Bond girl Eva Green, 42, arrives at court for a legal battle in London
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Film writer sent message saying Bond girl Eva Green ‘would rather eat tumors’ than make a doomed sci-fi movie she’s accused of sabotaging with diva behaviour, court hears
- The 42-year-old Casino Royale actress was due to appear in A Patriot in 2019.
- Ms. Green is suing production company White Lantern Films for $1 million
- White Lantern says it made “unreasonable demands” and undermined the film
Eva Green has arrived in High Court today to testify in the £4m legal battle over a canned sci-fi film, as a message from a producer claimed the Hollywood star felt she would “rather eat tumors” than make the movie.
The 42-year-old Casino Royale star was set to star in A Patriot before production wrapped in October 2019.
He is now suing production company White Lantern Films, claiming that he is entitled to his $1 million (£810,000) fee for the film, despite its cancellation. She insists that she is being unfairly painted as a ‘diva’.
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.
Eva Green arrives at the Rolls Building, London, for her legal action in the High Court over payment for a closed film project.
A lawyer for Ms Green accused the producers of a collapsing film of trying to damage the artist’s reputation by portraying her as a ‘diva’.
The French actress, who played Vesper Lynd in the James Bond thriller ‘Casino Royale,’ is suing the producers for a $1 million fee she says she is owed for ‘A Patriot.’
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’.
Pringle said in a message that he, 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 tumors.”
Speaking about this today, he said, “I’m sorry to say that, as I shouldn’t be speaking on behalf of Adam and Eve.”
The French actress is due to enter the witness box to testify in the lawsuit on Monday, the third day of the trial in London.
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”.
Bond girl Eva Green, pictured in Casino Royale with Daniel Craig, is in High Court in a legal battle over the disappearance of a £4 million film project.
Producers Terry Bird (left) and Jake Seal were mentioned in the texts and appointed by Ms Green
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.