Sam Neill stands behind political statement he made in 1997 hit Event Horizon

Actor requested that the British Union Jack be removed from Australian flag on his character’s costume

Sam Neill at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards in 2019 (Rex Features)

Sam Neill has stood by a political statement he made with his costume in the 1997 sci-fi film Event Horizon.

The hit movie, set in 2047, followed Neill and Laurence Fishburne as members of a group of astronauts who are sent to investigate a lost spacecraft that disappeared on its maiden voyage.

Eagle-eyed viewers have since spotted that the British Union Jack that usually appears in the corner of the Australian flag, which appears on Neill's character's space suit, has been replaced with an Aboriginal flag.

When one fan recently pointed this out on Twitter, Neill – who is from New Zealand – confirmed that he himself had requested for the flag to be customised, writing: “This is indeed so. And I wouldn’t do it any differently today.”

For decades, there has been a debate about the placement of the British Union Jack in the upper-left corner of the Australian flag, with many Aboriginal people arguing it is a symbol of oppression.

Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’ (Paramount Pictures)

Many republicans also oppose the design as it presents Australia as a British colony.

In 2018, Australia’s former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the flag will never change and will continue to fly “long after all us have shuffled off the stage of history”.