Gemma Arterton believes working with a small budget gives films “an edge”.

Gemma Arterton says it’s tough making movies about “strong” women.

The British actress shared her experiences from the set of Byzantium – which saw her and Saoirse Ronan play a mother and daughter vampire duo. Gemma admits pushing ahead with a female-led film was difficult. However, she believes obstacles like a restricted budget simply made the cast and crew more determined.

“It’s hard to make movies about women, especially when they’re strong. It was really hard to make this. There was a big actor lined up for the Darvel part, which Sam Riley played. He dropped out at the last minute, and all the financing fell through — even though the part wasn’t that big. We all agreed to do it for half the fee. It was hard, but we did it,” she told Metro.us. “We had to get creative and work out how to do that. I like that, as stressful as it is for the production. Having worked on big budget films where there’s an abundance of money, sometimes you can get a bit slow… When you have no money it gives it an edge.”

As well as indie movies, Gemma has also had her fair share of starring in blockbusters. While the 27-year-old star had some “good experiences” of working on big budget movies, other projects have left her feeling frustrated.

“You do it, and usually they cut it. That’s what happens a lot,” she replied when asked if it’s possible to put your personality into big movies. “You get the first script and you think, ‘This is cool.’ Then they bring in 12 other writers, and then they change it. And then in the edit, they change it totally. I find that really frustrating… I made a decision not to do that type of film.”

Source