'Off the Rails' director shares stories from Kelly Preston's last film: 'She was such a cool woman'

When Kelly Preston passed away from breast cancer in July 2020, she had completed one last film that was still awaiting release. In a holiday gift for the actress's many fans, that movie — the British comedy Off the Rails — is currently available in theaters and on most VOD services. And director Jules Williamson hopes that audiences now view the film in the same way she does: as a posthumous toast to Preston's talent. "She was such a cool woman," the filmmaker tells Yahoo Entertainment. "And I do feel that this film is a celebration of her, which is what she'd want. It's a celebration of a brilliant actress." (Watch the trailer for the film above.)

Based on Williamson's own life, Off the Rails follows a trio of middle-aged women — Cassie (Preston), Kate (Jenny Seagrove) and Liz (Sally Phillips) — as they embark on a railway trip across Europe in honor of their recently deceased best friend, whose 18-year-old daughter (Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips) has taken her mother's place. After pocketing the idea for the film for several years, the director decided that the commercial success of female-centric movies like Mama Mia! and Blue Jasmine meant that the time was right for her own story to reach the screen. "I heard Cate Blanchett at the Oscars saying that the industry needs to wake up to the fact that women-centered stories made money. So I thought, 'This is the time to revisit this.'"

In short order, Jordan Waller was commissioned to write a screenplay based on Williamson's treatment, and that script quickly found its ways to Preston's hands thanks to Off the Rails producer, Bill Kenwright. "It must have resonated with her, because she absolutely loved the story and she loved the script," Williamson remembers. "She really, really wanted to do it."

Production on Off the Rails began on location in England in early 2019, by which time Preston had received her breast cancer diagnosis. But Williamson says that the actress kept that information private from her and the rest of the creative team. "Nobody knew," she says now. "As far as I'm aware, she didn't want to bring that to the film. Kelly wanted to get on with it really, and I think that her professionalism was astounding. As soon as she came on set, everybody, you could feel everyone's energy lift."

As a small production, Off the Rails had a demanding shooting schedule that saw the cast and crew visiting 38 locations in only 26 days. According to Williamson, Preston never showed any signs of discomfort or illness during those intense three-and-a-half weeks. "Honestly, in a million years I would never have known there was anything wrong with her. And she was so beautiful! The rest of us would be thinking about how tired and knackered we all looked, and then we'd gaze adoringly at Kelly, shrug our shoulders and say, 'Well, she's just beautiful, isn't she?'"

During production, Preston shared pictures from the film on Instagram, including the day that Dame Judi Dench — who has a small role in the film — was on set. "Dream came true today," she wrote of meeting the Oscar winner and acting icon. "She was thrilled to bits about that," Williamson confirms.

Preston's husband, John Travolta, and their children, Ella and Benjamin, didn't accompany her to Europe, but the director remembers them being regular topics of conversation. "She talked about them a lot, and obviously missed them," Williamson says. Ahead of the movie's U.K. release this past summer, Travolta shared the Off the Rails trailer on his own Instagram feed, writing: "Off the Rails is Kelly's last film — she was very proud of it and of all of the wonderful talent that she got to work with in it."

Interestingly, Preston's character in the film is also an actress and at one point expresses frustration with the way her talent is frequently devalued on her current job on a male-dominated TV medical drama. "All Kendra is now is five looks delivered in reaction to a male doctor explaining something to her," Cassie complains to her friends at one point.

Asked whether that scene was derived from the actress's real life experience in Hollywood, Williamson says that Preston was largely upbeat about the arc of her career from a young ingenue in 1980s films like Secret Admirer and Twins to more mature roles in Jerry Maguire and For Love of the Game. "We all were and are aware of that aspect of the industry, and we would talk about the things that weren't quite right. But Kelly was nothing but positive about it as a whole. She loved working... and she really could straddle all aspects of a great performance. Frankly what's so tragic about [her death] on a professional level is that she had so much to give."

"She once very sweetly said that I was a bit like [Jerry Maguire director] Cameron Crowe, because I love music and I've got a big heart," Williamson adds. "That's one of the biggest compliments I could ever be paid really, because I'm a huge fan of his." In a Crowe-esque touch, Off the Rails is scored entirely to the music of beloved rock band Blondie. "When we were scripting the film, I wanted the friend who died to be played by Debbie Harry," the director reveals. "Who wouldn't want to be friends with Debbie Harry?!"

Off the Rails is currently in theaters and on most VOD services.