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Gemma Arterton on teaching zombie children

The post-apocalyptic world of The Girl With All The Gifts finds Gemma Arterton's character in a classroom shaped bunker. The catch for this teacher? Her pupils are all zombies.
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Gemma Arterton in The Girl With All the Gifts

8 years ago
Duration 12:01
The post-apocalyptic world of the film “The Girl With All the Gifts” finds Helen in a classroom-shaped bunker. She's a teacher whose pupils must all be strapped in place, lest they bite her face off. Her mission? Humanize the carnivorous kids. Helen is played by Gemma Arterton who joins guest host Candy Palmater to talk about the film. 
Q12:27Gemma Arterton on teaching zombie children

In the post-apocalyptic world of The Girl With All The Gifts, it falls on Helen to teach zombie children how to love and empathize.

Underground bunkers for classrooms, strapped in pupils... there are many things that make this a less than ideal situation for her and yet teaching them to be human again is imperative for survival. 

Helen is played by Gemma Arterton who finds it ironic that a zombie film is, at its core, about humanity. "It's about survival of the fittest and who has the right to live and die," she adds. 

The post-apocalyptic world of The Girl With All The Gifts finds Gemma Arterton's character in a classroom shaped bunker. The catch for this teacher? Her pupils are all zombies. (Warner Bros. UK)

Today, Arterton reveals to guest host Candy Palmater how her character harnesses her maternal instincts and femininity to guide her.  

Screenwriter Mike Carey who also wrote the novel by the same name, telegraphs an impending feeling of doom, one Arterton reads as being very now.

"It sort of feels like we're in an important time in human kind. It does feel a little apocalyptic."

WEB EXTRA | Watch the trailer for The Girl With All The Gifts, an official selection of TIFF 2016, below.

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