Gemma Arterton says she and Andrew Garfield will be starring in Michael Mann’s Robert Capa biopic

Just when it seemed that Michael Mann might be moving forward first with his gangster saga BIG TUNA, now the word is that there’s already been casting for the smallest of his in-development projects – CAPA.

That word comes from the delectable Gemma Arterton (WRATH OF THE TITANS, TAMARA DREWE), who spoke to Total Film after the magazine chose her as the “Hottest Actress” of 2010 and had the following to say:

“This year’s been intense, but next year’s going to be… intenser! [Laughs] I’m attached to about nine projects but I’m not sure which one’s I’m allowed to talk about.”

“But I’m aiming for even more diversity. Capa [biopic about the combat photographer Robert Capa] is confirmed, so I should be working with your hottest actor, Andy Garfield! [Garfield is lined up to play Capa, Arterton plays his partner, Gerda Taro, the first female photojournalist to cover the front lines of a war] and of course there’s Clash 2…”

Here’s Mann talking about the Robert Capa biopic in an interview for the Financial Times back in October:

“It’s about a tumultuous love affair Capa has with Gerda Taro,” Mann explains. Born Endre Friedmann, Capa was a Hungarian who came to Paris. “He and Gerda invented a different persona, that he was a romantic American photojournalist. They meet in Paris as refugees – despised and alone in a period of European history which is a cascade of conflicts.”

The film, scripted by British playwright Jez Butterworth, will be based on the Susana Fortes novel Waiting For Robert Capa, which follows the two-year romance that began in Paris, 1935 and ended at the Battle of Brunnete. As mentioned above, the project will be relatively small, with Mann reportedly approaching it as a “gritty, low-budget” film. A smart (and logical) move considering the financial failures of both PUBLIC ENEMIES and MIAMI VICE.