Casino Royale actress Eva Green says she has ‘nothing against peasants’ from Hampshire

Casino Royale star Eva Green, 42, was due to play the lead role in A Patriot, but the production collapsed in October 2019. She is suing production company White Lantern Film, claiming she is entitled to her one-million-dollar (£810,000) fee for the abandoned project despite its cancellation.

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In turn, White Lantern is bringing a counterclaim against the French actress, alleging that 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.

Ms Green, dressed in a dark green blazer and black turtleneck, entered the witness box at the High Court in London to give evidence on Monday. Max Mallin KC, for White Lantern, previously claimed that Ms Green had an ‘animosity’ towards a vision for the film held by one of the film’s executive producers Jake Seal.

The barrister said that in exchanges with her agent and the film’s director, Ms Green claimed Mr Seal was planning to make a ‘cheap B movie’, describing him as ‘the devil’ and ‘evil’ and local crew members as ‘****** peasants… from Hampshire’.

Ms Green told the court that she would be ‘working with people who are not experienced’ under Mr Seal’s proposals. Mr Mallin said: ‘****** peasants. Should we interpret that to be inexperienced?’

Ms Green replied: ‘I have nothing against peasants’, leading Mr Mallin to reply: ‘Hence the use of the word ******.’

The actress continued: ‘I have nothing against peasants. I didn’t want to work with a sub-standard crew.

‘I wanted to work with a high-quality crew who just wanted to be paid standard industry rates.’

In her written evidence, Ms Green apologised for ‘inappropriate language’ and ‘some horrible things’ expressed by her in emails and texts in August and September 2019.

The actress denied the allegations that she was not prepared to go ahead with the project. Ms Green is due to finish giving evidence on Tuesday and a ruling on the case is expected at a later date.