Eva Green gives evidence at High Court in lawsuit over collapsed film – saying she fell ‘deeply in love’ with the project

Published

1 year ago

January 30, 2023

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Hollywood actress Eva Green has told the High Court in London that she “fell deeply in love” with a film she was due to star in before the project collapsed – giving evidence for the first time in person after filing a lawsuit against producers.

The star, who is best known for her portrayal of Vesper Lynd in the James Bond film Casino Royale with Daniel Craig, was due to play the lead role in A Patriot, but the production was abandoned in October 2019.

Green, 42, is suing White Lantern Films and SMC Speciality Finance for the $1 million (about £808,000) fee she says is still owed, despite its cancellation.

White Lantern is bringing a counterclaim against the French actress, alleging she undermined the independent film’s production, made “excessive creative and financial demands”, and had expectations that were “incompatible” with the film’s low budget.

The producers have cited WhatsApp messages from Green in which she described one producer as a “f****** moron” who should be fired and another as “evil”. She also allegedly described funders for the movie as “a*seholes” and some proposed crew members as “sh*tty peasants”. The actress addressed these messages later in her evidence.

Entering the witness box at the High Court on Monday, the third day of the hearing, Green first told how making quality productions was her “religion” and said abandoning A Patriot would have been like abandoning her “baby”.

In her written evidence to the court, Green said she “fell in love” with the film, in which she was cast as soldier Kate Jones, after reading writer and director Dan Pringle’s “brave and daring” script.

“I believed and still do that the film had the capacity to really wake people up and help them to see that the devastation of our world would eventually trigger resource wars and massive migration,” she said in the statement.

Green added in court: “As I have said repeatedly, I fell deeply in love with this project – not only the role, but also the message of the film.

“I couldn’t imagine abandoning the film, as it would have been like abandoning my baby. It still feels that way.”

Producers say Green had ‘animosity’

Green said the script for the film was “one of the best scripts I have ever read” and that she was excited to play the role of a soldier, which she had never done before. She cited the film being about climate change as an issue “dear to my heart and important”.

The actress also discussed some of her other work, telling the court: “I don’t care about the money. I live to make good films, it’s my religion.”

Max Mallin, representing White Lantern, previously claimed Green had an “animosity” towards a vision for the film held by one of its executive producers, Jake Seal.

The barrister said that in exchanges on WhatsApp with her agent and the film’s director, Green claimed Seal was planning to make a “cheap B movie” and described him as “the devil” and “evil”.

Mr Mallin asked Green if she remembered sending a different text message, suggesting the film under Mr Seal would be a “B-sh*tty-movie”; she said she did.

Green told the court: “I never wanted this to be a B-movie but I realised more towards the end that it was going to happen.”

She continued: “I had several opportunities to walk away from this project but at the time I felt like I had an armour, the strong crew members around me.

“I thought we had these strange producers but a strong crew so we could still make something good quality, but I was probably naive.”

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The move from Ireland

In her witness statement, Green said her initial confidence in the film dwindled following delays and its move from Ireland to a studio outside London, and that she felt she had been “deceived”.

Denying allegations that she was not prepared to go ahead with the film, she said: “In the 20 years that I have been making films, I have never broken a contract or even missed one day of shooting.

“Nor have I been late or done anything but give 100% heart, body and soul to every project I have ever been involved in.”

She added: “Why on earth would I sabotage a project that I loved and that I risked my reputation on? It makes no sense at all.”

‘Nothing against peasants’

Green also apologised for “inappropriate language” and “some horrible things” expressed by her in emails and texts in August and September 2019.

She said one message was an “emotional response” after finding out she had been “lied to” about the move from Ireland.

The actress also told the High Court she has “nothing against peasants” when questioned about the word being used in one of her messages.

“I have nothing against peasants, I didn’t want to work with a sub-standard crew,” she said. “I wanted to work with a high-quality crew who just wanted to be paid standard industry rates.”

A Patriot was also due to feature Game Of Thrones star Charles Dance and Twister star Helen Hunt, with Oscar winner Kathy Bates attached too at one point.

Green is due to finish giving evidence on Tuesday and a ruling on the case is expected at a later date.

Entertainment

Dabney Coleman, actor who starred in Boardwalk Empire and 9 to 5, dies

Published

9 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Dabney Coleman, actor who starred in Boardwalk Empire and 9 to 5, dies

Lily Tomlin, Morgan Fairchild and Ben Stiller have led tributes to “one-of-a-kind” actor Dabney Coleman following his death aged 92.

Coleman made his career playing comedic villains, mean-spirited bosses and villains in films including 9 to 5 and Tootsie, as well as playing Commodore Louis Kaestner in Boardwalk Empire.

Lily Tomlin, who starred alongside him in 9 To 5 with Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton, said: “We just loved him.”

In her post to X, the actress shared a photo of her character Violet Newstead dressed in a Snow White costume beside a tense-looking Coleman as her egotistical boss Franklin Hart Jr.

Morgan Fairchild, who starred in Falcon Crest and Friends, described Coleman as a “great one”.

“So very sorry to hear of the death of the wonderful #DabneyColeman”, she wrote on X alongside a black and white photo of them together.

“We went out for a bit in the ’80s and I adored him. This town has lost one of a kind!”

Coleman “took his last earthly breath peacefully and exquisitely” in his Santa Monica home on Thursday, his daughter said in a statement on Friday on behalf of the family.

“My father crafted his time here on Earth with a curious mind, a generous heart and a soul on fire with passion, desire and humour that tickled the funny bone of humanity”, she said.

“As he lived, he moved through this final act of his life with elegance, excellence and mastery.”

Ben Stiller, Zoolander and Meet The Parents actor, praised Coleman for paving the way for character actors.

“The great Dabney Coleman literally created, or defined, really – in a uniquely singular way – an archetype as a character actor.

“He was so good at what he did it’s hard to imagine movies and television of the last 40 years without him.”

Coleman starred in a number of films and TV series in the 1960s, then made his breakthrough as a corrupt mayor in the satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, in 1976.

His film credits include a computer scientist in WarGames, Tom Hanks’ father in You’ve Got Mail and a chief firefighter in The Towering Inferno.

He won a best actor Golden Globe for The Slap Maxwell Story and an Emmy for best supporting actor in Peter Levin’s 1987 legal drama Sworn To Silence.

Coleman also won two Screen Actors Guild Awards as part of the cast of crime drama Boardwalk Empire and received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his starring role in the NBC sitcom Buffalo Bill.

Entertainment

Yvette Fielding says she was assaulted by Rolf Harris on Blue Peter and left alone with Jimmy Savile

Published

10 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Yvette Fielding says she was assaulted by Rolf Harris on Blue Peter and left alone with Jimmy Savile

Blue Peter’s youngest ever presenter has claimed disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris sexually assaulted her when she was a teenage host of the children’s show.

Yvette Fielding, who joined the long-running BBC programme aged 18, told the Sun newspaper how the paedophile predator squeezed and patted her bottom after finding herself alone with him in a TV studio.

The now 55-year-old also recalled an uncomfortable experience with “grotesque” Jimmy Savile, who was later revealed to be one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.

Fielding has questioned the role of the BBC in allowing their behaviour, arguing people in the industry “must have known”.

She became a Blue Peter presenter in 1987 and left five years later, going on to host a string of BBC programmes including The Heaven And Earth Show, The General and City Hospital.

Recounting the incident with Harris, she said: “It was very confusing and shocking – just bizarre to think Rolf Harris was squeezing and patting my bottom and I am standing there, thinking ‘I don’t know what to do’.

“Other people in the industry must have known what he was like and you left me alone in the studio with him.

“That shouldn’t have happened. I must have been 18 or 19.

“I think a lot of them did know.”

Harris was a household favourite for decades before his dramatic downfall after being convicted of a string of indecent assaults against young girls.

Stripped of his honours, he died of neck cancer and old age in May last year, aged 93.

He was also known to be associated with Savile, who managed to conceal his crimes until after his death in 2011.

On her meeting with the late depraved DJ, Fielding told the Sun: “He took my hand and started stroking it. ‘Look into my eyes’, he said, ‘And tell me what you’re thinking’.”

“He was grotesque,” she added.

“I just don’t understand why the BBC allowed him to get away with that for as long as he did.”

Savile worked for much of his career at the BBC presenting programmes including Top Of The Pops and Jim’ll Fix It.

The BBC has been contacted for comment.

Entertainment

Girls Aloud kick off reunion tour dedicated to late bandmate Sarah Harding

Published

16 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Girls Aloud kick off reunion tour dedicated to late bandmate Sarah Harding

Girls Aloud have taken to the stage for the first gig of their reunion tour with emotional tributes to their late bandmate Sarah Harding.

A 30-minute delay to the show blamed on “Dublin motorway closures”, did nothing to dim the delight of fans when Nadine Coyle, Cheryl, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh appeared on stage, standing on individual podiums singing their 2008 song Untouchable.

The comeback tour has been dedicated to Harding, who was diagnosed with cancer and died in September 2021 aged 39.

During the show, the group performed a duet with Harding, whose vocals to I’ll Stand By You played as they joined in live on-stage.

They later sang one of their biggest hits, The Promise, during which the singers stopped and turned their backs to the audience to watch footage of Harding performing the song on her own.

A post on the official Girls Aloud X account said: “Show 1 done. Dublin you were absolutely INCREDIBLE. What a start to the #TheGirlsAloudShow tour.”

The singers won Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 and formed Girls Aloud, going on to achieve four UK number one singles and a Brit award.

They reunited with new music for their 10th anniversary in 2012, while a second reunion was planned for their 20th anniversary when Harding was diagnosed with cancer.

Less than an hour before their expected arrival at the 3Arena in Dublin, the group issued an updated stage time on X.
It said due to “Dublin motorway closures”, the band would arrive 30 minutes later than expected at 9.15pm.

Ahead of the show, a post on the official Girls Aloud X account said: “Rehearsals? Done. Choreography? Ready. Outfits? Fitted. Girls? Aloud.

“…We’ve been working so hard to make this show special for all of you.”

After two back-to-back opening nights in Dublin’s 3Arena, Girls Aloud will play two concerts at the SSE Arena in Belfast on Monday and Tuesday, before heading to the Manchester AO Arena from Thursday to Saturday.

In November, the group had to add six extra dates to their UK and Ireland 2024 arena tour due to “unprecedented demand” following ticket pre-sales.