In her new film, The Disappearance of Alice Creed, Gemma Arterton embraces with aplomb X-rated scenes of nudity and degradation at the hands of kidnappers. That might be surprising given that she can now pick and choose her blockbuster roles, but indie edginess is where her heart lies, she insists. “I’m not slating Hollywood movies,” she says, brushing her fringe out of her eyes as she prepares to do just that. “But I wouldn’t normally go to see them. Alice is the sort of movie that I would go and see.” Arterton, 24, who comes from working-class Kentish stock, is chatty and refreshingly unaffected for someone whose career is suddenly in full flight. After RADA, she starred in St Trinian’s, and broke into the big league as a Bond girl in The Quantum of Solace. This year she appears in Clash of the Titans and the forthcoming The Prince of Persia and takes the lead in the adaptation of Posy Simmonds’s comic strip Tamara Drewe. “I didn’t know how to get into acting,” she admits. “I didn’t have any connections. I didn’t really have a game plan.” For someone without a game plan, things seem to be working out very nicely.

Gemma on…

…Jobs

Karaoke hostess When I was at drama school I was desperate for a job and I walked into this pub called The Duke of Sussex, opposite the Old Vic theatre, and said: “Can I be a barmaid?” and he said — Honest Dave he’s called, the barman — he went: “Can you sing?” I said: “Yeah, I actually am a classically trained singer.” He gave me the job of hosting the karaoke for the night. I was petrified — it’s a really rough pub — but it was brilliant. I had to say these really cheesy lines such as: “Give them a round of applause — if you don’t, I will!”

Shop assistant I just did Clash of the Titans, which is a Warner Brothers film, and I actually used to work in the Warner Brothers shop, in the Bluewater shopping centre, when I was about 16. I also worked on a beauty counter, and I used to get pissed off when people were rude to the shop assistants, like they didn’t know anything. I swear to God, if I could put anything into room 101 . . . being rude to someone who’s serving you.

…Inspirations

Björk I always did acting on the side as a hobby. But it was at about the age of 16 that I saw films that weren’t just about singing and dancing and running around. I saw Dancer in the Dark — I was a massive Björk fan so I thought I’d see it just because she was in it. It changed my life. I thought wow, she did that — and she’s a singer! How could she do that?

Elizabeth Taylor She’s my favourite actress — I love her dominance, and she’s a little bit unpredictable. She always plays these desperate characters, like in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She went against the grain of what she had been doing; she was always cast as beautiful people and as she got older she started challenging that. I think to succeed, to get the parts you want to get, you’ve got to prove you’re more than just a pretty face.

Ben Kingsley I loved playing a liar in Alice Creed. As an actor it’s always really satisfying to have to play a liar because you’re always having to think. You see a part like that, you jump at it. One of my favourite ever acting moments on screen is with Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast, when he’s lying to the guy on the plane. He’s making up a story, and you see him thinking about what he’s going to say, but it’s so subtle.

…Directors

Lars Von Trier I watched all Lars Von Trier’s films after I saw Dancer in the Dark. They’re not the sort of films I’d see with friends — I always watch them on my own. It’s an indulgent moment for me to watch them on my own — they’re really, really intense.

Stephen Frears Working with directors you get to work out their style — but I couldn’t with Stephen. All the way through the filming of Tamara Drewe, he would say things that would make me feel insecure, or not good enough — not in a horrible way, in a jokey way. He would say: “You’re being particularly common today.” I didn’t realise until afterwards that maybe he was saying that in order to get a performance out of me.

…Filming

Trailers I don’t like to go back to the trailer because it’s a bit lonely. I think it’s a very Hollywood thing to do — I’ve seen actors, even when they’ve only got ten minutes down time, go all the way back to their trailer. Each to their own, I suppose.

Crew I like doing movies because of the craic — I’ve got to know the crews really well. I have been told that’s why I get hired so much — “She’s really fun, she won’t cause any problems”. I hope so — I’d hate to be regarded as a nightmare. Why would you want to hire a cameraman who’s a dick? You wouldn’t — you’d hire someone else. I wouldn’t want to work with an actor who’s a dick, either.

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