By James Mottram
“My personal taste in what I enjoy from film is when it’s truthful and nothing else matters,” asserts Gemma Arterton. “Obviously, I also enjoy films that are big and opulent and that visually ‘take you somewhere else.’ But as an actor – and this might be a bit selfish – I just want to get on with it.”
British-born Gemma Arterton has been getting on with it since 2007, when she made her big screen debut as one of the tearaway schoolgirls in the raucous comedy, St. Trinians. True to her word, Arterton has been mixing smaller, more emotionally telling films (The Disappearance Of Alice Creed, Byzantium, Gemma Bovery, Song For Marian) with big visual feasts (Quantum Of Solace, Clash Of The Titans, Prince Of Persia, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters), while quietly carving out her own niche in European cinema.
Arterton’s latest film, Their Finest, definitely fits in with the actress’ facility for more intimate, low key filmmaking. Adapted from Lissa Evans’ novel, the comedy-drama also stars Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games), Bill Nighy, Jeremy Irons, Eddie Marsan, Richard E. Grant, and Jack Huston, and follows a British film crew attempting to boost morale during WW2 by making a propaganda film after the horrors of the Blitzkrieg. “It was a great production because it was traditional,” Arterton says. “I say ‘traditional’ because of the structure of the day, and the fact that it was a book-to-film adaptation. It’s a period film, so it’s very constructed, but within that, there was this real freedom. It didn’t feel stuffy, or like I couldn’t play. We were also moving at quite a pace, which is nice. Stephen Woolley [Carol] and Amanda Posey [Brooklyn] were really great producers, so they created a set that had momentum and where everyone was very good at their job. It was one of my most enjoyable shoots, definitely.”
Also contributing to the enjoyment factor was the film’s Danish director, Lone Scherfig, whose resume boasts critical darlings like Italian For Beginners, Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself, and the Oscar nominated An Education. “Lone is great at creating her own tone,” Arterton says. “When I read the script [by Gaby Chiappe], I couldn’t quite pinpoint what the tone was. I wasn’t quite sure, because it’s definitely a comedy and a drama. Lone creates this very delicate to-ing and fro-ing between comedy and drama and romance, which is what makes it so lovely. It feels like quite a rich film in that sense.”
Their Finest also likely includes the most dialogue that Arterton has ever had to memorise for a film. “It’s very text-heavy and dialogue-heavy,” the actress says. “We weren’t exactly trying to recreate those screwball comedies of the ‘40s where it was just dialogue-dialogue-dialogue, but there were a lot of words on the page. These days, it’s quite hard to tune into that straight away, when there’s so much information and there are so many characters. What I love about the film is that, all of a sudden, you’re in it. Even for me, as a viewer, there was so much stuff to take in, and all of a sudden, you’re just inside it. That’s very clever how Lone has done that. It’s difficult with book adaptations too. We had to take out a very large part of the sub-plot of the book, and there was so much material that we needed to condense-condense-condense. But it still needed to feel like it had a light touch and it had movement and it felt quick. This is where Lone has really excelled. It doesn’t feel like you’re bulked down with all this stuff. It feels quite light still.”
With women in the key roles of star, director, screenwriter, source novelist, producer, editor (Lucia Zucchetti), and composer (Rachel Portman), Their Finest is certainly a prime example of the growing sense of gender diversity in the film industry. “It’s definitely improved,” says Arterton. “There’s still a long way to go, but it’s something that we’re really conscious of now. Behind the camera, in particular, there’s still a long way to go.”
Arterton is further redressing the balance with her production company, Rebel Park, which has a decidedly feminine bent, both in its founding staff and choice of material. “We are definitely gearing towards pushing female writers and directors,” she says. “That’s because we’re women and we want to tell the stories that we want to tell. This whole idea is really out there now, certainly in the UK and the US. There had to be a big push and a bit of a stampede moment – where people said, ‘This is not on!’ – for it to become a get-it-out-there thing. And then it becomes the norm. But I still think there needs to be a conscious effort. Producers and executives need to say, ‘With this film, I definitely want a female director.’ But that whole idea is certainly out there now much more than it was until recently.”
Their Finest is released in cinemas on April 20, 2017
