Gemma Arterton Quotes

I am terrible at video games and I am really competitive. And if I am not the best at something, I go absolutely crazy!

I always thought I was going to end up an old spinster, with my cats and fur coats.

I don't want to be about the way I look - my body, my hair, my makeup, all those boring things.

I was in lots of dodgy bands growing up and I always fancied myself in a band. But, you know, I was rubbish at writing music. So maybe one day I'll play a rock star, or punk rocker.

I wouldn't change a thing in my own life, but I'd like to go back in time anyway though, just to some eras that I wish I'd lived in, like the '60s. I'd love to have been in London in the '60s, partying away.

When I go home, everyone's very proud. I get recognized the most when I go back to my hometown, but it's in a really sweet way. They're just very proud and supportive.

I've never understood people that sleep around. I think there's something very lacking in your life when you do, not to be judgmental.

I have this attitude to life that is not to take anything too seriously and not worry about anything, and when I met him I wasn't too nervous and I was being myself.

It's a surreal thing because you are there and made up and dressed up as if you're making the film. You do the scene, which is going to be in the film, and I met him [Daniel Craig] and I'm working with the director, and so it is different to just a normal audition.

My family are very down-to-earth people. We are not showbizzy at all.

I was quite naughty at school.

My preference will always be theatre because it's where my heart lies and it's what I started with and eventually I want to direct it. It's where my real interest is. But I just love trying out new stuff. Acting for me isn't just for me about being in front of a camera ... it's so much more than that. It's always about telling a story and there are so many ways of doing that, so I'll always want to try something else.

I actually had a cockney accent before I went to drama school. It's softened up a bit.

My mom used to sell Avon when my mom was a kid for about three years, and so it was like the first make up I saw. And when I first found out about makeup it was Avon makeup and I remember putting my mom's red lipstick on my cheeks and thinking that is where it went, and that was Avon. So it's weird how your life turns out and how things come round, and it is brilliant.

I love strange things; my favorite movies are weird, eclectic, and intriguing.

I was born with lots of deformities.

It's interesting for me to always make myself look very different.

I'm quite a physical person and I gesticulate a lot, which can be a problem when you're in Hollywood and they do everything in a minimalist way.

As my passion is theatre when I do a film I'm taking time out from my theatre career. So, I'm desperate to get back into the theatre. So, I have to make sure that I put my foot down, especially with the agents and stuff, and say: "Hey no, I'm doing some theatre!" It is hard but it matters so much to me that it's just something that's going to be necessary and people will have to deal with it.

I grew up on Bond, and it is part of my culture, especially in Britain. Just to be known as a Bond girl is an incredible thing for me, because some of my favorite actresses have been Bond girls, like Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman, and they have continued to work and be brilliant. I am honored and flattered to be called that, even though I don't really think my character is Bond-girly, but I'm still going to be labeled as a Bond girl, which is completely brilliant.

You can't connect with something you're not passionate about.

Sometimes, I feel that if you're a strong, independent woman it scares people away, but actually it does the opposite.

In London I'm out and about all the time. I walk everywhere, so people do recognise me and they've probably seen me before so they're not bothered anymore. But I think that's a good thing because if you try and remain mysterious people are surprised when they see you. With me, I think they're just bored of seeing me - but that suits me just fine because I like to live as much of a normal life as I can. That's why I love living in London. People are very respectful of your privacy. If they see you having a coffee in a coffee shop, they're not going to interrupt you.

Music is my biggest passion aside from anything else.

I've worked on jobs where there are almost 200 people on set... you always make an effort to have a relationship but you can't really when there's 200.

I think, for me, I'm always more interested in the process of making the movie than the movie itself

I think when you write an enigmatic character into a film, you have to have real confidence that the audience are going to go with it.

I'm kind of a chatty person and the props guys would have to handcuff me and tie me up and sometimes I'd just be chatting and they'd just pop it back in... like: "OK now, shut up!"

The films that I go to see at the cinema are not Hollywood blockbusters particularly. I've not got anything against them... I'm in them! But I don't go and spend my money on them.

I'm always surprised at what I actually end up doing movies because I don't have a strategy or a game plan, especially now that I'm making my own choices where to act. I love strange things; my favorite movies are weird, eclectic, and intriguing.

It was great and I had fun that day even though I was so sort of pleased when it was over to get through it. I didn't realize at the time that usually they screen test a number of actresses for the part, but they only tested me. So I think they knew then they wanted me to do it, and I wish they told me because I wouldn't have been so nervous. That was quite funny.

He [Daniel Craig] is mysterious, and I think that that's the thing Bond has to exude, that kind of mysterious edge. He draws you in, but he is also incredibly cool, you know, James Bond is cool and sharp and Daniel has that to a tee, and he's also got the rawness and an edginess to him that is slightly unhinged, and you're not sure what is going on there, and I think that is really intriguing and interesting. It is a lot weightier and gritty, and he has that.

There is one scene where he is kissing up my back. It is really sexy and I didn't know he was going to do it. He started doing it and in the film you see me saying, whew, and that wasn't acting, that was really me thinking, whew, oh my goodness Daniel Craig is kissing my back! I really did. I had to stop and remind myself that I was playing a character and I was acting in a film.

I think my favorite is Honor Blackman because she is classy and she is British. With Bond, I love how British it is actually. She is classy and clever and smart and sharp.

There was one day where I had to be hysterical all day, then of course it's going to affect you. You're going to go home and feel drained, or feel like you need to let off steam.

I was approached by Avon which took me by surprise, cause I thought "why me?" I thought it would be Olga, but they wanted me to be the face of their fragrance and since filming Bond I have recorded an ad that looks great and obviously the stills. It's brilliant because I never thought I would get to do anything like that and it is a lovely opportunity.

I was on this boat in the middle of the ocean scuba diving for this film I did, and I was with actor Mackenzie Cook, who is in it as well, and I didn't have my phone on me. The producer of the film handed me over this phone and said "someone is on the phone for you Gemma," and here I am completely in all of the scuba gear on with the tank on, and a helmet. My agent just went "dum, dum, dum, dum"(hums Bond theme song), and I just knew then, and I went ahhhh madness, and I was over the moon.

My family was never cultural in that we never went to see plays, my mum wasn't very into films.

I don't go out and go to parties and do all of that.

I probably should get a bit more star-struck but I never do.

I don't know why it's still a taboo to be a feminist.

I was born with six fingers on each hand.

Never in my short career, I've never had that experience where I wasn't sure if I was acting or if it was real.

I've nearly walked off very big films before, and I would, because I don't want that in my life. I want to enjoy the work I do.

I'm always listening to music; I can't live without it.

I've never been to the opera; I've only seen opera on DVD.

I've done about four deaths in films now, and I think it's quite good because then it's sort of a memorable moment in the film.

When I watch myself in movies I go, 'My God.'

Especially with girls, people always want to put them in little brackets.

My mother, she had a very good attitude toward money. I'm very grateful for the fact that we had to learn to save. I used to get like 50 pence a week, and I'd save it for like five months. And then I'd spend it on Christmas presents. I'd save up like eight pounds. It's nothing, but we did that.