Gemma Arterton joined 'The King's Man' to play a female James Bond-type (exclusive)

Watch: Gemma Arterton discusses action-packed The King's Man sequel idea

Gemma Arterton was convinced to take on her role in The King's Man when Matthew Vaughn told her he wanted to create a female equivalent for James Bond.

The 35-year-old Brit — who appeared alongside Bond in 2008's Quantum of Solace — plays Polly Wilkins in the First World War-set actioner and said Vaughn's ambition "swayed" her to take the job.

Polly is a key member of the group, which would become the Kingsman organisation, assembled by Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) to tackle secret threats during the conflict.

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Arterton said: "When Matthew Vaughn was trying to convince me to do it, he said that his idea was that he would love to make a female action, spy, James Bond-esque type character."

Arterton said the stage has been set for Polly to step up in sequels to The King's Man and play an even more active role in the action set pieces.

The star added: "With subsequent films, if it does lead to that, that's what his idea is. So it was important for me to have those little bits of action and I love doing all of that sort of stuff.

"So fingers crossed the next ones will have more fights."

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Arterton confessed she hadn't seen either of the previous two Kingsman films when she was sent Vaughn and Karl Gajdusek's script for The King's Man.

She said: "I kind of read the script without knowing the concept of Kingsman. It was quite good actually because I saw it in chronological order.

"Then I went and watched the movies and it all kind of fell into place, which was quite satisfying actually.

"I think when you see origin movies, they're always quite satisfying, because you realise Matthew Vaughn had this in mind. Even when he was making the first Kingsman movie, he knew what this story was going to be and kept it in mind while making those films.

"Hopefully when audiences see it, they'll see some things and it will make sense and be satisfying for them."

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The cast of The King's Man also includes Harris Dickinson, Djimon Hounsou, Rhys Ifans and Tom Hollander in a triple role as three members of historical royalty.

The King's Man is due to be released in UK cinemas on Boxing Day.

Watch: Trailer for The King's Man