‘Apples Never Fall’ will finally bring Sam Neill back to the Emmys
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Peacock’s “Apples Never Fall” is the latest limited series to adapt a book from Australian author Liane Moriarty, following the successes of “Big Little Lies” and “Nine Perfect Strangers.”
This one follows four adult children and their father trying to piece together the mysterious and unsettling disappearance of their mother, Joy (played by five-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening). Bening is, of course, sublime as she usually is but she is matched beat for beat by fellow veteran performer Sam Neill.
More from GoldDerby
The New Zealand actor plays the family patriarch, Stan, and while Neill is usually a kindly figure (apart from his “The Omen” days — not much kindness there), he is here on gruff, stern form in what is one of his finest performances in this later stage of this career. Critics have noted that the series is at its best when Neill is on screen and allowed to shine.
Laura Babiak (The Observer) opined: “Neill does the best work of the bunch, his controlling patriarch concealing a bevy of insecurities and uncertainties.”
Felipe Rangel (Screen Rant) explained: “Neill delivers a magnetic performance as the gruff Stan. The character is a major force in the family’s life, with his relationship with each one of his children given the necessary focus and care. ‘Apples Never Fall’ makes great use of the ‘Jurassic Park’ fan-favorite, with Neill delivering a compelling turn as Stan that keeps evolving as the series progresses, slowly peeling back the character’s layers and revealing how he became the person he is today and what that means to the rest of the family.”
Kelly Lawler (USA Today) summarized: “Neill balances the fine line between gruff and cruel, a symbol of a thousand baby boomer stereotypes without seeming derivative.”
Neill could, therefore, be in with a chance of an Emmy nomination for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor, which would be his first acting Emmy bid since 1998. That year, he was nominated for an Emmy in this same category for “Merlin,” so even though he’s only had one acting nomination overall, it was in the very category he is trying to compete in this year. That’s a good sign. By the way, Neill was also nominated for Best Narrator in 2017 for “New Zealand: Earth’s Mythical Islands.”
What also bodes well for Neill is that he is a veteran performer. Plenty of vets have been nominated in this category in recent years, including Michael Shannon (“George & Tammy”), Michael Keaton (“Dopesick”), Hugh Grant (“The Undoing”), Jeremy Irons (“Watchmen”), Jared Harris (“Chernobyl”), Antonio Banderas (“Genius: Picasso”), and Jeff Daniels (“The Looming Tower”).
Neill is best known for his work in “Jurassic Park,” in which he played Dr. Alan Grant in the first and third movies in the franchise. He returned to that role in 2022 when he, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern reunited in their original roles in “Jurassic Park: Dominion.” That reprise will, in some ways, help his case here. It returned Neill to the mainstream eye and reminded people Neill is, actually, a pretty big movie star.
That return to the mainstream, combined with his performance here, feels like something of a renaissance for the New Zealander and this category loves nothing more than rewarding actors who go through a late-career renaissance. Recent such examples include Keaton (“Dopesick”), Grant (“The Undoing”), John Turturro (“The Night Of”), Geoffrey Rush (“Genius: Einstein”), Cuba Gooding Jr. (“The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story”), and Mark Rylance (“Wolf Hall”).
Plus, Neill’s movie background also helps. Plenty of movie stars have been nominated here, including the aforementioned collection of Keaton, Grant, Banderas, Rush, and Gooding Jr. as well as Daniel Radcliffe (“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”), Taron Egerton (“Black Bird”), Sebastian Stan (“Pam & Tommy”), Andrew Garfield (“Under the Banner of Heaven”), Oscar Isaac (“Scenes from a Marriage”), and Colin Firth (“The Staircase”).
Neill and Bening also make for a wonderful, complex, captivating on-screen couple. The fact that they are so good together could help boost each other to a nomination. Other on-screen duos to both earn nominations for limited series performances include Steven Yeun and Ali Wong (“Beef”), Shannon and Jessica Chastain (“George & Tammy”), Stan and Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”), Firth and Toni Collette (“The Staircase”), and Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen (“WandaVision”).
It’s also worth noting that Firth and Grant were nominated for shows in which they played husbands who were potentially involved in nefarious doings against their wives. That chimes in with Neill’s performance and role in “Apples Never Fall,” so Neill fits the bill here in a number of different ways, making that potential Emmys comeback feel all the more realistic.
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
SIGN UP for Gold Derby newsletters and updates
Best of GoldDerby
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
