Eva Green hails court victory after wining multimillion-pound battle over sci-fi film collapse
28 April 2023, 10:38 | Updated: 28 April 2023, 11:08
Actress Eva Green has won her High Court battle with a production company over the collapse of a sci-fi film.
The Casino Royale star, 42, thanked her agent for being her "strength and shield" and said her reputation had been upheld following the court ruling.
The Bond Girl had been due to play the lead role in dystopian thriller A Patriot, but the production collapsed in October 2019.
She later sued the production company behind the project after the film was abandoned, claiming she is entitled to her million-dollar (£810,000) fee under the terms of their agreement.
White Lantern Film and lender SMC Speciality Finance brought a counterclaim against Ms Green, alleging she undermined the independent film’s production and renounced the contract. They also claimed she made “excessive creative and financial demands” and had expectations that were “incompatible” with the film’s low budget.
In his judgment on Friday, Mr Justice Michael Green ruled in her favour, deciding she was entitled to the fee, and dismissed the counter-claim.
He said: ‘In particular, I find that Ms Green did not renounce her obligations under the artist agreement; nor did she commit any repudiatory breaches of it.
Throughout the 71-page judgement in Eva Green's favour, Mr Justice Michael Green said there was 'overinterpretation' of private messages throughout the case.
He said: "There was, indeed, much reference to Ms Green's private messages and both sides were accusing each other of pretending to be in a position to make the film at the end of September 2019.
"The reality is, however, that neither side was prepared to make the film that the other wanted to make: 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."
Mr Justice Green added: "The case is relatively straightforward, it seems to me, both factually and legally - there was little dispute on the law - but it has been complicated by convoluted and overtechnical theories as to what happened and the purportedly malign strategies being adopted by the other side at the time.
"In my view, there has also been an overinterpretation of the recordings' transcripts and private messages."
Edmund Cullen KC, for Ms Green, previously told the court that the actress had been subjected to a "character assassination" adding it was "based on some of the cheapest and nastiest sorts of stereotypes around".
During the trial, the court heard that the actress described potential crew members as "s***ty peasant" and the production itself as a "B-s***ty-movie", as well as describing executive producer Jake Seal as "pure vomit".
During two days of cross examination, she told the judge that she had a "very direct way of saying things", while she also said she was not called to the studio for either rehearsals or stunt training.
She described it as "so strange" and later "absurd with a capital A", adding: "If I had been called to set, I would have done this film even though it would have been a disaster."
The French actress later denied undermining the production, telling the court: "I didn’t have to do anything to make the film fail… they made it fail on their own with their incompetence."
Max Mallin KC, representing White Lantern, said Ms Green had shown a ‘categorical and unequivocal refusal to perform’, while the company also alleged that she made ‘excessive creative and financial demands’, as well as having expectations ‘incompatible’ with the film’s low budget.
Mr Mallin said it was not up to Ms Green whether or not she was called to set, adding: "What is within her control is whether she responds to that call or not and, in my submission, she is making quite clear that she was not.
"He added that she 'was so concerned about what would happen if she were expressly called upon to perform' that she had suggested her agent 'invent a story about Ms Green being hospitalised".
