Alec Baldwin finds himself under fire for posting a lengthy, nearly three-minute tribute to his late co-star Sam Neill, who recently passed away at the age of 78. The tribute, however, did not sit well with fans.
The 68-year-old actor faced criticism, being labeled “insane” and “narcissistic” for sharing a video on Instagram where he paid homage to Sam Neill, the acclaimed New Zealand actor from Jurassic Park.
Having shared the screen with Neill in the 1990 action thriller The Hunt For Red October, Baldwin focused extensively on their time filming. Surprisingly, he only briefly mentioned Neill in the beginning and end of the video, which spanned two minutes and 47 seconds.
The video was heavily criticized on Reddit’s subreddit /r/fauxmoi/ on Tuesday. One user remarked, “This is a man more preoccupied with his own mortality than with honoring his late colleague.”
“The level of narcissism is astonishing,” commented another user, while someone else quipped, “It’s like a slow, meandering version of ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ with all the name-dropping.”
There were some who did defend Baldwin however.
Alec Baldwin has been blasted for his nearly three-minute rambling tribute to former co-star Sam Neill who passed away at 78 earlier this week
As the two had starred on 1990 classic action thriller The Hunt For Red October together, he talked a lot about his experience on set (Neill is pictured in the film)
One Reddit user said: ‘He’s just vibing with memories, sometimes old people ramble haha, I think this sounds kinda normal for someone getting up there in age.’
Baldwin began the rambling tribute video by saying: ‘I just wanted to come on here quickly and say, how stricken I was to learn of the death of Sam Neill. When I did The Hunt for Red October, we shot in ’89, it came out in 1990, a long time ago.
‘And that was probably my first big movie in terms of having a, a decent-sized role, ’cause I’d done Working Girl and Beetlejuice and things like that, where I had a smaller role. And I do Hunt for Red October and, yes, John [McTiernan] is a great director and, um, one of the most exciting parts of it was, for me, was to meet Tom Clancy.’
He went on praise the cast and then named over a dozen of their co-stars.
Baldwin continued: ‘But the cast, I mean, I’ve had great casts, I’ve worked with great people. You know, Tony and Meryl, and so many other people that I really, really admired, and do admire. But the, the, um, I mean, my God, Hunt for Red October.’
He went on to name 14 of his and Neill’s castmates from the iconic film including Sean Connery, Tim Curry, James Earl Jones, Courtney B. Vance, and Stellan Skarsgård.
One would assume this would be where he would talk about Neill, however, he said: ‘There’s a lot of other people in there who I enjoyed working with, but my God, my God. What an experience that was.
‘What an experience it was to do that movie with those people. I mean, every time you turned around to do a scene, you were with this great actor.’
Baldwin only mentioned the late Neill in the first ten seconds and last five seconds of the two-minute and 47-second clip
Users on Reddit subreddit /r/fauxmoi/ slammed the post on Tuesday
There were some who did defend Baldwin however
Baldwin seen in The Hunt for Red October
Baldwin then went on to reminisce by telling a story about Ron Grutman smoking a cigarette and doing a Russian accent before doing a James Earl Jones impression.
The star finally named Neill again as he concluded: ‘That is one of the few movies I have ever done where I remember the whole movie. That’s what a fan I am of that work. Not me. I’m not a fan of my work but I am a fan of their work.
‘Anyway, oh my God. My God. Sam Neill. My love to his family, My love to his family.’
Meanwhile, it was revealed that Neill had passed away at 78 just months after he revealed he was ‘cancer-free’ following a long battle with the disease.
The New Zealand actor – who starred in blockbusters such as Jurassic Park and The Piano – died in hospital in Sydney on Monday.
Family described his death as ‘sudden and unexpected’ in a statement published on his Instagram page. The actor was previously diagnosed with a type of blood cancer.
‘It is with immense sadness that the whānau (family) of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13 July, in Sydney, Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life,’ they said.
‘The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free. They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care.
The New Zealand actor – who starred in blockbusters such as Jurassic Park and The Piano – died in hospital in Sydney on Monday
‘More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.’
In April, Neill – who is best known for playing Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise – announced tests had found he was cancer-free.
In an interview with Channel Seven, Neill detailed how close he came to death after chemotherapy stopped working. It was instead a costly, cutting-edge treatment that then prolonged his life.
Neill said: ‘I’ve been living with a particular type of lymphoma for about five years and I was on chemotherapy and it’s a pretty miserable business, but it was keeping me alive.
‘Then the chemo stopped working. I was at a loss and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn’t ideal obviously.’
Neill underwent a special treatment called CAR T-cell therapy, which genetically modifies a patient’s own T-cells to recognise and destroy cancer cells. Private treatment costs around $540k USD.