While the name Arterton may be more commonly associated with a certain Gemma, it’s her younger sister, Hannah, who is currently in the limelight, taking the starring role in romantic musical, Walking on Sunshine.
The film features an array of classic hits from the 1980s, and Arterton tells us what her favourite tracks were to perform – and what she was disappointed to see miss out. She also tell us about the joys of working in Southern Italy, her fondness for 80s pop, what inspired both her and Gemma to get into acting – while ending on a brief chat about forthcoming picture, Hide and Seek.
So how did you come to be involved in this project?
I read the script and absolutely loved it. One of the things that I love most about the film is how the songs really fit the narrative, and the feel of the moment at that point in the scene. I thought that was quite genius. I also loved the character, and how she’s quite shy and finds it hard to find her voice, and so takes a back foot instead of being like her sister, who is very front-footed and vocal and loud. I relate to that quite a lot, and I loved the way it’s the shy girl who ends up finding herself and blossoming, I really liked that coming-of-age element of the film. Plus it was shot in Italy for three months, which was a big draw!
Yeah, acting aside, that must have been really nice to be in Southern Italy for a while? Not a bad place to shoot a movie!
Absolutely not. You think when shooting a film it’s more likely you’ll end up on the Isle of Man, or Ireland, which I’m sure are lovely places – but being in the sunshine, on the beach, was just a dream. It didn’t feel like work at all, it was just like a holiday and somebody was making a film somewhere. To get to know such a beautiful, undiscovered – tourism wise – part of Italy was wonderful.
In regards to the musical side to the movie, you’re in a band so singing live in front of people is something you’re accustomed to – but as it still nerve-racking to perform in front of the cast and crew?
We actually pre-recorded all of the songs in London, so I wasn’t singing live, apart from Turn Back Time, I sang live. The rest of it was pre-recorded. That was a nice weight of our minds, all we need to do was get our miming skills up to scratch! But I remember going in to the audition, and I’ve been singing longer than I’ve been acting, but it’s still always nerve-racking to go into a room full of strangers and sing a song. Like an X Factor audition moment where you can’t help but get a bit nervous. But having it all pre-recorded meant we could be really free on set and enjoy the songs and the music.
Is it quite strange miming these songs? People putting their heart and soul into these words, which technically aren’t coming out of anyone’s mouth… It must be funny to watch, anyway.
It is. I remember the first song we shot was How Will I Know, on the beach. We had cordoned off our bit, but there were still people on the beach, and I remember looking over at us, like what the hell are they doing? We’ve got music blaring out and there’s all these dancers on sun loungers, they thought it was a looney party on the beach [laughs]. It’s quite strange, and it was strange when they shoot in slow motion. So they play the song at double speed, then when they slow it down the lip sync is still right and everything is moving slowly. So that was one weird, when we did that they were playing it at twice the speed and I was walking through trying to be said, but my voice was really loud pitched and fast. It was very weird and surreal, but very fun.
I don’t know how young you are – don’t worry, that’s not my next question – but I imagine you’re too young to have appreciated the music of the 80s at the time. But is still music you really enjoy? In other words, did you have to learn the lyrics to the songs, or did you know them at all?
My mum is a huge, pop music fan, so I knew all of the songs, pretty much the lyrics too. Maybe Wild Boys I wasn’t so familiar with, but I didn’t do anything on that so that was okay! But the rest of them, all of my big numbers and big ensemble numbers, I knew all of them. I’m 25 now so I don’t know if an 18 year old would know all of the words, but they are iconic songs that have stood the test of time. At any party these songs are played and I don’t think about when they’re from when I’m hearing them, I just love them. So yeah, I was definitely familiar with all of them.
I’m 25 as well as I knew most of them…
Exactly! It’s strange. I guess it’s because it’s from our parent’s time, they would have been young when these were first coming out. But it’s still relevant I think, I still imagine at an 18 year old’s birthday party they can play Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and them all loving it. It’s timeless, really.
In a way, because we weren’t there at the time we haven’t got that nostalgia to them, so we’re more detached and can treat them more as karaoke classics, which might help…
Yeah absolutely. I think you can enjoy them more because you’re not thinking, ‘Oh this is the song I broke up with that boy to’, or whatever. You can just enjoy it for what it is, and it’s such feel-good music and it just makes you want to dance and have a drink. It’s great music, and so easy for us to get into that mode when we had this music around us on set all the time.
Were there any big 80s songs you were gutted they didn’t include? Anything you wanted to sing but didn’t have the chance?
Um… That’s a good question. I think, maybe, I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney. That is such a great song. It’s fun to sing too, I’ve sung it with my band a few times and it always go down very well.
So what was your favourite song you were able to sing in the movie?
There are two, that for very different reasons I loved. Firstly, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go. All of the dancers were involved, all of the cast, so it was a lovely thing to shoot. We were there as the sun was setting and it was kind of magic. I also really loved It Must Have Been Love, because I love that song anyway, but I was in that Madonna look and it was a very cinematic, a little bit indulgent moment for me [laughs] but I loved shooting it, I have lovely memories of that night. It was like 5am and we were exhausted, but it was really lovely.
Talking of being exhausted – what we see in the finished product is a load of people having a great time singing and dancing, but in reality, that could be a sixth or seventh take. Was the whole choreographic side to this quite an arduous process?
Yeah, and I don’t consider myself a dancer by any stretch of the imagination, so when we first got there we had two weeks of choreography to learn. I found it amazing actually, it was very testing, it took me ages to get it into my head, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. It was like a two week boot camp, so we all got really fit and it was a great time to start getting your head around the shoot and how much stamina you would need, and to be careful with what you’re eating and drinking. It was exhausting, but it was so fun that the excitement factor always got us through.
In terms of relating to the character, of course in real life you have an older sister who has apparently made a few movies…
I know, right? [Laughs] Somewhere…
Were you able to relate to the sister dynamic, and take from real life in that regard?
Yeah definitely. Maddy and Taylor in the film, love each other so much which most sisters do, but in a way that you love them so much you find them so annoying! When you get that close to somebody you can let loose and sometimes you take things out of them, and you shout and you don’t mean it, but it’s because you love them so much you feel like you can say anything to them. That was something I could relate to with my sister relationship. But also, the desire to want to protect them. Taylor hides everything from Maddy to keep her happy, and I feel that very strongly with my sister as well, you just want them best for them and for them to be happy, you’ll do anything for them, that’s something most sisters can relate to. It’s lovely in the film that it’s the central relationship.
To have two sisters both get into acting is relatively rare I suppose, but were yourself and Gemma always play-acting a lot as children? Was it always a possibility?
Yeah we used to put on little plays and do dance routines, we used to pretend we were The Spice Girls and all that stuff, we were always very performer-y. But our parents never pushed us into stage schools or dance classes or anything like that, it was always something we naturally gravitated towards. My parents were endlessly going to shows on a Saturday afternoon, to see some dance show or little play going on, but it was always something that cam very naturally to us for some reason. It was never forced on us by anybody, it was just instinct.
Now you’re appearing in films, on television, in theatre, you’ve done radio, and you’ve got a band… I mean, it must be great to have this range of different mediums to express yourself in, and hone your craft. It must keep everything exciting?
Absolutely. I feel very, very lucky that’s the case, that I’m able to have such a variety of mediums as my disposal. I have a rehearsal with my band next week and I can’t wait, because it’s so fun and I get to sing for two hours, and then I’ve doing this radio play called Queens of Noise, too where I sing a lot in that too, about a three piece girl rock band in 1989, so that’s been great. I’m getting to do a bit of everything, which really, is the dream for most actors. You get such a variety and it’s fun to try a bit of everything, so I am very lucky in that regard.
Finally, you’ve been in Edinburgh promoting your next project Hide and Seek, what’s that one all about?
Hide and Seek is about four young people who are feeling disenchanted with London, so they run away and relocate in a remote house in the English countryside, and set up a new society, just the four of them, and they have a very free approach to life, sexually they all share beds, and they don’t watch TV or interact with the outside world at all. The idea of the film is retreat as a form or protest, in how young people can feel increasingly very lost in society, without a voice or a distinct place where they fit and feel whole. So yeah, it’s an art house, experimental film and it went down very well at Edinburgh, we got a great reception, so yeah, very proud of it. It was technically my first feature, it was shot in 2012, so it means a lot to me and it’s great that it’s been so well-received at a festival. It’s the absolute opposite of Walking on Sunshine, which is fantastic for me, to have such a variety of film out.
Well it stops you being pigeon-holed – which can only be a good thing.
Completely, which is an actors greatest fear [laughs]. People can see me being quiet, lying down on a beautiful English field, or running around on an Italian beach – it’s great!
Walking on Sunshine is released on June 27th.
