United Kingdom: Eva Green at the heart of a legal battle after the cancellation of a film

French actress Eva Green finds herself at the heart of a legal battle in the United Kingdom: she claims payment for a film which has been canceled, her lawyer claiming, Thursday January 26, that the production company was trying to paint her as a "diva" that she is not. The actress was set to star in a sci-fi film titled A Patriot, before production was finally halted in October 2019.

She is suing the production company, White Lantern Film, claiming she is entitled to her $1 million (€918,000) fee for the film, despite its cancellation. But the British production company decided to counterattack by launching its own legal action against the actress, considering that she had made “unreasonable demands” and harmed the production of the film. The trial, which opened on Thursday, is expected to last 8 days.

The actress' lawyer, Edmund Cullen, claimed before the judges that Eva Green "bent over backwards" to make the project happen, as it dealt with a "matter which is of great concern to her, namely climate disaster." But, for the lawyers of White Lantern Film, the French actress expressed “a lack of confidence and a dissatisfaction” with members of the production team. She was "increasingly reluctant to get involved," in violation of the contract. They justify their accusations based on WhatsApp messages in which Eva Green allegedly called a member of the production team "evil," "devious sociopath," "liar and crazy." She also allegedly insulted the production manager, Terry Bird.

"This case is designed to portray my client as a diva in order to make headlines and damage her reputation," said Edmund Cullen, calling the charges against his client "extraordinary." “She agreed several times to postpone the start of the shooting. She agreed to have the production moved from Ireland to the UK. She has repeatedly offered to use part of her fees to fund production costs,” he listed in his written submissions. For him, White Lantern Film wants "to blacken the name of an actress who has not violated a contract or missed a day of shooting during a career of twenty years."