Sam Neill is sharing details about an open Hollywood ... in general -- is heavily centered around the fictional Delaney family's commitment to tennis as both Bening, 65, and Neill play former ...

So I was called Sam and he was called Bill, and that was the best decision I ever made,” Neill shared ... of the matriarch of the Delaney family, played by Annette Bening.

Sam Neill has written a new memoir Did I Ever ... RELATED VIDEO: The Jurassic Stars Past And Present Are a "Collective Family" Neill noted that the book is not about his cancer, but the diagnosis ...