‘I’m not rude – I’m just French’: Bond girl Eva Green insists

Eva Green told the High Court today that her ‘Frenchness’ was to blame for abusive messages she sent calling the bosses of a doomed sci-fi film ‘weak and stupid’.

The former Bond girl is testifying in a £4m legal battle over A Patriot, a film she was set to star in before production wrapped in October 2019.

She is suing production company White Lantern Films, claiming she is entitled to her $1 million (£810,000) fee for the film, despite its cancellation.

In the text messages used in the White Lantern claim, Ms. Green is said to refer to one of the film’s executive producers, Jake Seal, as ‘evil’, ‘devious psychopath’, ‘liar and crazy’ and ‘pure vomit’. . She is also said to have called production manager Terry Bird a “fucking jerk” and described the men as “total holes”.

Faced with a message calling her director and producer ‘weak and stupid’, Eva Green blamed them on ‘my Francoism coming to light’. She said: ‘Sometimes I say emotional things that I don’t really mean. Of course they are not weak or stupid.

She added: “It was my emotions speaking.”

Giving evidence for the first time this afternoon, Ms Green told the High Court that she is a ‘serious actress’ who would not appear in a ‘crappy B-movie’ that could have killed her career before it was canned.

The star insists she is being unfairly painted as a ‘diva’ and one of the film’s producers claims in a message that she would ‘rather eat tumors’ than make A Patriot shortly before it closed.

On the witness stand this afternoon, he told the court that he wanted to make the “most brilliant movie possible” after “falling in love” with the script. She said: ‘I don’t care about money, I live to make good movies. It’s my religion.’

But admitting problems with the production, she said she feared “A Patriot” would be a “shit B movie” and worried about being labeled a “B movie actress.”

She told the court: “When you appear in a B movie, you are labeled a B actress.” It could end my career.

Max Mallin, KC, for White Lantern opening cross-examination, told Ms. Green: “You are a successful actress, but particularly well known for your role in Casino Royale.”

He then asked Ms. Green why she was initially interested in the project to make ‘A Patriot’.

He asked: ‘Is it a film with serious themes, that a serious actress would play?’

Mr Mallin then suggested that this was in contrast to previous roles Ms Green had played, but she replied: ‘You mean a serious actress? I’ve done a lot of low-budget movies that have serious content.’

Ms Green added, “I’m not just a…” and then smacked her mouth to indicate she’s a “serious actress.”

Recalling his interest in the project, he added: ‘It was one of the best scripts I’ve ever read. It also involved the role of a soldier, something I’d never played before.’

He admitted that the film’s themes such as climate change, immigration, and totalitarianism interested him.

He added: “I wanted to make a quality film, a serious film.”

Ms Green told the court that if she had known that the film project was not of the quality she expected, she would not have gotten involved.

He added: “I live to make good movies, it’s my religion.”

White Lantern Films is defending the case and filing a counterclaim against the French actress, alleging she made “unreasonable demands” and undermined the film’s production.

Ms Green, wearing black sunglasses and a green velvet jacket in the January sunshine in London this morning, is expected to enter the witness box this afternoon.

Today the court heard a message from one of the film’s producers stating that Eva Green would “rather eat tumors” than make the film before the project was shut down.

This morning, the film’s writer-director, Dan Pringle, was testifying. he inquired about a message he sent when the film’s financing was potentially being restructured, and would have given Jake Seal ‘full control’.

The High Court said last week that Ms Green had claimed Mr Seal, an executive producer, was planning to make a ‘cheap B-movie’, describing him as ‘the devil’ and ‘evil’.

Mr Pringle said in a message that he, Ms Green and producer Adam Merrifield were discussing whether they “wish to continue with the new structure” but added: “From now on, obviously all three of us would prefer to eat tumours.”

Speaking about this today, he said, “I’m sorry to say that, as I shouldn’t be speaking on behalf of Adam and Eve.”

At the start of the trial on Thursday, White Lantern’s Max Mallin KC claimed that Ms Green had an “animus” towards a vision of the film held by one of the film’s executive producers, Jake Seal.

The lawyer said that in exchanges with her agent and the film’s director, Ms Green also called production manager Terry Bird a “fucking jerk” and local crew members “fucking rednecks… of Hampshire’.

However, Ms Green’s lawyer, Edmund Cullen KC, said the legal battle was “designed to paint my client as a diva in order to win headlines and damage her reputation”.

Cullen later said that the messages “need to be seen in the context” of negotiations over buying the rights to the script.

Describing the film as a “passion project”, Cullen said that the actress “did everything she could” to make the film, but “the financial plan was never going to work out”.

Ms. Green expected to begin her statement in the afternoon. The trial continues.