Alec Baldwin's tribute to Sam Neill, following the latter's death, has been labeled as 'insane' and 'narcissistic'.
Baldwin delivered a nearly three-minute video tribute to his former co-star, igniting backlash for focusing more on himself than on Neill. The 30 Rock star, aged 68, posted the video on Instagram on July 13.
In the video, Baldwin barely mentioned Neill, dedicating only the first 10 seconds and the last 5 seconds of his 2-minute and 47-second eulogy to him. Instead, he rambled about his own experiences on set during the filming of The Hunt For Red October.
Reddit users erupted in criticism over Baldwin's video in a thread published on July 14. Many found his approach distasteful and self-centered.
One Redditor remarked, "This is a man who is thinking about his own eventual death because of the death of a colleague, instead of eulogizing the colleague at all."
Another user stated, "The narcissism is insane," while a third quipped, "So many name drops it’s like a slow, meandering version of We Didn’t Start The Fire."
Some defended Baldwin, suggesting that older individuals sometimes ramble. One commenter noted, "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 his video by expressing his shock at Neill's passing. "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," he stated.
He continued, "And that was probably my first big movie in terms of having a decent-sized role because 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 one of the most exciting parts of it was, for me, was to meet Tom Clancy."
Baldwin went on to praise the cast of The Hunt For Red October, listing over a dozen co-stars. He said, "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, um, I mean, my God, Hunt for Red October."
He named 14 cast members from the film, including Sean Connery, Tim Curry, James Earl Jones, Courtney B. Vance, and Stellan Skarsgård.
Instead of transitioning back to Neill after this lengthy list, Baldwin continued to ramble about his experiences. "There’s a lot of other people in there who I enjoyed working with, but my God, my God. What an experience that was," he shared. "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."
In closing, he finally acknowledged Neill with a brief mention: "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."
