Despite a similar place within the visual medium, films about photography and photographers aren’t as numerous as one might think. (And honestly, how terrible would an Anne Geddes flick be?) But a biopic about famed Jewish-Hungarian war photographer Robert Capa has been in the works for years, and hasn’t always been limited to just one project. Close Enough looks to be close enough to production that we’ll assume this is the version we’ll see first.

If it gets its cast straight, however. It was only a couple of days ago that we found out Tom Hiddleston joined the cast, replacing the previously announced Andrew Garfield for the lead role. And now Screen Daily reports Hayley Atwell has signed on to play Hiddleston’s partner, replacing Gemma Arterton in the role. It is set to be directed by Paul Andrew Williams, whose career has taken him from indie horrors (The Cottage) to more wholesome fare, such as Unfinished Song and the upcoming Miss You Already.

Atwell has been pulling her dramatic weight in British productions for years, but really became familiar to American audiences for her role as Captain America’s love interest Peggy Carter. She’ll next be seen in Barnaby Southcombe’s femme noir I, Anna with Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel Byrne.

For Close Enough, Atwell will play Gerda Taro, Capa’s professional and personal companion, widely regarded as the first female war photographer. The film will focus on the couple’s years in Paris in the 1930s, culminating with the Spanish Civil War that vastly affected both of their lives.

“Hayley is someone I have wanted to work with for a long time,” Williams said, “and after a few near misses we have finally found, what I believe to be, the best project to collaborate on. The chemistry between Capa and Gerda was electric and I have confidence that Tom and Hayley will repeat that chemistry on film.”

Principal (non-war) photography is set to begin in June.

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by Jessica Kiang

Last week at the Marrakech Film Festival, we got to sit down in a small press group with jury member Gemma Arterton. She’s an actress who for a while seemed to be following a fairly standard route, especially for a British starlet, following up her first film “St Trinian’s” with some period TV before landing a Bond girl role in “Quantum of Solace.” However, since that breakout, while she’s done studio fare (“Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” the upcoming “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters”), we’ve also seen her skew more eccentric with some of her choices, taking small, British films like “Tamara Drewe” and “Song for Marion” along with edgy indie thriller “The Disappearance Of Alice Creed,” and she boasts a forthcoming lineup that promises much more interesting fare to come.

One of those interesting-looking movies is next year’s “Runner, Runner” from “The Lincoln Lawyer” director Brad Fuhrman. Penned by David Levien and Brian Koppelman (“Rounders“), the film — which will see her star alongside a great cast — will tell the story of a Princeton student who gets cheated out of his tuition playing online poker, but winds up as the right hand man of the dude running the site. “It’s a thriller about online gambling in central America and the dirty, filthy underworld of that. Ben Affleck is in it, and I play his right hand woman I guess, and also it’s a bit sleazy — our relationship,” Arterton said. “Justin Timberlake is the hero of the piece; there are some great actors in it — Anthony Mackie who was in ‘The Hurt Locker‘ — he’s brilliant. It’s all very sexy and shot by the guy that shot ‘Avatar‘ [Mauro Fiore] so it has a film noir feel to it — that dirty bling world.”

She goes on to clear up some confusion (ours, we confess) surrounding a movie about famed war photographer Robert Capa, a project to which she was also linked a couple years back with Andrew Garfield said to be in the lead. It appears we might have a Capote/Hitchcock situation on our hands again here: “There’s two versions: ‘Waiting for Robert Capa’ which is Michael Mann’s and my version which is just called ‘Capa,’ ” says Arterton. “It’s now being directed by Paul Andrew Williams who directed ‘Song for Marion.’ The original screenplay was by Menno Meyjes… We’re in the process of casting our Capa, and I hope it happens because it’s such a great story. And I hope we do it before Michael Mann! I’m like, ‘Quick, hurry up!’ because obviously ours would be a lower budget.” Read More

Last November, GQ France chose their “girls of 2012” and Gemma was one of them.

They called her the “blockbuster sister” and said she was gonna star in a few films I never heard any rumors about Gemma being involved with at some point.

In 2012, she should star in Men in Black 3, The Mummy 4 and the remake of The Black Hole by Walt Disney. Then she’ll make a cinephiliac pause with Waiting for Robert Capa, Michael Mann’s next film. She’d like to work with Darren Aronofsky, Michael Haneke or Lars Von Trier, but she finds it difficult to convince her favourite directors to work with her because she is too “mainstream”. “I only left drama school three years ago so I’m still quite new, but some people might be thinking, ‘Oh no, not her again…”

GALLERY LINK:
– Scans from 2011 > GQ (France) – November 2011

Follow us: http://twitter.com/gemma_arterton

GALLERY LINKS:
– Scans from 2011 > Clippings From 2011, thanks to Lorna and Ludovic
– Scans from 2011 > The Sun (UK) – July 1, 2011

Follow us: http://twitter.com/gemma_arterton

Michael Mann’s representatives have got in touch with Obsessed With Film and say the information regarding Eva Green, Gemma Arterton and Andrew Garfield’s reported attachment to a Robert Capa biopic “was misreported a few months back and was inaccurate then and is still inaccurate today”.

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Thank you, Santa, for Gemma Arterton and her complete inability to keep anything to herself. Becoming somewhat notorious in recent months for speaking out about everything, from which of her films she thinks aren’t very good (“Clash of the Titans”) to meeting with directors for projects that are far from confirmed (“Alien” prequel, among others), Arterton drops another bombshell in her latest interview. Announced quite casually to Total Film upon winning their Hottest Actress award, Arterton states that a biopic of early 20th century wartime photojournalist Robert Capa is in the works (“confirmed” is the word she uses), with Spider-Man Andrew Garfield in the title role and Arterton playing his partner, Gerda Taro, the first female photojournalist to cover war from the front lines.

Though Arterton simply calls it “Capa” to Total Film, the film in question is presumably “Waiting for Robert Capa”, reported last October to be directed by Michael Mann for Columbia Pictures, adapted from “Esperando a Robert Capa”, by Spanish writer Susana Fortes. That was the one and only news to come forth regarding the film until Arterton’s pronouncement this month. There is no word on whether Mann, who is at work on producing and directing HBO series “Luck”, is still attached. Read More

Hottest Actress – Gemma Arterton

We Say: With Hollywood blockbusters (Clash Of the Titans, Prince Of Persia) a Brit com (Tamara Drewe) and the low-budget thrills of Alice Creed, no-one displayed more range in 2010. And there’s more to come…

You Say: “She’s clearly in demand for big Hollywood movies but still does stuff like The Disappearance of Alice Creed, which she was great in. I think she’s the most interesting actress out there right now.” Simon Clements, Newquay Read More