Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Steven Spielberg on the set of Jurassic Park in the early 1990s Steven Spielberg has paid a heartfelt tribute to the actor Sam Neill, who he directed in the first Jurassic Park movie. On Monday, the Oscar-winning filmmaker was among the Hollywood stars to pay their respects to Sam, following his death at the age of 78. In a statement to Variety, Spielberg shared how “saddened” he was by the loss, beginning by expressing his “gratitude” to filmmakers Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce “for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention”, which led to him being cast in Jurassic Park. Spielberg enthused: “Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. “I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, …