Former Bond girl Eva Green set to get $1m fee after winning case over collapsed film
Actress Eva Green has said her “professional reputation has been upheld” after she won her case over an abandoned film.
The 42-year-old, known for appearing in Bond movie Casino Royale, sued White Lantern Film for the million-dollar fee she was due to be paid.
The company and its lender countersued, saying she had renounced the contract by refusing to perform and making “excessive creative and financial demands”.
In WhatsApp messages revealed in the case, Green called one member of the film’s team a “f****** moron” who should be fired and another “evil”.
She also described some proposed crew as “s***** peasants” and executive producer Jake Seal as “pure vomit”.
Green later apologised for “inappropriate language” and suggested her “Frenchness” was to blame.
She said one of the messages was an “emotional response” after being lied to about where the production would be shot.
The film, A Patriot, was abandoned in October 2019.
In a statement, Green said the company had used her “as a scapegoat to cover up their own mistakes” and “made false allegations”.
“I am proud that I stood up against their bully-boy tactics,” she added.
Green is best known for starring with Daniel Craig in Casino Royale
‘Cruel and untrue’
Green said reporting of the case had “felt like being set upon by hounds” and that the ordeal had been “painful and damaging”.
“I found myself misrepresented, quoted out of context and my desire to make the best possible film was made to look like female hysteria.
“It was cruel and it was untrue,” she said.
The actress previously said having her messages disclosed was “humiliating” and denied she’d refused to perform.
“In the 20 years that I have been making films, I have never broken a contract or even missed one day of shooting,” she told the court in January.
Green arriving to give evidence earlier this year. Pic: AP
In her victory statement, she said she’d “fought tooth and nail to defend the beautiful film that I loved and had signed on for”.
The judge decided Green had not renounced her contract nor committed any “repudiatory breaches” – meaning she’s set to get her $1m (£803,000) fee.
‘Sarcastic and denigrating’
Mr Justice Michael Green said there had been an “overinterpretation” of her messages – which stemmed from “a genuine feeling of concern that any film made under Mr Seal’s control would be of very low quality”.
He said the producer had been “patronising, sarcastic and denigrating” during evidence and he could see how others might dislike him.
“The reality is, however, that neither side was prepared to make the film that the other wanted to make,” the judge said.
“Ms Green made it clear that she did not want to make the film under Mr Seal’s full control; and the defendants were only interested in recovering SMC’s loan.”
He also criticised Green, calling her “surprisingly under-prepared for her evidence” and “in some senses a frustrating and unsatisfactory witness”.
The judge wrote: “She said it was ‘humiliating’ but some of her explanations for the language she used and the feelings she expressed – such as they were down to her ‘Frenchness’ – were not credible or adequate.”
Taylor Swift has revealed the release date for her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.
The pop megastar announced her 12th studio album earlier this week but didn’t give many details.
Now, in social media posts and an appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s sports podcast, Swift revealed just what fans can expect from the new album.
Taylor Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce on the New Heights podcast. Pic: New Heights
The Life of Showgirl, written during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras tour, will be released on 3 October.
It consists of 12 songs, including the title track that features pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
The full track list is:
1. The Fate Of Ophelia
2. Elizabeth Taylor
3. Opalite
4. Father Figure
5. Eldest Daughter
6. Ruin The Friendship
7. Actually Romantic
8. Wi$h Li$t
9. Wood
10. Cancelled!
11. Honey
12. The Life Of A Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter)
Long-time collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, two Swedish producers who worked with Swift on some of her biggest hits, joined the pop star for this album.
Within four hours of posting the full podcast episode on YouTube, it had already gathered 4.7m views.
The cover of Taylor Swift’s newly announced album. Pic: Republic Records
The back cover of Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album The Life Of A Showgirl. Pic: Republic Records
‘The hardest-working star in pop’
The album follows last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, which was released during the Eras tour.
That tour, with shows on five continents and in 51 cities, raked in more than $2.2bn (£1.62bn) and was the highest-grossing tour of all time.
Read more about Taylor Swift:
Swift’s final London show was the ‘best’
The impact of the ‘excruciating’ Era’s tour
Her new chart record
“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” Swift said during her podcast appearance.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.
A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.
Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.
The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.
Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.
He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.
Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.
Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.
Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.
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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.
Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.
Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
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