Gemma Arterton: ‘Glenn Close is like a British woman – she gets down and dirty’

Gemma Arterton has spoken out to praise co-star Glenn Close, comparing her to a ‘British woman’.

The actress, 30, who co-stars with the A-lister in new film The Girl With All The Gifts, has described how she ‘gets down and dirty’ in the British zombie film.

Speaking to Evening Standard Online, Arterton said: “Glenn Close is the most available, open, warm, kind person.

“She feels like a real Brit, down to earth and up for it. And she gets down and dirty. She cut off her own hair in the film. She’s just so wonderful and makes the film so fantastic.”

Young star Sennia Nanua, 12, who plays the lead in Colm McCarthy’s gritty dystopian film, was another reason why Arterton was keen to get on board.

“I hadn’t really worked with a young actor before really and I’ve always wanted to work with a young actor just to see how it goes, you know, how unpredictable,” she said.

“She was just so fantastic and great to work with.

“She was so generous; she’d just buy everyone gifts on set and give us sweets.”

In a market which is perhaps over-saturated with post-apocalyptic zombie films, Arterton found Mike Carey’s story a lot ‘deeper’ than more mainstream fare.

“It’s much deeper than a regular zombie movie,” she told us.

“There are big questions about humanity and evolution and I think it’s very moving as well.

“It’s sensitively done – there’s obviously gore and big action sequences and all that but there’s some really tender scenes and that’s because of the little girl.

“It didn’t feel like a zombie movie – it was the bigger questions that resonated with me.”

The Girl With All The Gifts is out now in cinemas nationwide.

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