Christopher Chung has revealed Sam Neill gave his "blessing" for My Brilliant Career. "So she managed to get a video message to him from me, and then in turn he sent one back. "[He] gave me his blessing on the role, which was really, really generous and sweet. “To step into these shoes in such a profound way and to take on that part — from reading the initial breakdown, that was something that I really wanted to do.” They said: "It is with immense sadness that the whanau [family] of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia.