Alec Baldwin’s Sam Neill tribute is the oddest thing you’ll watch today

If someone asked you to describe the late Sam Neill in three minutes, chances are you wouldn’t spend two minutes and 45 seconds talking about yourself.

Unfortunately for Alec Baldwin, that’s exactly what much of the internet thinks he just did.

The actor, 68, has come under fire after posting what was intended to be a heartfelt Instagram tribute to his late The Hunt for Red October co-star following the news of Neill’s death at the age of 78.

It begins as you’d expect: ‘I just wanted to come on here quickly and say how stricken I was to learn of the death of Sam Neill,’ Baldwin says solemnly.

Then, almost immediately, the video takes a sharp left turn.

Rather than reminiscing about Neill’s warmth, talent, or the time they spent working together, Baldwin embarks on what is essentially an extended director’s commentary for The Hunt for Red October.

There’s praise for director John McTiernan. A fond recollection of meeting author Tom Clancy. A roll call of co-stars including Sean Connery, Tim Curry and James Earl Jones. A story about Ronald Guttman smoking while doing a Russian accent. Even an impression of James Earl Jones makes an appearance.

Sam Neill, meanwhile, largely does not. It’s only in the closing seconds that Baldwin returns to the reason he pressed record in the first place.

‘Anyway, oh my God. My God. Sam Neill. My love to his family,’ he says, before ending the video.

The internet, unsurprisingly, had a few things to say about the strange video.

‘Alec Baldwin’s Instagram “tribute” to his Red October Co Star Sam Neill, where he spends almost 3 minutes talking about his own filmography & every other actor in October who isn’t Sam Neill might be the most unintentionally funny thing I’ve ever watched,’ one person wrote on X.

Another chimed in: ‘He forgot what he was supposed to be talking about? He had zero to say about Sam.’

With a third writing: ‘I forgot he was talking about
@SamNeill I think he mentioned him in the first 9 seconds and then didn’t talk about him again (except for last 2 secs ). This just became an Alec Baldwin/Hunt For Red October brag🤨🤔’

For many viewers, it wasn’t that Baldwin’s memories of making the 1990 submarine thriller weren’t interesting. It’s just that they seemed to belong in literally any other video.

Others, though, felt the backlash was unfair.

One Instagram follower defended Baldwin, writing: ‘You always talk so calming and compassionate and so kindly about all the people you have worked with.’

Another acknowledged the unusual approach but still appreciated it, commenting: ‘You didn’t say much about Sam Neill but good introspection about Red October. I should see it again! Sam Neill was magnificent.’

Neill’s family confirmed he died in Sydney on Monday at the age of 78.

In a statement, they said: ‘It is with immense sadness that the whānau [family] of Sam Neill share the news of his passing… Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life.’

They added that, despite his death coming as a shock, he had recently remained cancer-free following treatment for blood cancer.

Baldwin almost certainly meant his video as a sincere expression of affection.

But thanks to a spectacular scenic detour through his own memories of The Hunt for Red October, that’s unlikely to be what people remember.

Metro has contacted Alec Baldwin’s representatives for comment.