October 19, 2024 • 12 mins
British actress and producer Gemma Arterton has led a long-running and diverse acting career, with many roles to her name.
She made her film debut in the 2007 comedy St Trinian's and made her mark in the 2008 blockbuster Quantum of Solace as a Bond Girl.
Since then, she's gone on to star in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Clash of the Titans, The King’s Man, and Rogue Agent - and she stars in the TV series Funny Woman.
Her newest role sees her playing a budding actress being blackmailed by a powerful critic in the 1930's-set thriller The Critic.
She says she was drawn to the role when she first got word of it - and working with Sir Ian McKellen was a 'privilege'.
"It was one of the biggest privileges of my whole life, really, working with him - so it was a no-brainer, really."
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
British actress and producer Jimma Artitan has had such a
wonderfully varied career. She really has done it all. She
was launched to global stardom in her early film St
Trinians and as a bond girl in Quantum of Solace.
She's since gone on to a peer in the Prince
of Persia, Clash of the Titans, The Kingsman, Rogue Agent,
and the TV show Funny Woman. Jimmy's new film is
(00:33):
a thriller set in the nineteen thirties called The Critic.
The film is about a budding actress who was blackmailed
by a powerful critic.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm the truth of drama critic of the David Conic,
Jimmy asking sefan like me, hold your breath for here
is theatrical sewage.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's a disaster.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
You should talk to me. Over the last ten years
you've compared me to livestock, creatures of the sea, and
an extinct bird. It's going to stop, oh tar.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Jemma Ardiiton joins me. Now, thank you so much for
your time.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
It's a pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Tell me what attracted you to the role of Nina Land.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, I sort of did relate to her to a
certain extent. I mean, she's an actress that's you know,
desperately trying to seek approval, which you know that resonated
me to an extent. But she's very complicated. She's a
working class actress at the time the film is set
in the nineteen thirties who's trying to you know, establish
(01:36):
herself as a kind of one of the great actresses
of the stage, doing Shakespeare and whatnot, and so she
has quite a lot of things that she's struggling with.
But more than anything, I was attracted to the project
as a whole because it was written by Patrick Marber,
who is one of our great writers over here. He
did Closer and Notes on a Scandal, and then Sir
(01:59):
Ian McKellan, who I had to do I had lots
and lots of scenes with which was one of the
biggest pre viages of my whole life, really, I think,
working with him. So it was a no brainer, really.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Am I right that yours was the first name attached
to the critic and then and then others came on board.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah I believe so, which shocks me because that doesn't
usually happen. But yeah, I think I was. I don't
know why I think that. I think maybe Patrick had
me in mind for the role. But yeah, yeah, I
was an early one.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
And so at the end, did they say to you
were going to try and get to in McKelvin or
did you have a bit of a bit of a
say and maybe who would be playing the other parts?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I didn't have a say, I am. Yeah. It was
a surprise to me when when sir Ian was attached.
I mean, it was such a gift of a role.
And he will say that himself. You know, he's very
humble and modest, but it was a I think for him.
He came along and he thought, oh, this is fantastic,
Like I absolutely so, I'll do it.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's a juicy role for him as well. And the
two of you work so well together, an interesting on
screen relationship. But what was it like working with him
sort of day to.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Day, day to day? It was just joyful. I mean,
he's really fun. He loves a gossip. I love a gossip.
So we'd spend our time, you know, in between takes
just gossiping about life and people we know and all
that and having a great time, and then we'd switch
into the kind of the scene, which I always love
(03:36):
that he's definitely not a kind of method actor who's
carrying it around with him in between takes and that,
and neither am I so had. We had a lot
of fun, But he's just, you know, he's so game,
and he's so available as an actor. He's an actor's actor,
you know, he's just he's just wants to do his
best and play and have fun, but also, you know,
(03:58):
really strive to get the best out of the scene.
And I just adored working with him. I wish we
had even more scenes together because those were my favorite
seems to.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Do the film. Of course, A seat in the world
of theater? Was that something that appealed to you about
it as well, because theater you're so familiar with.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean it's such a rich world to
explore because it's bustling and it's full of characters and
especially period theater, and I relate to it. I started
off in theater. Yeah, so I think so. And yeah,
and I guess because the characters are so can be
quite extreme in theater world, like the actors can be,
(04:39):
you know, larger than life and dramatic and they have
all these issues. I thought, yeah, it was great. And
I had to play an actress that's not very good.
So that was a challenge to allow myself to be
not very good on screen and know that that was
going to be committed to film. But yeah, Ann Antucker,
(05:02):
who directed the film, he was very supportive in and
so were Patrick Marlber actually and saying, be rubbish, don't worry,
We've got your map.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I was going to bring that up and say, you
were very good at being very bad. Are there any
similarities between being an actress trying to establish themselves in
the nineteen thirties and today.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Oh yeah, for sure. I mean I think it's just
a trick. It's just a tricky business to be in.
If you're anyone in the acting business, it's very fickle,
it's very changeable. And Ian McKellen's character, who's a theater critic,
he says, you know, you know, one review can make
you or it can break you. And that's still I
think the case. I think, you know, it's there's a
(05:47):
lot of competition and and and yeah, I strive to
have a long career until I'm very very old. But
that's not an easy thing to do because you have
to go through lots of different phases as an actor
and you have to kind of embrace them. So yeah,
I think it's still it's still relevant, it's still very
(06:08):
much identifiable.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
You were so well established that now though, Jim out,
I mean, do you care about the critics anymore?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah, I do, and I don't. I mean, I care
so much that I don't read my reviews because I'm
far too sensitive to manage reading theater, especially theater like
I have in the past, read reviews while I'm doing
a play. Is often that's when they come out, is
while you're at the beginning of the run, and that's
(06:40):
really unhelpful because then you have to go and do
the play that night, and you've got all of this critique,
whether it's good, bad, whatever, in your head, and it's
not necessarily helpful. So I try to avoid them when
I'm doing plays, particularly when I'm doing TV and film,
I feel a little bit more detached from the project
because usually you've shot it, you know, two years before
(07:01):
or whatever. So I don't mind so much reading reviews
when when a film comes out. But yeah, I am
quite a sensitive soul, so I tend to try and avoid.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
And Jimmy, you work, as you've mentioned, do work across
film and television and theater. Do you have a favorite
or do they all offer you something different that you love?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, they all offer something different. I do love doing
plays because you have that immediacy and there's a thrill
that you get that you don't get when you're doing
TV and film, I think. But then I can get
a bit bored doing plays as well, because I like
a short run as opposed to you, you know, a
(07:47):
four or five month run. I can get a little
bit of you know, bored. But and I guess you know,
with TV and film you only get one shot, really,
I mean, you can do lots of takes, but that's
that day and then it's done. Whereas with theater, you
often you find you have discoveries along the run that
you know you wouldn't necessarily have with film, about the
(08:08):
character or a way to play the scene. Yeah, they're
very different. But that's what's nice about my job. I
get to kind of dabble with in all of those things.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Jimmy, you have an incredible body of work to your name.
It feels like you never stop.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Is it the case, No, it is the case. It
is the case. I've just had. I've been lucky that
my projects have usually come they usually come out quite evenly.
But I had a child last year and I've only
worked once since I had my son, and I do
at the moment, I feel a little bit like, and
(08:42):
will I ever work again? You know, so at the moment,
I'm having a quiet time, but it will all be fine. Yeah, No,
it's I think now as well. When I was younger,
I used to jump on every single project and just work, work, work,
But now I think I'm a little bit more selective,
so less output the moment.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I'm pleased to hear because incredibly prolific and I never
know what you're going to tune up. Nick's telling what story?
I mean, this is the one. You're very fortunate that
your career has been so diverse.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, I think thank you for saying that, because I
think it's something I actively think about when I'm choosing work.
And I also like to, you know, if I've done something.
I just did a very comedic role that's very broad
and glamorous, and then I try to sort of do
the absolute opposite for my next role, which is very
contemporary and serious, and so yeah, I like that, and
(09:40):
I like thinking about how I can challenge myself in
that with character, but also with genre and working different
periods and they offer a different challenge. So I always
like a bit of variation. Jim.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I was thinking about Nina as an actress who's trying
to establish herself, and I was wondering, what if you
could say one thing to your youngest self when starting
out and all those big roles started coming in. What
would it be? What have you learned over the years
that you'd love to go back and be able to
tell it that young actress standing out.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
You know, there are a few things that I turned
down when I was younger, because you know, they were
too art house or I was advised to do something else,
and I really wish I hadn't done that, you know,
I wish i'd gone with my intuition. I think I
was very naive when I was younger, and I was
just very grateful to be, you know, for anything. So
(10:38):
but actually I had this intuition about certain roles that
I should have done and I think that's so important. Intuition.
I think it's you know, we or instinct, whatever you
want to call it. I think it's as an actor,
it's sort of like your gold and you know, your money.
Really when you're that's your your thing that you should
really listen to. So that's what i'd say to myself,
(11:00):
listen to your intuition more.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Well, that's something that you can sort of you should
put into play across life. You should. You know, as
a mother, you need to use your you know, intuition,
don't you about your child and things like that. We
need to trust ourselves more, don't we. Yeah, exactly, So
you've hit those little pause. Just finally, what can we
expect next from Jimmer?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Well, I do have a project next year that I'm
really excited about. It's for TV as well, and I
can't can't reveal what it is because it hasn't been
announced yet, but again, it's it's very, very different to
anything I've done before, So I'm excited about that one.
So and then I have quite a lot of things
in the pipeline. I have a production company and there's
(11:44):
there's a whole plethora of things that we're developing a musical,
and we've got kind of crime drama and all of
these things that hopefully in the next year or so
that they'll start to come into light.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Jimmer add it. And it's been a pleasure to talk
to you. Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Ah, you're very welcome. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks at B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
British actress and producer Jimma Artitan has had such a
wonderfully varied career. She really has done it all. She
was launched to global stardom in her early film St
Trinians and as a bond girl in Quantum of Solace.
She's since gone on to a peer in the Prince
of Persia, Clash of the Titans, The Kingsman, Rogue Agent,
and the TV show Funny Woman. Jimmy's new film is
(00:33):
a thriller set in the nineteen thirties called The Critic.
The film is about a budding actress who was blackmailed
by a powerful critic.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm the truth of drama critic of the David Conic,
Jimmy asking sefan like me, hold your breath for here
is theatrical sewage.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's a disaster.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
You should talk to me. Over the last ten years
you've compared me to livestock, creatures of the sea, and
an extinct bird. It's going to stop, oh tar.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Jemma Ardiiton joins me. Now, thank you so much for
your time.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
It's a pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Tell me what attracted you to the role of Nina Land.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, I sort of did relate to her to a
certain extent. I mean, she's an actress that's you know,
desperately trying to seek approval, which you know that resonated
me to an extent. But she's very complicated. She's a
working class actress at the time the film is set
in the nineteen thirties who's trying to you know, establish
(01:36):
herself as a kind of one of the great actresses
of the stage, doing Shakespeare and whatnot, and so she
has quite a lot of things that she's struggling with.
But more than anything, I was attracted to the project
as a whole because it was written by Patrick Marber,
who is one of our great writers over here. He
did Closer and Notes on a Scandal, and then Sir
(01:59):
Ian McKellan, who I had to do I had lots
and lots of scenes with which was one of the
biggest pre viages of my whole life, really, I think,
working with him. So it was a no brainer, really.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Am I right that yours was the first name attached
to the critic and then and then others came on board.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah I believe so, which shocks me because that doesn't
usually happen. But yeah, I think I was. I don't
know why I think that. I think maybe Patrick had
me in mind for the role. But yeah, yeah, I
was an early one.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
And so at the end, did they say to you
were going to try and get to in McKelvin or
did you have a bit of a bit of a
say and maybe who would be playing the other parts?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I didn't have a say, I am. Yeah. It was
a surprise to me when when sir Ian was attached.
I mean, it was such a gift of a role.
And he will say that himself. You know, he's very
humble and modest, but it was a I think for him.
He came along and he thought, oh, this is fantastic,
Like I absolutely so, I'll do it.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's a juicy role for him as well. And the
two of you work so well together, an interesting on
screen relationship. But what was it like working with him
sort of day to.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Day, day to day? It was just joyful. I mean,
he's really fun. He loves a gossip. I love a gossip.
So we'd spend our time, you know, in between takes
just gossiping about life and people we know and all
that and having a great time, and then we'd switch
into the kind of the scene, which I always love
(03:36):
that he's definitely not a kind of method actor who's
carrying it around with him in between takes and that,
and neither am I so had. We had a lot
of fun, But he's just, you know, he's so game,
and he's so available as an actor. He's an actor's actor,
you know, he's just he's just wants to do his
best and play and have fun, but also, you know,
(03:58):
really strive to get the best out of the scene.
And I just adored working with him. I wish we
had even more scenes together because those were my favorite
seems to.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Do the film. Of course, A seat in the world
of theater? Was that something that appealed to you about
it as well, because theater you're so familiar with.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean it's such a rich world to
explore because it's bustling and it's full of characters and
especially period theater, and I relate to it. I started
off in theater. Yeah, so I think so. And yeah,
and I guess because the characters are so can be
quite extreme in theater world, like the actors can be,
(04:39):
you know, larger than life and dramatic and they have
all these issues. I thought, yeah, it was great. And
I had to play an actress that's not very good.
So that was a challenge to allow myself to be
not very good on screen and know that that was
going to be committed to film. But yeah, Ann Antucker,
(05:02):
who directed the film, he was very supportive in and
so were Patrick Marlber actually and saying, be rubbish, don't worry,
We've got your map.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I was going to bring that up and say, you
were very good at being very bad. Are there any
similarities between being an actress trying to establish themselves in
the nineteen thirties and today.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Oh yeah, for sure. I mean I think it's just
a trick. It's just a tricky business to be in.
If you're anyone in the acting business, it's very fickle,
it's very changeable. And Ian McKellen's character, who's a theater critic,
he says, you know, you know, one review can make
you or it can break you. And that's still I
think the case. I think, you know, it's there's a
(05:47):
lot of competition and and and yeah, I strive to
have a long career until I'm very very old. But
that's not an easy thing to do because you have
to go through lots of different phases as an actor
and you have to kind of embrace them. So yeah,
I think it's still it's still relevant, it's still very
(06:08):
much identifiable.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
You were so well established that now though, Jim out,
I mean, do you care about the critics anymore?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah, I do, and I don't. I mean, I care
so much that I don't read my reviews because I'm
far too sensitive to manage reading theater, especially theater like
I have in the past, read reviews while I'm doing
a play. Is often that's when they come out, is
while you're at the beginning of the run, and that's
(06:40):
really unhelpful because then you have to go and do
the play that night, and you've got all of this critique,
whether it's good, bad, whatever, in your head, and it's
not necessarily helpful. So I try to avoid them when
I'm doing plays, particularly when I'm doing TV and film,
I feel a little bit more detached from the project
because usually you've shot it, you know, two years before
(07:01):
or whatever. So I don't mind so much reading reviews
when when a film comes out. But yeah, I am
quite a sensitive soul, so I tend to try and avoid.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
And Jimmy, you work, as you've mentioned, do work across
film and television and theater. Do you have a favorite
or do they all offer you something different that you love?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, they all offer something different. I do love doing
plays because you have that immediacy and there's a thrill
that you get that you don't get when you're doing
TV and film, I think. But then I can get
a bit bored doing plays as well, because I like
a short run as opposed to you, you know, a
(07:47):
four or five month run. I can get a little
bit of you know, bored. But and I guess you know,
with TV and film you only get one shot, really,
I mean, you can do lots of takes, but that's
that day and then it's done. Whereas with theater, you
often you find you have discoveries along the run that
you know you wouldn't necessarily have with film, about the
(08:08):
character or a way to play the scene. Yeah, they're
very different. But that's what's nice about my job. I
get to kind of dabble with in all of those things.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Jimmy, you have an incredible body of work to your name.
It feels like you never stop.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Is it the case, No, it is the case. It
is the case. I've just had. I've been lucky that
my projects have usually come they usually come out quite evenly.
But I had a child last year and I've only
worked once since I had my son, and I do
at the moment, I feel a little bit like, and
(08:42):
will I ever work again? You know, so at the moment,
I'm having a quiet time, but it will all be fine. Yeah, No,
it's I think now as well. When I was younger,
I used to jump on every single project and just work, work, work,
But now I think I'm a little bit more selective,
so less output the moment.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I'm pleased to hear because incredibly prolific and I never
know what you're going to tune up. Nick's telling what story?
I mean, this is the one. You're very fortunate that
your career has been so diverse.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, I think thank you for saying that, because I
think it's something I actively think about when I'm choosing work.
And I also like to, you know, if I've done something.
I just did a very comedic role that's very broad
and glamorous, and then I try to sort of do
the absolute opposite for my next role, which is very
contemporary and serious, and so yeah, I like that, and
(09:40):
I like thinking about how I can challenge myself in
that with character, but also with genre and working different
periods and they offer a different challenge. So I always
like a bit of variation. Jim.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I was thinking about Nina as an actress who's trying
to establish herself, and I was wondering, what if you
could say one thing to your youngest self when starting
out and all those big roles started coming in. What
would it be? What have you learned over the years
that you'd love to go back and be able to
tell it that young actress standing out.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
You know, there are a few things that I turned
down when I was younger, because you know, they were
too art house or I was advised to do something else,
and I really wish I hadn't done that, you know,
I wish i'd gone with my intuition. I think I
was very naive when I was younger, and I was
just very grateful to be, you know, for anything. So
(10:38):
but actually I had this intuition about certain roles that
I should have done and I think that's so important. Intuition.
I think it's you know, we or instinct, whatever you
want to call it. I think it's as an actor,
it's sort of like your gold and you know, your money.
Really when you're that's your your thing that you should
really listen to. So that's what i'd say to myself,
(11:00):
listen to your intuition more.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Well, that's something that you can sort of you should
put into play across life. You should. You know, as
a mother, you need to use your you know, intuition,
don't you about your child and things like that. We
need to trust ourselves more, don't we. Yeah, exactly, So
you've hit those little pause. Just finally, what can we
expect next from Jimmer?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Well, I do have a project next year that I'm
really excited about. It's for TV as well, and I
can't can't reveal what it is because it hasn't been
announced yet, but again, it's it's very, very different to
anything I've done before, So I'm excited about that one.
So and then I have quite a lot of things
in the pipeline. I have a production company and there's
(11:44):
there's a whole plethora of things that we're developing a musical,
and we've got kind of crime drama and all of
these things that hopefully in the next year or so
that they'll start to come into light.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Jimmer add it. And it's been a pleasure to talk
to you. Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Ah, you're very welcome. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks at B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!