Gemma Arterton quotes:

I'm always surprised at what I actually end up doing because I don't have a strategy or a game plan, especially now that I'm making my own choices.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

It's difficult for a young girl like me. Because there's a certain time for young actresses, which is like a really juicy period when all the parts are love interests and young heroines. Of course, there's always work for men whatever age they are.

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

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

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

I was born with lots of deformities.

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

Music is my biggest passion aside from anything else.

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

I was born with six fingers on each hand.

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

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

I'm looking at working with people I get on with, that respect me, that don't just see me as a piece of ass. Which I have experienced as well. 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.

The industry is quite chauvinistic generally. Expectations of women, girls, what they should look like, how they should be, what they should say, what they should wear, how their hair should be, what colour their skin should be.

It's such a male-dominated industry. You can be a feminist, it's just difficult because it sometimes comes back at you.

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

I was quite naughty at school.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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,

I'm always listening to music; I can't live without 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!"

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...

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.

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.

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

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'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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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