Pain of P for Keisha

Keisha Castle-Hughes. Photo / Getty Images

Movie star Keisha Castle-Hughes is producing a new feature film about a subject painfully close to her heart - New Zealand's "epidemic" of P abuse.

Castle-Hughes, the child star of Whale Rider, is only 20 but has already faced her own substance abuse challenge: a battle with alcohol.

She says she has never used the methamphetamine P but admits it has damaged the lives of friends and family.

The Oscar-nominated actress is friends with Millie Elder, the daughter of broadcaster Paul Holmes, who has appeared repeatedly in court on P charges.

Earlier this year Castle-Hughes broke up with Bradley Hull, the father of her 3-year-old daughter Felicity, and last month she appeared in public for the first time with a new boyfriend, rapper Michael Graves.

She told the Herald on Sunday: "It has been a difficult time but I have got through this because I have a great family and a good support network of friends."

The movie project comes as police and health services warn of the multimillion dollar social impact of P.

On Friday, Napier man Robert Pearson was sentenced to jail after his 12-year-old daughter tested positive for methamphetamine. He had allowed P to be cooked in their home.

Even the Mongrel Mob, alarmed at the harm P is causing to members and families, is working with the Salvation Army to combat the drug.

On Friday, Castle-Hughes held a "read-through" of the script of her new production, The Last Saint, in Ponsonby.

Actor and former TV host Oliver Driver read the script, and a teenage actor read the lead role of 15-year-old Minka Jameson, a Pacific Islander with a P-addicted mother who is "going completely off the rails".

The script is written and directed by Rene Naufahu, best known for playing ambulance paramedic Sam Aleni on TV2 soap Shortland Street.

Naufahu declined to discuss the production but it is understood he approached Castle-Hughes and asked her to be involved. She and her co-producer Matthew Horrocks are still in negotiations with the New Zealand Film Commission for funding so are reluctant to reveal details of the movie, which is set in Auckland.

However, she talked to broadcaster Paul Holmes about his daughter Millie's experiences with the drug, and invited him to the read-through.

"I think he was genuinely moved by it," she said. "A lot of it certainly resonated with him."

Holmes, a Herald on Sunday columnist, has been outspoken about his anger at the damage P has done to his daughter and to New Zealand society.

He was nervous about getting involved with the project, he says, because Castle-Hughes described it as a "comedy-drama".

"I don't think I'll ever see anything funny about P," Holmes said. But the read-through had made him cry. "Every ghastly, destructive, insane, crazy, violent, terrifying thing about P was in there."

Castle-Hughes, too, said she had been nervous about Holmes' attendance because his opinion mattered to her and the crew and the subject matter was so sensitive.

"First and foremost this is entertainment but it is also important to face social issues that are happening right now in New Zealand ... I think the entire culture of P in the past five to seven years has inspired me."

She might take an acting part in the movie, she said. On Friday she read the role of Xena, a girl who lives down the hall from Minka and is named after Xena the Warrior Princess.