Jordan recruits Arterton for vampire role

Gemma Arterton has a new role to get her teeth into – playing a vampire in a film by Oscar-winning director Neil Jordan.

The former Bond girl is reported to be teaming up with Irish star Saoirse Ronan to play blood-sucking siblings in the film called 'Byzantium'.

Producer Stephen Woolley told the Hollywood Reporter: “I love the horror genre and we’ve been working on this for three or four years. I sent it to Neil and he liked the script”.

Woolley and Jordan scored a hit with an earlier foray into the world of gothic horror when they made 'The Company of Wolves' – a modern take on the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood'.

Filming starts in October with a script by Moira Buffini who wrote the screenplay for Tamara Drewe.

Arterton is also reported to be set to appear in 'Crooked House', a murder mystery based on Agatha Christie’s 1949 novel of the same name.

Other names linked to the film include 'The Usual Suspects' star Gabriel Byrne.