Eva Green causes outrage in native France after blaming her insults to producers on her ‘Frenchness’
Paris-born actress Eva Green has sparked outrage in her native France after blaming her ‘Frenchness’ for a series of insults directed at film producers.
The 42-year-old former Bond girl is embroiled in a bitter legal battle with the makers of the £4.6m film ‘A Patriot’, with each side blaming the other for the production’s demise in October 2019. She is suing White Lantern Films for her $1 million (£810,000) fee, even though the film was never made.
When several of his vitriolic WhatsApp messages about the film’s director, producers and production staff were read out in court, Green responded: “I have a very direct way of saying things… Sometimes it’s my Francoism.” .
His statement that his nasty messages, in which he referred to members of the production team as “shitty peasants” and called a production manager “a jerk” and a “complete asshole”, were due to his French roots . many of his compatriots.
French actress Eva Green arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Britain, on January 31, 2023.
Green was photographed yesterday arriving at the Rolls Building, London, for her legal action in the High Court over payment for a closed film project. She later blamed her ‘Frenchness’ for a series of insulting messages about various members of the film crew.
The worst excuse in the world. It’s like people justifying their faults based on their zodiac sign,” one person joked.
‘I’m French and I don’t insult anyone publicly! This is due to respect and education! Sorry Marlene Jobert (Green’s mother)…” said another disgruntled French user.
“Thank you for the international image,” added Frederic Says of Radio France.
Other enraged users heaped vile insults on Green, with one promptly asking her to excuse her ‘French side’ in turn.
Green admitted today that she had been ‘humiliated’ by the publication of her foul-mouthed WhatsApp messages, and also opened up about her friendship with Daniel Craig.
She noted that people often say things they don’t mean, citing Craig’s one-time claim that he’d rather “slit his wrists” than go back to being 007.
The British star, 54, made the comment in a 2015 interview after breaking her leg while filming her penultimate 007 movie, Spectre.
Mr Craig later conceded that he seemed “ungrateful” but said the comment was made in jest.
Craig went on to play the British spy once more in No Time To Die, completing a five-film run.
Green insists he did not sabotage production of A Patriot or walk away from the film, telling the court: “I have a very direct way of saying things.”
“I did not expect my WhatsApp messages to be exposed in court. It’s already very humiliating.
Green’s claim that his ‘Frenchness’ was to blame for his vitriolic messages angered many of his compatriots (these tweets have been translated from French)
Eva Green arrives at the Rolls Building on January 31, 2023 in London, England
Green insists he did not sabotage production of A Patriot or walk away from the film, telling the court: “I have a very direct way of saying things.”
“I did not expect my WhatsApp messages to be exposed in court. It’s already very humiliating.
Questioned by Max Mallin, KC, for White Lantern, about a message calling her experience working on the film a “fucking nightmare,” she said: “Sometimes you say things you don’t mean.” . You hate someone and you say I’m going to kill someone, but are you really going to kill that person? Not.
“There’s the famous example of Daniel Craig saying, ‘I’d rather slit my wrists than do another Bond film.’ But did he slit his wrists? No, he did another Bond film.
To laughter from the public gallery, Green added: “I know this story because I know Daniel Craig.”
French actress Eva Green (R) leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Britain, on January 30, 2023 with her lawyer Edmund Cullen. Green is suing production company White Lantern Films for unpaid salary she claimed was owed for the movie ‘A Patriot’ after the movie was ultimately cancelled.
Green’s attorney, Edmund Cullen KC (pictured left behind Green) said the legal battle was “designed to paint my client as a diva in order to win headlines and damage her reputation.”
At the start of the trial on Thursday, Mallin claimed that Green had an “animosity” toward a vision of the film held by one of the film’s executive producers, Jake Seal.
The lawyer said that in exchanges with her agent and the film’s director, Green also called production manager Terry Bird a “fucking asshole” and members of the local crew “fucking country boys…from Hampshire.” .
However, Green’s lawyer, Edmund Cullen KC, said the legal battle was “designed to paint my client as a diva in order to win headlines and damage her reputation.”
Cullen later said that the messages “need to be seen in the context” of negotiations over buying the rights to the script.
Green previously stated that he hoped he could acquire the rights to the script, in exchange for waiving his fee, so that the film could be made elsewhere with a different crew.
But he said he knew otherwise he would have no choice but to go ahead with the film.
Describing the film as a “passion project”, Cullen said that the actress “did everything she could” to make the film, but “the financial plan was never going to work out”.
Green also alleged that the production team was cutting corners, including in stunt training, leading her to draw comparisons to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins last year on the set of the Alec Baldwin film Rust. .
Green told the court in London that producer Seal had reduced his stunt training for the film, in which he would play a soldier, from four weeks to five days.
Actress Eva Green filming near Tower Bridge in October 2019
Giving evidence, Ms Green referred to a fatal shooting on the set of the Alec Baldwin film Rust (right), in which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (left) lost her life.
“You can’t make a quality movie by taking shortcuts,” Green said.
She continued: “Look what happened to Alec Baldwin in the movie Rust, the producers were cutting corners, no security measures and a young woman was murdered.”
In his written evidence in court, Green said that no personal or stunt training was arranged for him, despite his efforts to follow up on this with the production team.
She also said she “fell in love” with the film, in which she played soldier Kate Jones, after reading writer-director Dan Pringle’s “brave and daring” script.
She said in her witness statement: “As I have said repeatedly, I fell deeply in love with this project, not just the role, but also the message of the film.”
“I couldn’t imagine leaving the film, as it would have been like giving up my baby.
‘It still feels that way.’
The actress denied allegations that she was not ready to move forward with the project, saying, “In the 20 years I’ve been making movies, I’ve never broken a contract or missed a day of shooting.”
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