SHE became the youngest ever Bond girl at 21 – and Gemma Arterton thinks one reason she landed the role as MI6 agent Strawberry Fields is because she teased 5ft 10in Daniel Craig about his height at the audition.
Now 40, the actress recalls how she had been relaxed about applying for the part in Quantum Of Solace because she did not realise quite how huge the 007 films were — and just tried out for “fun”.
Talking about Daniel, 58, who played Bond for 15 years, she says: “He’s got his sense of humour, so that was good.
“I used to poke him a bit, like, I think that’s why I got the job.
“I did a screen test with him and I came on set and said, ‘Hi’, and he said, ‘Hi’. I said, ‘You’re not as tall as I thought you would be in real life’.
“He said, ‘That’s really nice of you to say so’. I was joking with him. I didn’t think I’d get it.”
After she landed the part, Gemma — who is 5ft 7in — says Daniel had to use height-boosting shoes for a few scenes when she was wearing stilettos.
Gemma, whose parents split when she was young, grew up on a Kent council estate with her mum Sally-Anne, a cleaner, and younger sister Hannah.
She said at the 2024 Marrakech International Film Festival: “I knew nothing about the Bond legacy because I grew up in an all-female household where we didn’t really watch movies.
“I literally didn’t know how big James Bond was, which sounds ridiculous because everyone else does. The surprise of how big it was — I couldn’t believe it.
“I auditioned for it because my agent told me to, not expecting to get it, and got it and just did it because it was fun.
“But I had an amazing time making it and it was huge. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for.
“We went on all these amazing locations. I had just left drama school, it was one of my first jobs, and it was the first time I was on a big film set.”
Now, Gemma is about to appear in another spy thriller — but this time she will take on the lead role in new ITV crime drama Secret Service, which starts tomorrow night.
She plays Kate Henderson, who balances being a suburban married mother of two teenagers with secretly being a senior MI6 operative and heading the Russian desk at the intelligence service.
It is based on the book of the same name by ITV newsreader Tom Bradby.
Gemma says: “She trains spies and finds out some very important information, which is that there is a Russian spy within the British government.
“Her mission is to find out, by hook or by crook, who that is. It’s really gripping. It’s edge-of-your-seat stuff.”
For this role, Gemma did plenty of research and, with writer Tom’s help, she even met a real-life spy to perfect the part.
She told ITV’s This Morning: “I was lucky enough to meet someone who could advise me on how they negotiate their lives and live day to day — you know, their family and their kids.
“There’s a scene where I tell my kids what I do and they don’t believe me, they laugh it off. And that came from this previous spy and what happened when he told his daughter and she thought, ‘You’re joking’.
“But it was invaluable to me because it’s not just the high-stakes lives they live, it’s about the attributes they have to be a spy, which are very specific — very risk averse, good at problem solving.”
Gemma has been acting since she was a teenager and was 16 when she first considered it as a career.
She says: “I come from a humble family. My father was a metal worker, my mother is a cleaner, and not involved in the arts in any way.
“I always liked performing and showing off. I didn’t know that acting was a profession really until I was about 16 and I was doing a lot of amateur dramatics as a hobby.
“There was a lady there who said, ‘You should go to college to study acting’.
“I thought, ‘OK let’s see what happens’. Then I saw Breaking Away and Dancing In The Dark and I was inspired.
“That’s when I realised I would like to give it a go.”
She first broke through with comedy film St Trinian’s in 2007, followed by Quantum Of Solace a year later.
Since then, she has made more than 30 films, including 2018’s Vita & Virginia, in which she played author Vita Sackville-West, who had a romantic relationship with fellow writer Virginia Woolf.
Talking about why she left Hollywood films behind to make more independent movies, Gemma says: “I think at the time it was very different in the industry to how it is now for women.
“In those films — not the Bond film. I had a really good time making that film, but the other ones — I didn’t feel very empowered.
“I didn’t feel like I had a voice and I didn’t feel comfortable. I always felt good doing independent films.
“My taste is that as well. I like independent film, it’s my passion. Usually, the stories are better and the characters are stronger and I felt like I had a voice on set.”
Films such as Byzantium, The Voices, Their Finest and The Disappearance Of Alice Creed followed, alongside performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and starring in stage productions such as Nell Gwynn, which won her an Olivier Award in 2016.
On the Dish podcast, Gemma told how, when she starred in The Little Dog Laughed at London’s Garrick Theatre in 2010 with Tamsin Greig, Rupert Friend and Harry Lloyd, they had a novel way to try to dispel their nerves.
Laughing, she said: “We used to play this game called bum slap.
“We’d be on stage before the audience came in, obviously, and you have to run around and smack each other’s bum.
“Basically, you have to smack as many bums as you can. And it was the best warm-up ever because you were all loosey goosey.
“I think I’d rather do bum slap than any of the old acting rituals.”
Gemma loves working in Britain because she gets to perform different accents.
She said: “I do enjoy a Liverpool, that melting pot of accents that is Lancashire, Manchester and Blackburn, it’s insane.”
Gemma herself had a Cockney accent before gaining her scholarship to the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art, where it “softened up a bit”.
London is now her home, but her mum still lives in Gravesend — and now does watch films, thanks to her famous daughter.
Gemma says: “She’s grand, she’s living the life. She’s down in Kent where I grew up, the same home — I paid off the mortgage.
“I think she does eventually watch my shows. She takes her time and needs to watch them with the subtitles on, maybe to absorb them.
“She’s very honest. She’ll say, ‘Why did you do that? You sold out there’.”
Gemma has her own family now, too — son Theo, three, and a baby boy whose name she has not revealed — with her husband, Peaky Blinders actor Rory Keenan, who she married in 2019.
They do not live a showbiz life, but he is supportive of her work.
Gemma says: “My family life is my world now, whereas before it was work.
“It’s made me hyper-focused on what I do want to do.
“Before, it was like, ‘I will do that with that director or that actor I like’, even though it wasn’t the best thing for me.
“But now it’s made me really specific about what I want to do, because if I’m going to be away from them, which I inevitably will, it’s hard.
“But if I’m in it and enjoy the work, then it’s OK.”
Timeline of James Bond actors
Over the years there have been seven actors who have played 007.
The first ever James Bond film was in 1962, and this is who has played the lead role over the years:
- Sean Connery – The late star was the first ever actor to play Bond, and reprised the role for seven movies.
- George Lazenby – The star only played Bond once, but was the youngest actor to ever play the spy.
- Roger Moore – The late movie star spent 12 years making seven films in the famous franchise.
- Timothy Dalton – The smooth actor took over from Roger Moore and appeared in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.
- Pierce Brosnan – The handsome star played Bond for four movies from 1995 to 2002.
- Daniel Craig – The British star was the first blonde James Bond and the sixth actor to win the role in 2005.