Scott Neeson, who also oversaw production of blockbusters like ‘Braveheart’, ‘Titanic’ and ‘X-Men’, shares what inspired his life-changing decision, and why ‘leaving a bag of rice’ for orphans just isn’t enough
Scott Neeson, a Scottish Australian former film executive and ex-president of 20th Century Fox International, has overseen the production of some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters: the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005), Titanic (1997) and X-Men (2000). While his 26-year film career brought with it all the trappings of luxury—think Porsche and an expensive lifestyle, a trip to Cambodia in 2003 changed all that.
Some of the sights he saw in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh—impoverished children scavenging at a dumpyard—made a lasting impact on Neeson. In 2004, he set up the education non-profit Cambodian Children’s Fund (CCF). Fast forward to today, CCF supports around 2,000 children in Cambodia, offering them education, resources and programmes and support systems for entire families.
On November 10, 2023, CCF hosted a fundraising gala “Let Dreams Take Flight” at The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, and on December 3, they are holding their annual Angkor Wat half marathon. Ahead of this event, Neeson shares with Tatler his journey from a Hollywood executive to a charity founder—and why “leaving behind a bag of rice” for orphans isn’t enough.
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What inspired the leap of faith from Hollywood to charity?
I had just finished my contract as the president of 20th Century Fox in 2003, and I travelled to Southeast Asia for about five weeks to see the Buddhist monuments to rejuvenate myself before signing with Sony Pictures. On the way to Angkor Wat, I [passed by the capital city] Phnom Penh.
I was terribly shocked with what I saw at a municipal garbage site. Children were scavenging during the day. When they got exhausted, they just dug a little hole in the garbage dump to sleep. Some of these seven-or-eight-year-old kids came up to me and they were not asking for money or clothes. They said they wanted to go to school.
I [decided to work] on building a charity [while continuing my career]. 12 months into that, I flew to Cambodia again ahead of a meeting with a big-time actor in Tokyo. There, in a landfill three children were suffering from typhoid and didn’t have medical care. Then there was a phone call patched through from my Los Angeles office, in which the actor’s manager said his video games were [malfunctioning], so he got very angry and refused to get on a private jet [to Tokyo].
[Before this,] I was uncertain [of the thought of] selling everything and moving to Cambodia. But that [settled] it. I had a sense of being ethically correct. I didn’t want to ignore such blatant signs of the craziness of the two worlds.