THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN NUN
...or how Gemma the Bond girl ended up in a convent
SHE sprang to fame as red-haired Bond girl Strawberry Fields.
But Gemma Arterton will strike an altogether more demure image in her latest role – as a nun in a new screen adaptation of Black Narcissus.
In the forthcoming BBC1 series, the star will take the role of Sister Clodagh, first played by screen icon Deborah Kerr in the classic 1947 film.
Pictures show the former Bond girl, 34, dressed in a nun’s habit ringing a large bell.
The three-part series dramatises Rumer Godden’s 1939 novel, a torrid tale of sexual repression and forbidden love.
Sister Clodagh and the nuns of St Faiths travel to Nepal to set up a branch of their order in the remote palace of Mopu, in the Himalayan mountains.
Miss Arterton’s character finds herself attracted to the handsome land agent, Mr Dean, played by American Hustle star Alessandro Nivola, 48. The trailer shows a glimpse of a sexual encounter between what appears to be Sister Clodagh and Mr Dean.
Speaking about the role earlier this year, Miss Arterton – who starred alongside Daniel Craig in the Bond film Quantum of Solace in 2008 – said: ‘I play a nun and loved it because I didn’t have to worry about my hair.
‘It was very freeing, actually. She’s quite a strict nun and isn’t very charming.
‘I ended up respecting the faith, because we really don’t have much faith these days.’
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the original big- screen version starred Miss Kerr and David Farrar and won two Oscars, for cinematography and art direction.
The new series is written by Amanda Coe, who recently worked on BBC hit The Trial of Christine Keeler, which was shown in January.
Miss Coe said: ‘ It’s a truly extraordinary love story, as well as a brilliantly unsettling piece of 20th century gothic about the power of a place to get under your skin and the dangers of refusing to learn from history.’
Also in the cast is The Fall’s Aisling Franciosi as Sister Ruth and Bridget Jones’s Diary’s Jim Broadbent as Father Roberts. Dame Diana Rigg, who died this month, will be seen in one of her final roles, as Mother Dorothea.
The cast includes Rosie Cavaliero as Sister Briony, Karen Bryson as Sister Philippa and Patsy Ferran as Sister Blanche.
The miniseries, directed by Danish cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen, will air this December.