French actress Eva Green is at the heart of a legal battle in the UK to recover her royalties despite a film being canceled. Her attorney Thursday believes the production company is trying to paint her as a “diva,” which she is not.
The 42-year-old French actress, who starred in Casino Royale in 2006, was set to star in a sci-fi film – A Patriot – before production finally shut down in October 2019. She is suing the production company White Lantern Films. claims that despite the cancellation, she is still entitled to her CAD$1.3 million fee for the film.
But the British production company decided to counterattack by launching its own lawsuits against the actress, believing she made “unreasonable claims” and damaged the film’s production.
The trial, which began Thursday, is expected to last eight days.
The actress’ attorney, Edmund Cullen, claimed before the judges that Ms Green “bent over” to go ahead with the project because it dealt with an “issue that worries her greatly, which is the disaster climate.”
However, White Lantern Films’ attorneys believe the French actress expressed “a lack of trust and dissatisfaction” with members of the production team. She hesitates more and more to get involved, which is against the contract.
They base their allegations on WhatsApp messages in which Eva Green is said to have called a member of the production team “evil”, “sneaky sociopath”, “liar and madman”. She also reportedly called production manager Terry Bird an “idiot” and “a complete asshole.”
“This case is designed to portray my client as a diva in order to make headlines and tarnish her reputation,” Mr. Cullen said, calling the charges against his client “extraordinary.”
“She has agreed on multiple occasions to delay the start of filming. She agreed to have production moved from Ireland to the UK. She has repeatedly offered to use part of her fees to finance production costs,” he said in his written submissions.
For him, White Lantern Films wants to “redact the name of an actress who has never broken a contract or missed a day of filming in a 20-year career.”