Hannah Arterton left paranoid after cutting off family for new film

Hannah Arterton says she was left “really paranoid” after cutting herself off from friends and family for over a month to get in character for her latest role.

The actress will star alongside Rosie Day and Tom Conti in British film Peripheral, due for release later this year. She plays a literary genius with “very little human connection” who ends up in a battle with artificial intelligence after falling in love with a computer while writing an elusive second novel.

She said: “It was actually quite extreme, I didn’t really talk to anyone for the whole time that I was making it... I went into a little cave for two months.

“It made me feel really weird — when I finished it I came home and just felt socially really awkward, and it took me a while to kind of warm back into life.”

She believes the experience made her a better actor, saying: “I think it has made me braver, it made me think, ‘Don’t be scared to really just go for it,’ but it was definitely intense.”

The rising star, 29, who is the younger sister of Bond actress Gemma Arterton, said she only texted her mother “to let her know that I hadn’t fallen off a cliff”.

Arterton also stars as a tough police detective alongside Dexter’s Michael C Hall and Sherlock’s Amanda Abbington in new Netflix series SAFE, which airs on May 10.

She said: “It was a dream. On the ‘girl team’ with me and Amanda we hit it off immediately and got on so well, and I think that comes across.

“Even though our characters’ initial relationship is so frosty, that was so fun to play because behind the scenes we were just having a right laugh.”