French actress Eva Green finds herself at the heart of a legal battle in the United Kingdom to claim her fee despite the cancellation of a film, her lawyer believing Thursday that the production company is trying to pass her off as a “diva which she is not.
The 42-year-old French actress, star of Casino Royale in 2006, was to star in a science fiction film –A Patriot– before production was finally halted in October 2019. She is suing production company, White Lantern Films, claiming she is entitled to her CAD $1.3 million fee for the film, despite its cancellation.
But the British production company decided to counterattack by launching its own lawsuits against the actress, believing that she had made “unreasonable demands” and damaged the production of the film.
The trial, which began on Thursday, is expected to last eight days.
The actress’s lawyer, Edmund Cullen, claimed before the judges that Ms Green “bent over backwards” to make the project happen because it dealt with an “issue which concerns her very much, namely the disaster climate”.
But lawyers for White Lantern Films believe that the French actress expressed “lack of confidence and dissatisfaction” with members of the production team. She was “increasingly reluctant to get involved”, in violation of the contract.
They justify their accusations based on WhatsApp messages in which Eva Green allegedly called a member of the production team “evil”, “devious sociopath”, “liar and crazy”. She also reportedly called production manager Terry Bird a “moron” and “a finished asshole.”
“This case is designed to portray my client as a diva in order to grab headlines and damage her reputation,” Mr. Cullen said, calling the charges against his client “extraordinary”.
“She agreed several times to postpone the start of the shooting. She agreed to have the production moved from Ireland to the UK. She has repeatedly offered to use part of her fees to fund production costs,” he said in his written submissions.
For him, White Lantern Films wants to “blacken the name of an actress who has not violated a contract or missed a day of shooting during a 20-year career”.