By ROBERT W. BUTLER
McClatchy Newspapers

Despite having played Bond girl Strawberry Fields in “Quantum of Solace,” it’s hard to think of British actress Gemma Arterton as a resident of our modern age.

In “Clash of the Titans” and “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” she wore sandals and robes to depict inhabitants of magic-filled mythical lands. For TV’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” and “Lost in Austen” she was sewn up in 19th-century corsets.

So when Arterton first appears as a kidnap victim in J Blakeson’s new thriller “The Disappearance of Alice Creed,” it’s a bit of a shock.

For starters, she’s stripped of her clothes and wears a bag over her head. And when the bag comes off she’s nearly unrecognizable beneath heavy black eyeliner and a shaggy ‘do.

“I needed to shake off the manicured look I’d had in other films and play a real girl, one whom you believe exists in the real world,” Arterton, 24, said in a recent phone call from New York.

“It was really liberating. It was good to get out of bed in the morning and say, ‘Great, my hair looks terrible.’ In fact they told me I could sleep in my makeup because it would add to the effect the next day.”

Her character is the daughter of a rich man, snatched and held for ransom by a couple of crooks (Eddie Marsan, Martin Compston). She spends much of the film flat on her back, tied to a bed.

Nevertheless, her Alice is a survivor who goes from panic and terror to manipulating the emotions of her captors.

“I made this film just after ‘Prince of Persia’ and about two weeks before ‘Clash of the Titans.’ It was sandwiched in between. And even though it was grueling, it was my most rewarding job ever. I’d get home at the end of the day exhausted and exhilarated.”

The intensity was born of a limited four-week shooting schedule.

“The films I’d done previously were, like, six months. On a big movie you spend a lot of time standing around waiting for something to happen.

“But I had so much more to do here. I t was so much more demanding.”

Because Alice spends so much screen time tied up and immobile, Arterton had to find ways to project her character without the usual body language and gestures.

And then there were the uncomfortable physical circumstances of the shoot. “Alice Creed” was filmed mostly on one claustrophobic set, and frequently Arterton and her co-stars were positioned within inches of each other.

Oh, yeah … did we mention she was sometimes naked?

“You know it’s weird, but I felt I was the most in-control person on that set. I was the one in a vulnerable position, but if at any moment I said, ‘This isn’t working,’ everything would stop. Plus, I trusted Eddie and Martin implicitly. They were ultra careful, ultra respectful.

“It got to the point where I was telling silly jokes just so people would relax around me.

“But, you know, when you’re a young girl in the movies you have to be brave.”

Four days of rehearsal prepared the actors for “the physical stuff, how they’d position me on the bed and the action moments. But we didn’t want to rehearse too much. We didn’t want to spoil it by losing the scary edge.”

On a big Hollywood picture, Arterton said, an actor might begin shooting without having read the entire script “because it’s still being written. And you might first meet your co-stars when you play your first scene.

“So this was a luxury. The script was the one constant – nobody dared touch it because it was so tight. J had spent two years agonizing over it. I’ve been on other productions where the script is always changing.

“The whole process felt a lot like a play. We shot in sequence, and the cast and crew behaved like equals. There were no bigwigs telling us what we could and couldn’t do.”

Beyond two big hit movies and now “Alice Creed,” Arterton has had a busy year personally. In June she married Stefano Catelli, who works in fashion marketing.

“He’s not in show business, and it’s the best,” she said. “He keeps me in touch with what’s actually real in the world.”

FROM THE PRESENT TO THE MYTHIC PAST TO THE PRESENT AGAIN

-“Quantum of Solace”: James Bond beds this British spy named Strawberry Fields – but not forever. In an homage to “Goldfinger,” she’s found dead and covered with oil – black gold.

-“Clash of the Titans”: Arterton plays the demi-goddess Io who watches over Sam Worthington’s Perseus. Arterton plans to reprise the role in the sequel, scheduled for release in 2012.

-“Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”: Arterton’s a princess/high priestess kidnapped by Jake Gyllenhaal’s swashbuckling prince. At first she hates him; then she loves him. Together they save her kingdom.

-“Tamara Drewe”: In Stephen Frears’romp about bed-swapping and infidelity, Arterton’s a sultry young journalist whose return to her small home town creates chaos in the lives of three local men. Due this fall.

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