.
SHEEP DON’T MAKE GREAT ACTORS
“We had some sheep that had been ostensibly trained prior to filming Rams. Sheep are only biddable to a certain extent. You never see a performing sheep in a circus. These ones [in the film] were perfectly fine. And they were beautiful. Our main ram was a gorgeous creature. He’d wander over to me sometimes in the morning. So I knew he recognised me. We’d have a few words now and again. We were pretty good friends by that time [they filmed a scene where Neill spongebaths a ram]. It’s not often you share a bath with a ram. That takes a certain level of trust.”
RAMS ARE PRETTY HORNY (IN EVERY SENSE)
“A ram has more important things on his mind. It’s a little known fact that they are the most prodigious male animal on the planet. A good ram can, to use an English expression, shag 80 ewes in a day. There is no other animal on the planet with that capacity. They are a wonder of nature — it just happens to be in the bedroom department. I have first-hand experience. Poor Hugo Weaving [the ram] actually died on the job, while he was proving his phenomenal bedroom capacities.”
SHEEP MAKE STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
“Every animal needs a friend. [My ram] Jeff Goldblum was destined, I’m afraid, for the local butcher. I don’t particularly like that. And so Jeff Goldblum has instead been retired, with honours. He resides with his best friend, who is a Kunekune pig. He will live out his days in pig company. They’re quite fond of each other. Also, we had this strange, wild sheep turn up. It had been on the lamb, so to speak. It looked like a zeppelin balloon of wool, with the most enormous afro. It hadn’t been shorn for years. We put it in with this horse — and they’re inseparable. If you move one, the other one has to come.the sheep stands under the horse when it’s raining to keep dry. They just will not be parted.”
IT’S OKAY TO LOVE SHEEP MORE THAN PEOPLE
“My dad was not a farmer as such, but he had a small farm and he bred South Suffolk sheep. I’ve continued that tradition. My mother and father, who were British, were great animal-lovers. When I think of my upbringing, we always had dogs and cats and things, and because my parents were so British, all the dogs and cats got all the cuddles — the children got none at all! [laughs] It’s not that they didn’t love us. They did. But I think that’s what the English do. They lavish their pets with physical affection. And at best speak kindly to the children. [laughs]”
RAMS IS IN CINEMAS FROM 12 FEBRUARY AND ON DIGITAL FROM 26 FEBRUARY