Bond girl Gemma Arterton talks about kissing her co-stars
29-Mar-2009 • Quantum Of Solace
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"I didn't tongue Jake Gyllenhaal," she laughs. In case you've missed all the hoo-ha lately, internet sites are reporting the actress French-kissed the Hollywood star while they were filming love scenes for the upcoming Disney epic, Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time.
"That was a misquote and a half," she says. "Somebody asked me if I used my tongue and I said, 'Well, I gave him a kiss and perhaps my tongue slipped' and I thought, 'Oh God no, what have I done?'
"And then they said that I tongued him, which I didn't. Which he's probably very upset about and Reese Witherspoon is also probably a bit upset as well. You know, you snogged my boyfriend. No I didn't, it was an accident."
Apparently it's not Arterton's first accident.
"Yeah, I think I did the same with Daniel [Craig]," she giggles. "I get so carried away and he is an incredible kisser." More peals of laughter.
Everything is carrying Arterton away these days. Two years ago she was just another graduate of Britain's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, working at a make-up counter trying to pay the rent. Then she lands a plum role in St Trinian's and suddenly she's co-starring with people like Mischa Barton and Rupert Everett. Then, out of a crowd of 1500, she's picked to play Agent Fields in the new Bond film. Then Guy Ritchie wants her for RocknRolla and then she nabs Prince Of Persia (her first leading role).
No wonder she sounds breathless at times.
"I can't really get my head around it all," she says. "I keep going along with it and see what each day brings but it's been mad."
Today the actress is in London to promote The Boat That Rocked, the first of her new films to hit cinema screens. It doesn't take long to realise why everyone is so bedazzled by her. Arterton is delightful - vivacious and warm with an enthusiasm for life that is infectious.
Arterton describes The Boat That Rocked as "mad, brilliant fun". It's the tale of a group of rogue DJs in Britain in the late 1960s who set up ship in the middle of the North Sea to circumvent regulations so they can broadcast rock'n'roll around the clock. The government is unimpressed and determined to shut down the "drug-takers, lawbreakers and bottom-bashing fornications".
"I play Desiree," Arterton explains. "She's one of the girls that come on the boat on Sexual Saturday. Girls aren't allowed on the boat unless they're lesbians because they'll be distractions to the boys when they're DJ'ing. So on Sexual Saturday they ship these girls in from the mainland. I play sort of Dave's [played by Nick Frost] girlfriend."
So how would she rate Frost in the kissing stakes compared to Craig and Gyllenhaal then? (We're not afraid to ask the tough questions.)
The actress giggles. You can tell from her expression she's dying to spill the beans but she decides not to kiss and tell. Doesn't matter, we know Gyllenhaal would win hands down.
Arterton is clearly bemused by the conversation. She doesn't mind discussing the kissing; it's the fact she's co-starring with all these hot leading men that has her befuddled.
"I still can't get over the fact that I'm being put up for the lead female hot love interest," she says. "The one that's meant to be ensnaring all the men and is going to be the tottie. I don't feel like that at all. I still feel like the geeky, bookish girl."
Arterton might feel like a librarian but she certainly doesn't look like one (no offence to librarians). And she's not shy. Ask her why she thinks she's being chosen to play such sexually confident women, and she laughs and says: "Probably because I am one. But I think it's good to play women who are confident and strong."
She's just never considered herself a "looker". By all accounts she was a chubby teen who was a late bloomer. Now, of course, she's in the full throes of spring. However, being the hot love interest is so foreign that Arterton says at auditions she often tries to talk people out of hiring her: "Even on Prince Of Persia I remember saying to the producer, 'Why didn't you get Natalie Portman?' And they said, 'No, we want you.' So that sort of thing I always find weird."
"Weird", "surreal" and "out of this world" crop up a lot in Arterton's conversation. The weirdness started last year when she found herself snuggling up to the new-millennium 007. Since then life has only become weirder.
"I never, ever, ever thought I'd be considered for Bond," a wide-eyed Arterton says. "And when I got it, it was so out of this world that I decided I wasn't going to put any pressure on myself and I wasn't going to try and live up to anybody's expectations and I was just going to enjoy it. And I did."
Not even the love scene fazed her. "I just did it," she says. "Then Daniel started kissing up my back and ... I went, 'Oh my God, this is crazy.' But I never think about things too much, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad.
"I just keep taking it as it comes but it was a bit weird when my mum called. She said, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'I'm kissing Daniel Craig.' It was very out of this world."
It's a long way from Gravesend, in Kent, where Arterton was born. Her mother is a cleaning lady and her father is a welder. Her parents divorced when she was six but her father remained involved in his children's upbringing. She has a younger sister, Hannah, who's training to be an actress.
"I started off wanting to be a singer," Arterton says. "I'm actually a classically trained singer. Not many people know that. It's more opera. "Then I started doing music theatre and I started getting more confident with acting and that's what I ended up falling into more.
"That's why I loved The Boat That Rocked. Music is my biggest love in the whole world and it was great to be involved in something that's all about music."
Even '60s rock'n'roll music? "I'm a little bit of a rock'n'roll girl, actually, even though I can sing opera. My whole family is very musical. I have an uncle that was in quite a famous punk band over here [Reckless Eric] and my sister's in a band and when we're together we always have little jam sessions."
While Arterton is adjusting "quite well" to her new life, she admits it is "overwhelming" at times, particularly some of the "unexpected pressures" that come with the job, like recent criticisms about her weight.
The actress was at the BAFTAs in February and a badly angled photo depicted her with a double chin. Headlines like "Jowly Gemma" soon followed.
"It's one of the most hurtful things," she says. "I've always found that stuff ridiculous. I know what I see as a healthy, attractive, alluring person and it's always someone that's confident. It doesn't matter what size or shape they are but unfortunately that's not what the focus is in the industry. So I'm still getting used to all that."
She better hurry up because Prince Of Persia is expected to catapult her into the big time next year. This level of scrutiny is nothing compared with what awaits her.
"I'm not worried," she says.
What about losing her anonymity - does that scare her?
"No, because even after the Bond film I looked so different to how I look in real life I never really got recognised too much. I go down to my local pub and people don't really care over here. They're more into themselves."
A couple of relationships have already suffered due to her hectic work schedule. She recently broke up with 19-year-old Spanish stuntman Eduardo Munoz, her horse-riding instructor on Prince Of Persia.
"I'm dating somebody else now," she giggles. "It's all very new. He's from New Zealand but it's very early days.
"I think it is very, very hard to have long-distance relationships. I think you have to have somebody in your life that's very content and happy in what they're doing and they're not waiting for you to call and vice versa."
No needy boyfriends then? "Yeah. I've had all that. Now I look for someone who has a rich life, too."
The relationship will be put to the test soon enough, given Arterton is about to start filming Clash Of The Titans, which also stars Aussie actor Sam Worthington.
"I hope he's nice because we have to fall in love," she laughs.
To cope with the madness of her new-found celebrity, Arterton turned to Sir Ben Kingsley, her co-star in Prince Of Persia. His advice was simple: "He told me to just be myself, because so many people are trying to change you and trying to make you something you're not. He told me to keep being unique, which I thought was the best advice ever."
The Boat That Rocked is released on April 9.
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