Gemma Arterton

Actress Gemma Arterton tells why she couldn’t turn down her latest role in the wartime film Their Finest

For those of us who didn’t live through the Blitz, or were too young to remember it, it seems incredible that people were able to endure being bombed night after night yet carry on – as best they could – with their normal lives. If anything, they were even more determined to do just that – just as, very recently, Londoners were after last month’s terrorist attack in Westminster. This stoicism and true British grit is deftly and imaginatively portrayed in Their Finest, which is set, initially at least, in London in 1940 at the height of the Blitz. “It’s a British thing, isn’t it – to keep calm and carry on?” says actress Gemma Arterton, who plays rookie screenwriter Catrin Cole in the film. “We just get on with it. For people in London – and other cities – in 1940, the war was ever present. The bombs, the sirens, all the detritus... Looking back at pictures of then, it’s astonishing to see people still going about their daily lives and routines, while also looking smart and well-groomed. I think all this gave them a sense of purpose, the necessity of just getting on with life and living in the moment. You had to do that. You might die the next day, death was everywhere. “Yet, among all the terror, there was also a real sense of

community, spirit and lots of humour, too.” With the nation bowed down by war, Their Finest, which also stars Bill Nighy, tells the fictional story of the creation of a propaganda film to boost morale at home. Realising their films could use ‘a woman’s touch’, the war ministry hires Catrin Cole as a scriptwriter in charge of writing the female dialogue. “Catrin isn’t a fiery, natural leader in the way that leading female characters often are,” says Gemma. ‘That’s one of the things that attracted me to the role. She’s quite gentle and quiet and her strength emerges as the film plays out. She’s living at a time where it’s casually accepted as the norm that she’ll be paid less than her male counterparts for doing a similar job. This is obviously sexist and something I, personally, feel very strongly about, but Catrin just gets on with the job in hand. She doesn’t scream and shout to get her point across, but she – and her colleagues – come to realise that she’s a very good and clever writer. The feminist movement hadn’t started in 1940 but Catrin was a kind of feminist without even knowing it! “I’m really proud of this film. The script is beautifully and elegantly written; it’s very witty, also sad in parts and yet there’s a social message to it, too, which doesn’t get rammed down your throat. It’s a hopeful film and I think we all need that right now.” Gravesend-born Gemma (31) has starred in a number of high-profile blockbusters since graduating from RADA in 2007. She was Bond Girl Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace, played Princess Tasmina in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Io in The Clash of the Titans. However she says she regrets some of her earlier career choices. “I felt like my intelligence was thwarted and I couldn’t express myself properly. I was not doing the right things for me and was saying yes for the wrong reasons. I’ve had some bad experiences in Hollywood. I was spoken to by some people like I was a silly little girl or that I should be grateful for anything they were offering me. Looking back, I think I wasn’t the right fit. It’s taken a few years for me to turn things around but I’m much happier now and really love the work.” Back in the Forties, more than 30 million people a week went to the cinema. While we now all have so much more to choose from when it comes to entertainment, for Gemma, going to the cinema still tops her list. “It's great that we have so much access now to everything, but there's something so brilliant about seeing a film in a group and laughing together, there's nothing really that beats it. It's like going to the theatre; what makes it so special is that you're there with other people and you're experiencing it with them at the same time. It's escapism – it takes you away for an hour and a half, from whatever is going on in your life. It's so important and even as technology gets more advanced, I still hope people will always go to the cinema.” If more films like Their Finest get made, we most certainly will! their finest is in cinemas from april 21.

‘There's something so brilliant about seeing a film with people at a cinema, there's nothing really that beats it’