Gemma Arterton: from Bond girl to Clash of the Titans
Since her breakthrough as a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace, Gemma Arterton has moved on apace, mixing mega-budget Hollywood with low-cost Isle of Man. Craig McLean meets an actress destined not merely to be remembered as Strawberry Fields for ever.
June 2009, Shepperton Studios, Surrey. On the set of Clash of the Titans, a toga-clad Gemma Arterton is gracefully evoking the aura of a mysterious spiritual guide while clutching a script and an iPhone. She is playing the 'wise and ethereal' Io in this big-budget remake of the cult 1981 film based on the myth of Perseus, Zeus's mortal son who leads a band of warriors to defeat Hades, battling Medusa and the Kraken along the way. She shares the screen with Avatar's Sam Worthington (as Perseus), Liam Neeson (Zeus), Ralph Fiennes (Hades) and, courtesy of the 85 special-effects and animation teams employed by the director Louis Leterrier, a menagerie of fantastical creatures.
'I've always played quite feisty characters,' Arterton says. 'And Io is feisty, but there's a real subtext going on with her. I was really interested in playing that in contrast to anything I've done before. And anyway, Clash of the Titans was my favourite film when I was a kid, so I just really wanted to be involved in it. I would have been a spear-carrier.'
Arterton, 24, has enjoyed a remarkable career since graduating from Rada in 2007. Early roles came in Stephen Poliakoff's TV film Capturing Mary (a part she filmed while still a student) and the 2007 St Trinian's remake. But she leapt to public attention when she played Strawberry Fields in 2008's Quantum of Solace.
It was a small role – one that, naturally, involved a sex scene with Daniel Craig's 007 – but not a fluffy one: Arterton revealed mettle behind the glamour. In the title role in the BBC's 2008 production of Tess of the D'Urbervilles she gave an emotive and intuitive performance, offering a brilliant showcase of her raw but confident acting skills.
Eight months after our encounter in Ancient Greece, I meet Arterton again in a modern Chinese restaurant in central London. She is enjoying the calm before the storm. Clash of the Titans will be released next month, swiftly followed by her second blockbuster of 2010, Prince of Persia, in which she plays an all-action priestess opposite Jake Gyllenhaal...
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http://commanderbond...quicknews/57584 - Telegraph
