Big budget movies are often the most highly-anticipated films of a given year. But behind the scenes, some actors purposely steer away from blockbusters due to their own past negative experiences with them. Before the upcoming The King’s Man, Gemma Arterton has had her share of high-profile work. She was a Bond Girl in 2008’s Quantum of Solace and the leading lady in the ancient fantasy pieces Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Gemma Arterton hasn’t had the best luck with her pick of big movies. Quantum of Solace isn't one of the more popular Daniel Craig’s Bond films. Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia critically and/or commercially flopped. She hasn’t returned to a big film in some time, but The King’s Man was a different story. Here’s what she recently said about her experience on the prequel:
I loved making it, and I wasn’t expecting to, because I’ve had bad experiences on those big things. But here, I just had a really good time.
The actress could be thinking back to a past experience on a movie set where she was forced to lose weight. A few years ago, she opened up about being measured and told what to eat and not to eat by a “big, fat, obese producer.” And she was talking about dried apricots! By the way, one dried apricot is eight calories. She called the experience on the unnamed movie “traumatic.”
Her Prince of Persia costar Jake Gyllenhaal stopped signing onto blockbuster films for nearly a decade following their experience on the Disney adventure. He recently said he “learned a lot from that movie” and from then on picked his roles much more carefully. Gyllenhaal just returned to the blockbutser realm to play Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The King’s Man is Matthew Vaughn’s prequel film to his successful Kingman films starring Taron Egerton’s Eggsy and Colin Firth’s Harry. This movie will turn back the clock a century to a time before the secret service agency was as well-established. Gemma Arterton plays a working-class character named Polly who runs a covert network of “cleaners” and “butlers” placed in locations around the world to be spies.
In her recent inteview with Harper’s Bazaar, Gemma Arterton described her character of Polly as the “brainiest person in the room.” She joins an impressive cast including Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode, Stanley Tucci, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou and Rhys Ifans, who will actually play the legendary Rasputin.
When CinemaBlend’s own Gabe Kovacs visited the set of The King’s Man back in early 2019, writer/director Matthew Vaughn said the movie holds relevance to a modern audience, even if it takes place circa World War I. The King’s Man helmer believes the film’s time period has many parallels to the current political climate. Although the year means there will be less cool gadgets to look forward to from the film.
The King’s Man is coming to theaters on September 18.
