Hollywood can wait for a Kiwi Christmas

CRAIG SIMCOX/Dominion Post

NEW ZEALAND STORY: Hollywood actor Martin Henderson at the transformed Wellington Railway Station. His new movie, Home by Christmas is a World War Two love story that he says many Kiwis can relate to.

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A World War II love story from film-maker Gaylene Preston was revealed as a family affair in more ways than one while shooting scenes at Wellington Railway Station.

Home by Christmas  - starring Martin Henderson, one of New Zealand's most successful international movie actors - is based on the true story of Preston's parents, Ed and Tui.

Henderson plays Ed, while Preston's daughter Chelsie Preston-Crayford - recently seen in Kiwi film Show of Hands - plays Tui.

"Casting my daughter as my mother took a while to work out. Fortunately, she has been working hard as a [drama school] graduate and has done a few films, so I'm very lucky to have a very experienced actress in the family," said Preston.

"If she was a plumber she'd be fixing the drains, but she's an actress and here she is."

Platform seven at the station was yesterday transformed back to the early 1940s, with extras dressed as soldiers, nurses and commuters, along with a vintage steam train.

The film, which includes music by the director's sister, Jan Preston, sees Ed join the army in 1940 on his way home from rugby practice. But his pregnant new wife is upset.

Ed tells her he will be home by Christmas but instead does not return for 4½ years after escaping from a prison camp in Italy.

During that time, Tui falls in love with another man.

The scenes shot yesterday included Henderson, as Ed, arriving at the station to meet his four-year-old son Ted played by actor William Ackroyd for the first time.

Henderson, who will soon be seen in Battle in Seattle with Charlize Theron and Woody Harrelson, said returning for a New Zealand role also felt like being part of a family.

He was in Los Angeles when Preston telephoned him about the movie and he immediately agreed to be involved.

"She is so laid back. It felt like talking to my family.

"It's that New Zealand attitude. It's a very different beast to the American way of doing things."

He said it was also a story many New Zealanders could relate to.

"My grandfather was in World War II and I couldn't get him to talk about anything to do with the war. It was a similar experience with Gaylene and then, prior to her father's death, he opened up and agreed to be interviewed by her.

"It was a very romantic story, but also very deeply personal. We've seen so many World War II movies and you're often asked, `How is this any different?' It's having that family element that made it a very beautiful story."

Home by Christmas is due for release next year.

- © Fairfax NZ News