Put a woman in charge of Russia, says Sam Neill

Sam Neill thinks most countries should be run by women.

The 75-year-old actor is still “mourning the loss” of Jacinda Ardern — who stepped down as Prime Minister in his native New Zealand in January after almost six years in office — and believes that replacing Russian President Vladimir Putin with a member of the opposite sex would alleviate the ongoing conflict with Ukraine.

Speaking on the British TV show Lorraine, he said: “Well, I think women, generally speaking, are better actors than men. I always love working opposite a talented woman because I find my own game lifts. I think that women are better at most things actually, with the possible exception of weightlifting.”

He added: “I’m still mourning the loss of our Prime Minister in New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. She’s a terrible loss. I’d like to see a woman running most countries. I suspect there wouldn’t be a Ukraine problem at the moment if we had a woman running Russia. That’s too much testosterone!”

The Hollywood star is known for his roles in Jurassic Park opposite Laura Dern and Sleeping Dogs but was forced to take time out of the spotlight to deal with blood cancer — which is now in remission — and wrote his memoir Did I Ever Tell You This? during the treatment process.

However, Sam joked that the overall tone of the book is “surprise” because he never imagined finding screen fame in the first place.
He said: “I got a cancer scare about a year ago and I’ve been in remission for about eight months. I had to go into chemotherapy and I had nothing to do so writing gave me something to think about.

“Suddenly, I couldn’t go to work. So I’d go to my study and write about what I felt that day. It would cheer me up on what might have been an otherwise dark day. And I’d think of some stories. But it’s not a cancer book, it’s about life and love and all the people I love. My darling parents, all the funny adventures I’ve had with some really remarkable people.

“But the tone of it is surprise, because I never thought that I would have a career as an actor at all, least of all as a screen actor, but that is what happened and it sort of charts those accidents that happened along the way of my life. I continue to be surprised — I still get offered work!”