For a writer who lives in jeans and T-shirts, having to find dresses suitable for the red carpet is a bit of a shock.
Even Nelson author Christine Leunens’ bank thought so — contacting her about the uncharacteristic purchases appearing on her credit card.
"They thought my credit card might have been stolen as there were all these charges for dresses, shoes, handbags."
But it was not fraud. Leunens is the author of the 2008 book Caging Skies, which was made into an award-winning film Jojo Rabbit by New Zealand film-maker and actor Taika Waititi.
Leunens was invited along to its Los Angeles award season — the movie, its cast and crew, won 14 awards at various events including the Academy Awards and Golden Globes.
Finding a dress and fast was a challenge — trying to avoid large splits and looking like the mother of the bride or a nun. "It was tricky."
She eventually found what she was looking for online in the Ukraine and thought she was set. Until her husband insisted she could not wear the same dress to every event — hence the credit card check.
More used to wearing tramping boots and fearful of becoming the next YouTube sensation if she fell over on the red carpet, she had to train herself to walk again in high heels.
She looks back on it all now and thinks how exciting it was. She was within touching distance of stars she had only seen on the big screen.
"At the time it was extremely nerve-racking and daunting. Very surreal."
These days she is back in her jeans and T-shirt but the experience did not turn her off the film world. A film adaptation of her latest book In Amber’s Wake is to be made into a motion picture by the producer of the Academy Award-winning Thelma & Louise.
So when Leunens got back home she sent Polk Gitlin a copy of In Amber’s Wake.
"She thought it was so relevant to today, she’d like to produce it and asked if we could work together."
Unlike in Jojo Rabbit where Waititi wrote the screenplay based on her book, for this project Leunens has written the screenplay herself.
One of the reasons she accepted the invitation was that Polk Gitlin was enthusiastic and appreciative not only of the plot but of its setting in New Zealand during the period of the Rainbow Warrior bombing and Springbok rugby tour protests.
"She loved the story as it is and we’ve found a director who is too, so, so far so good."
The book was released in New Zealand earlier this year and is being translated and released around the world in coming months.
Leunens puts the popularity of the book down to, not only an interesting story, but the environmental message and its setting in a time in New Zealand’s history when it was making worldwide news with its anti-nuclear stance.
"It’s not so long ago and is relevant now with the Russian-Ukraine war making people re-think a lot of things."
Her interest in that period of history comes from living through it, although at that time she was living in France.
She can remember hearing about the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.
"It was so shocking."
"New Zealand is a relatively small country which stood up to the superpowers."
It also gave her insights into everyday life in the 1980s from a variety of different perspectives, the country set in Cambridge, the city life of everyday Aucklanders and the "artsy Ponsonby" set.
"The 1980s isn’t that long ago but as time passes things get forgotten."
Her books are a way of recording those things that can get forgotten such as having to go to the bank to get cash out before ATMs or eftpos arrived or using a phone box to make a call before cellphones.
"It’s those charming details like the phone tapping on a pay phone, or having to go to the post office if you wanted a new phone ... it all seems much longer ago."
Because she grew up in Connecticut (her mother is Italian, her father Belgian) in the United States and moved to France when she was a teenager, she could not take anything for granted. She has lots of friends who lived through that era in New Zealand to ask as well.
"I had to learn about the school system, everything. It was a lot of fun. It allowed me to open up an era."
One scene in the book saw a character not knowing what tapas was as it was being ordered in a restaurant.
"He played along but no-one knew what that was back then."
The research has also given Leunens (57) a chance to get to know her adopted country better. Leunens and her family moved to New Zealand after becoming disenchanted with France.
"At the time there was a lot of unrest in France — riots, violence, terrorism. So we wanted to move to an English-speaking country that was safe to raise a family."
The children settled in even though it took a little time to adapt their English to New Zealand English.
"They loved it."
"We found the country so beautiful. To us it was pristine. The people are friendly which was a change for us. In France people were very stressed. You’d open the door at the post office there’d be no thank you. So it was lovely to be here."
They have no regrets. One son has returned to France to study and Leunens has discovered nothing has changed when it comes to dealing with bureaucracy.
"I thought things might have changed by now. Life is so, so easy here in that respect."
Leunens turned to writing more seriously after finishing her Master of Liberal Arts in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University in 2005. She funded much of her early writing and studies by modelling in Europe and acting in television advertisements for big brands.
She finished Caging Skies when she came to New Zealand as she had more time to write. It was published in 2008 and has been translated into more than 20 languages.
Leunens also did a PhD at Victoria University of Wellington studying women’s relationships with their mother-in-law, inspired by her own difficulties.
"It was so much fun. I got to interview all these interesting women."
Her debut novel, Primordial Soup, published in the UK in 1999, was a critical success and she has also written A Can of Sunshine published in 2013 which was based on her PhD studies.
To see:
Christine Leunens, Sunday, 10.30am, The Whare o Rukutia
