Gemma Arterton on Tamara Drewe, Underwritten Scripts and That 'Hot Pants' Poster

So the poster...

[Winces] Yes.

What do you think of the poster?

Well, there are a few posters, you know. The one in the UK doesn't have the hot pants on it. The one in the UK is one of me looking mischievous with the boys in the background. For the rest of world they used this one. I always imagined what the poster would be; I always thought it would be the book cover, but with my face -- like an illustrated me. But of course they don't do that because then you wouldn't know who's in the film. I think it's interesting that they chose that image, because that's the Tamara Drewe who grabs everyone's attention. She deliberately decides to wear those clothes; she walks through the fields barefoot and climbs over the stile knowing they're all there. It's an attention grabber -- she does it for a reason. There's an absolute reason. So it's interesting that's the attention grabber to get people to come and see the film.

But it's actually deceiving. I've had friends who've seen it, and they were really shocked because they thought it was going to be some romcom -- just from the trailer and the poster. And they're deceived because it's actually a lot darker. It just surprises them. That's nice. But for me personally it's just kind of weird seeing myself in those hot pants everywhere. Oh God. They always do that: Choose the sexy image to distribute.

But you look like a comic-book character -- like a superheroine in a way.

Aww!

Did it resonate with you at all that way?

No! I was just hung up on the bloody hot pants.

It's not like they can put pre-rhinoplasty Tamara on there. How did the idea of that physical change affect you personally or psychologically, both on- and off-camera?

It was interesting: When I did those scenes with the nose, I went on set with the nose, hair, school uniform, flat chest, nose... absolutely not sexy at all. I walked on set and I made myself a cup of tea. And someone told me I wasn't allowed that because it was for people who were working on the film. I was amazed. I was kind of loving it, actually. And then I walked around; I said hello to Roger Allam, and he ignored me: "Who's this weird schoolgirl who keeps coming up to me." Then I talked to the stunt coordinator for a good hour about just anything, and he didn't know it was me. At lunchtime he came up to me and said, "You know, it's really good you got this gig playing Gemma's younger self." I couldn't believe it. I said, "No, it's me. It's Gemma." And he couldn't believe it.

So it was weird. People related to me differently. I don't know that's because they didn't know I'm an actress -- people always treat you differently. The lead actress in a film gets pandered to and stuff. But it was interesting to me because I was so invisible on the set, and Tamara feels like that inside -- like she's nobody. And that's why she has to make something of herself, and she does it in a way that she thinks is the successful way: Make yourself look beautiful, wear sexy clothes, be more confident... and it's really false. She doesn't do it well. She almost does it well, but ultimately it all falls away.

You've mentioned about this film that sometimes your character's motivations weren't always clear. Do you ever find yourself second-guessing the character -- and thus the script and/or yourself -- as shooting goes along?

Yeah. I think whether it's resolved in the script or not, you have to revolve it in your head. With this next character I'm playing, famously nobody can pin her down. It's a character that's never been explained. Ibsen wrote it.

What's the project?

It's The Master Builder [at Almeida Theatre in London]. I'm playing Hilda Wangel, who's this weird, ethereal woman. You never know if she's a devil or angel, or what on Earth... She's the only character in the whole piece who you have no idea why she's there. So I have to work it out. That's great, but you have to do a lot of work. I've done so many jobs where I have to make up a story just so I can believe in it and root it because it's been underwritten. So I believe you're right; sometimes you have to find a way to make it up or else you're acting off of nothing. Though I felt like with Tamara, that was OK, because she was in chaos herself. I feel at the end of the film it's still unresolved.

You've mentioned this dilemma before. Why would you do something that's underwritten?

I think those roles exist that are so brilliantly written, but you have to really look for them. I don't mind doing the extra work, but for me it just feels like a shame. I don't know. There isn't any reason a script shouldn't be brilliant when you first start a project. The script should be brilliant. I've done projects where the script has changed so much that I never would have done it in the first place if it was going to turn out the way it has. My character's been totally rewritten. There is no reason it should be like that. People have the whole of their lives to write scripts! When I did Alice Creed, for me that was a character that was so well-written and every last thing was thought through. J [Blakeson] was writing the script for four years; all of his passion went into it. It was perfect. We didn't change a word. There is no reason it shouldn't be like that. But time and time again you read a script that is incomplete. It's been rushed or written so that a certain formula works.

But that's OK. Successful movies are made like that. But for me, I'm looking for those scripts -- and I've read a few now -- where I go, "This is brilliant. They really care about these characters when they're writing. Everything works well together." But not every script is like that. And I'm not saying I wouldn't play an underwritten character, either, because otherwise I'm excluding myself from lots of things.

You've taken this year to do a lot of publicity and promotion. Have you been working on anything else at all?

No. This year has been insane.

I guess this is work today, though.

Well, it's the other side of it. It's just as valuable, I suppose -- and just as hard, if not harder. I did a play at the beginning of this year, and I'm just about to do another one I suppose, so that's my therapy, I suppose, from all of the press and other extreme of acting. But I had four movies -- and two of them were monster movies, so they needed a lot of time. Next year I won't have anything coming out, and so that's the year when I'll do the other side of it -- doing the craft and working, and nobody will see me for a year. Which is exciting for me! [Laughs] I feel like I've been overexposed.

[Top photo credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage for Mulberry]

Pages: 1 2