Sometimes the fire just comes out and you can’t help it. I’m a bit like that. If you start on me, I’ll defend myself. I had a moment the other day where I thought I might get mugged on the train, and my immediate reaction was: “I’ll kick them in the face.”
Not everyone does acting for the art. That’s the aim, but there’s a reason some people make films that pay £7m. I was never paid as much as that when I was younger and doing big-budget stuff, but I did make some things because they bought me a flat. Now that I’m financially secure I don’t have to do that shit any more.
My London friends think I’m very Parisian [Arterton has been living in France on and off for two years]. They say: “Ah, she only drinks black coffee now,” whereas my Paris friends think I’m very British. They think London women are wild and we drink too much.
My dreams are usually a bit Lynchian. I have recurring dreams – being in my mum’s house, although it’s not her real house, and my teeth falling out – but most of my dreams have David Lynch vibes. They’re weird and eccentric and colourful, and they’re quite nice.
I wouldn’t say never again to marriage. I obviously thought that it was important once, because I did it [Arterton was divorced in 2013], but marriage is a contract. What I’ve learned is that it’s a legal procedure.
The difference between what men and women get paid in my industry is shocking. On one job I must have been paid a 10th of what my male counterpart was getting.
It wasn’t intentional that I would move into French film. One of the films I made, Tamara Drewe, did very well in France, so I’ve been learning the language from scratch. I’m about to start a new film, Orpheline, where I speak French throughout – I’m quite nervous about that.
Sometimes I wish I’d trusted my instincts. We intellectualise things, listen to the world, listen to advice, but the instinct is like God.
The job that made me feel like what I do is actually important was [the West End musical] Made in Dagenham. Every night when I did a big speech about equality for women, people would scream: “Come on, Rita!” That’s not a reaction you’ll ever get from straight theatre.
My comedy crush is Micky Flanagan. He goes off on these existential tangents, and he’s very funny about his posh wife.
There’s a way of walking and talking when you’re at Rada. What I learned in the end was to by myself, because directors don’t really like actors being RSC-mannered all the time.
I’m definitely middle class now. But don’t tell my dad.
Gemma Arterton stars in Gemma Bovery, released in cinemas nationwide on 21 August
