Gemma Arterton has hailed her new film Byzantium as a tale of female empowerment.
The former Bond girl plays a 200-year-old vampire prostitute in the fantasy thriller from Interview With A Vampire's Neil Jordan, written by Moira Buffini and co-starring Saoirse Ronan as her character's daughter.
Gemma thanked Moira for writing such strong female characters, saying: "We both worked together on Tamara Drew, this is her first original screenplay and it's just sublime.
"I can't thank her enough for writing such a great opportunity for both Saoirse and I. We are the leads in the movie and not many films allow both of the leads to be female, so it's a real female empowerment movie.
The Wrath Of The Titans star loved playing a vampire.
She said: "It's just the most wonderful character, I loved playing her. She's multi-faceted and ferocious and a merciless killer, but she's also a maternal, loving, protective mother and I just adore playing her."
