Gemma Arterton didn't want to take on the role of Tamara Drewe.
The actress is back on the big screen this week as she plays the title character in the latest project from Stephen Frears, only his second movie since The Queen in 2006.
Speaking at the UK premiere of the film Gemma said: "I didn't actually want to play Tamara when I first read it because I didn't like her.
"She's a femme fatale but she's really lost, she's desperate, she's a very modern woman. I know a lot of women like Tamara Drewe. It's good to play people that you don't understand originally because you have to work out why they do the things that they do."
"I remember Stephen Frears saying to me, 'I just don't know why Tamara does that', and I said, 'It's because she's a woman, she doesn't really know why she's doing it either'.
"I don't think he ever begged me to do it or anything like that but he just said, 'I won't do it unless you do it' which was quite scary."
Tamara Drewe is a change of pace for Arterton after her big budget exploits this year with Clash if the Titans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Tamara Drewe is released 10th September.
Tagged in Gemma Arterton Tamara Drewe