大象传媒

More than 300 years after Nell Gwynn became one of the first women to appear on the London stage, the actress playing her in a West End production has said there's still sexism in the film industry and it "needs to change".

Gemma Arterton said it was the responsibility of producers to employ female directors and build relationships with female writers.

"There are loads of them out there, they're just not being given the opportunity to do what they want to do, or being given the money to do what they want to do," she said.

"There've been times when I've gone into a meeting with a financier and it's a film about a woman, and they say, can we write up the man because otherwise we won't finance it."

(Photo: Gemma Arterton (Nell Gwynn) in Nell Gwynn at the Apollo theatre. Credit: Tristram Kenton)