Gaylene and Chelsie Preston: Girls on film

It wasn’t nepotism that caused Gaylene Preston to cast her daughter in her latest movie. Rather, the Kiwi filmmaker felt it was a good opportunity to boss the poor girl around. ”Finally I was in a situation where I could tell my daughter what to do,” laughs Gaylene. “She certainly never follows my advice normally!”

The director – who helmed iconic local films Ruby and Rata and Bread & Roses – is joking, of course. She and gorgeous 23-year-old actress Chelsie Preston Crayford clearly share a very close bond. Though the two trade frank opinions during their photo shoot with the Weekly, they insist the only time they ever truly argue is when they go shopping together.

And when it comes to the reason why Chelsie won one of the lead parts in her mother’s new movie Home by Christmas, the women are in agreement – she was the right actress for the role. ”It’s a danger working with your darling child,” admits Gaylene (62). “She could shave her head while wearing a sack and I’d still think she was fabulous. But Chelsie really claimed this role. It was obvious to everyone she was the one to play this character. It made complete sense.”

Chelsie turned the role down initially. ”I didn’t want to ruin the film because I was the wrong person for the job,” she explains. “But when completely impartial people told me I was perfect for the part, I started believing them.”

It helped that Chelsie has an insider’s knowledge of the character. In Home by Christmas, she plays her late grandmother Tui, Gaylene’s mum, who was left to bring up a baby by herself when her husband was captured as a prisoner in World War II.

Tui came to live with solo mother Gaylene when Chelsie was a young girl. “We were all in the sevens,” the director recalls. “Chels was seven, I was 47 and oum was 77. That was our little household and we lived together for nine years, until Tui got really sick and went into hospital.

“Having my mother in the house made it possible for me to continue to be a filmmaker. Although she was frail, Tui would collect Chels from school and helped me create a routine. I was able to bring up my child with my mother’s support but without interference. The minute I walked into the house, I was the boss.

“Chelsie was very strongly her own person, though. She’s always bobbed around like a little balloon in the breeze. I quickly came to understand that my role as a mother was to hold the string firmly and ground her. That’s my parenting technique – to not get too upset about the details but really hold that string.”

Chelsie, whose father is Parisian-based jazz pianist Jonathan Crayford, has many fond memories of her grandmother but especially loved it when Tui would open up her jewellery box.  ”A certain nostalgia would creep over her face as she told me where things were from, what she wore them to and why they were special. It was amazing to realise that she wasn’t always an old woman.”

The actress, who starred in The Cult, says memories of Tui were invaluable when it came to making the film.  However, Chelsie points out, “I wasn’t trying to be my grandmother. I wasn’t trying to walk, talk or look exactly like her. It was the sense of her I wanted to recreate. We were exploring why she was the way she was.

“It’s an intense experience to walk in the shoes of someone you loved but didn’t necessarily understand.”
Indeed, after each day on set, Chelsie would return to her flat “drained and wasted”. She recalls, “Aside from the personal connection, it was a very intense film. I had heaps of weepy moments. We’d wade into the emotion of it and wouldn’t emerge until the end of the day.”

Gaylene had her moments too. ”The first time Chels arrived in frame in one of Tui’s floral dresses, I was a wreck. Actually, I was crying fairly constantly for two weeks. ”The actors always knew when they’d hit the spot because I’d burst into tears- not because I missed my mother but because we’d discovered the psychological heartbeat of the scene. We’d discovered why Tui must’ve felt a certain way and why she’d made a particular decision.”

Chelsie’s intuitive, tear-jerking performance confirmed to Gaylene that her daughter was completely right for the role of Tui, while the emotional experience of making the film solidified their already close bond.
A smiling Chelsie says, “A new element of respect has been introduced to our relationship. We suddenly have a creative and professional level to work with. It’s really exciting. I’d love to do it again.”