Back in 2020, Casino Royale’s Eva Green sued White Lantern Films and SMC Speciality for refusing to pay her a $1 million fee after her sci-fi thriller, A Patriot, was dropped. She was reportedly set to star in and executive produce the production. With the case still ongoing, Green’s second day at the high court this week involved the examination of her private WhatsApp messages. While under oath, the British actress responded to the messages that apparently reveal her calling crew members “peasants” and an investor “a fucking nightmare.”
Shortly after the Penny Dreadful actress opted to take the companies to court, her lawsuit took another turn. She faced a counterclaim from White Lantern Films and SMC Speciality finance, who claimed that she pulled out of the sci-fi thriller and breached her contract. During her recent court appearance, she was asked at length about the messages she sent amid production on A Patriot, during which she allegedly said she felt “obliged to take [the producer’s] shitty peasant crew members from Hampshire” after the filming location was switched from Ireland. She reportedly said she had to “get out” and called her investor “a fucking nightmare.” As reported by The Guardian, Eva Green provided a reason for the blunt, purported statements:
Sometimes you say things you don’t mean. You hate a person and say: ‘I’m going to kill this person,’ are you going to kill this person? No. It’s a cry from the heart.' There is the famous example of Daniel Craig saying: ‘I would rather slash my wrists than do another Bond movie. But did he slash his wrists? No, he made another Bond movie and didn’t slash his wrists. Sometimes you say things because you are under extreme pressure. They just come out. I know this story well because I know Daniel.
In her response, she referenced the time that Daniel Craig said he’d rather “slash his wrists” than play 007 again after completing his fourth James Bond movie, Spectre. He previously explained that he made those “stupid” comments when he was interviewed two days after the movie finished production. Craig now regrets those controversial comments and has explained that he meant them jokingly. (And of course, Craig did return for his fifth and Bond film, No Time to Die). Whether that situation matches up with this one is up to interpretation, but the 42-year-old actress seems to be using it as the crux of her argument in this court case.
There was another big moment in this week's proceedings, as Max Mallin KC, a barrister for the production company, accused Eva Green of asking her driver, John Ward, to lie for her in regard to the messages she sent him. Those DMs allegedly said she believed A Patriot would probably be “suspended or canceled." She's specifically accused of having told Ward not to reply to “total arseholes” on the production team, out of fear of being sued, and had a desire to move production. Mallin suggested that Green never intended to do the thriller and attempted to dampen SMC’s position so she and others could acquire the film rights and change the shooting location.
The Golden Compass actress shot down the notion that she didn’t feel like she was in safe hands with A Patriot’s lead producers and believe that the movie was going to be produced in a cheap manner. She also rejected the idea that she had no intention to finish the film. When asked if she understood what would be spent on the film, the Kingdom of Heaven actress asserted that the movie originally had a budget of eight or nine million before it was cut in half. Despite that, she claims that, at the time, she still had faith that the movie could still be a success despite the budget cut.
At this point, it's hard to say how Eva Green's case will be resolved and just how these unearthed messages will figure into a verdict. All the while, Green is reteaming with her Casino Royale director, Martin Campbell, on Dirty Angels, which is about a group of female soldiers disguising themselves as medics to save teenagers caught between ISIS and forces of the Taliban. Check out our 2023 new movie release schedule so you’ll be the first to know when the new action film will hit theaters.
