Jurassic World 3 Star Sam Neill Speaks Out on Delay After Coronavirus Shutdown

Jurassic World 3 star Sam Neill speaks out on the production delay after the coronavirus shutdown. He talked to Variety about what he's doing with all this downtime after the majority of the movie business shut down. Jurassic World: Dominion joins a host of other properties that have had to put things on pause after the pandemic spread. That doesn't even begin to cover the movies that were just entering theaters or about to be released. In the last couple of weeks, Black Widow, Wonder Woman 1984, No Time to Die, Fast & Furious 9, Mulan, and others all had to move their release dates. Luckily, the next dinosaur installment isn't until next summer, but the filming is on the shelf for the moment.

"Suddenly, here we are. We have been cryogenically frozen, and "Jurassic World: Dominion" is on hold. Insects in amber. And like virtually every actor in the world right now, I'm not working. Dammit," he began. "But we will return. We will. And what joy it will be to be back on a set, doing what I love best, with just the kind of people I love: other actors and all the remarkable people it takes to make a movie. That rare privilege. And to put things into perspective – there are many many worse things than a suspended movie."

Neill continued, "So what to do in the meantime? Most importantly of course – stay home. And I find myself surprisingly busy there. Fact is, most of the time at work, you actually spend a fair bit of the day staring dully at a trailer wall. Instead, here I find myself being busy with all the things I'm usually too busy to get busy about. I'm playing my uke. I'm singing. I'm Skyping with my friends. I'm intimately involved in the rearing of my grandchildren 2000 miles away. I'm rediscovering poetry. I put silly stuff on social media to encourage people, to cheer them up with a message [ Twitter @twopaddocks Instagram – @samneilltheprop ]."

"I get pleasure out of ironing my shirts and polishing a silver platter within an inch of its life. I'm reading great novels I'd never opened. I planted a shrub. There is beauty in the everyday," he declared.

According to the World Health Organization, who officially dubbed the coronavirus outbreak a "pandemic" last week, there are over 200,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide with 16,556 new cases diagnosed in the last 24 hours and over 8700 deaths around the globe. In the United States, there have been over 15,000 confirmed cases with 201 deaths as of this writing.

For those who are worried about the spread of the coronavirus, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention offers a litany of tips, including covering coughs and sneezes, avoiding large gatherings or close contact with people who are sick, and washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

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