‘Tamara Drew’ star Frears takes jab at Hollywood for detaining Cannes star Arterton

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Frears pokes Hollywood for detaining Cannes star

CANNES, France — Stephen Frears took a playful swipe at Hollywood while discussing why Gemma Arterton, the star of his comedy “Tamara Drewe,” could not make it to his movie’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

“She’s doing ‘The Princess and the Pea,’” Frears wisecracked to reporters Tuesday, unable to remember the name of the big studio flick whose Los Angeles premiere had forced Arterton to miss the festival.

Frears was not entirely off on the title. Arterton is co-starring with Jake Gyllenhaal in “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” attending the premiere in Hollywood on Monday, a day before “Tamara Drewe” screened at Cannes.

“For some reason, they have first crack, and we are second,” British director Frears said.

Frears, the director behind such heavyweight dramas as “Dangerous Liaisons” and “The Queen,” has joined the comic-book game so popular in Hollywood now, though he’s hardly doing the latest superhero adaptation.

With “Tamara Drewe,” Frears adapted Posy Simmonds’ graphic novel, featuring Arterton in the title role as a former ugly duckling returning to her hometown as a bombshell after plastic surgery to fix her honker of a nose.

A rising British star, Arterton previously played a Bond girl in Daniel Craig’s 007 adventure “Quantum of Solace” before her current breakout year co-starring in the action hit “Clash of the Titans” and “Prince of Persia,” the latest from blockbuster producer Jerry Bruckheimer that begins its worldwide rollout this week.

Casting Arterton as the gorgeous Tamara Drewe was an easy task, Frears said.

“Gemma came to see me, and she sat down beside me, and I said to my casting directing, ‘Is she any good? Because if she is, book her,’” Frears said. “What else was there to say? I mean, she was clearly gorgeous, she was clearly very witty, and she was nice, warm, likable. You’re lucky when things like that happen. It was easy.”

Inspired by Thomas Hardy’s novel “Far From the Madding Crowd,” ”Tamara Drewe” tells an offbeat tale of the title character’s hometown, a quiet village where a best-selling novelist runs a writer’s retreat.

The return of Arterton’s Tamara to sell her late mother’s home stirs up old romantic inclinations and stokes new ones involving the pompous novelist (Roger Allam), his steadfast wife (Tamsin Greig), a Hardy scholar (Bill Camp), Tamara’s old flame (Luke Evans), a spoiled rock star (Dominic Cooper) and a fanatic teen (Jessica Barden) in love with the musician.

Frears, whose films include John Cusack’s “High Fidelity,” Judi Dench’s “Mrs. Henderson Presents” and the Irish family comedies “The Snapper” and “The Van,” said the comic sensibilities of “Tamara Drewe” are just what he wants in a story.

“All this modern stuff they have in the cinema and all this self-referential stuff. I can’t be doing that,” Frears said. “I just like films that make me laugh.”

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