Eva Green: James Bond actress' sci-fi movie became 'Shakespearean farce' says producer

Casino Royale actress Ms Green was due to play the lead role in dystopian thriller A Patriot, but the production was abandoned in October 2019.

The 42-year-old is now suing production company White Lantern Film, claiming she is entitled to her million-dollar (£810,000) fee for the project despite its cancellation.

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White Lantern Film is bringing a counterclaim against the French actress, alleging she undermined the independent film’s production, made ‘excessive creative and financial demands’ and had expectations ‘incompatible’ with the movie’s budget.

Max Mallin KC, for the production company, has claimed a ‘scheme’ was devised between the actress, writer and director Dan Pringle and producer Adam Merrifield – allegedly described by the latter as ‘Operation Fake It!’ – to secure her fee and make a separate film without the project’s lender involved.

However on Thursday, the High Court in London heard from Mr Merrifield, who denied any scheme to undermine the production, saying his comment was a joke.

He said: ‘We had weeks and weeks of going to Black Hangar [the studios] and trying to make this film work.’

The producer said there was a plan to move to a new production structure, with Mr Merrifield leaving the film, but that it was unclear whether it had been put in place.

‘At this point it had turned into some sort of Shakespearean farce,’ he said, later adding: ‘There was nothing really to undermine.’

The court previously heard that while the film was originally due to be shot in Ireland, filming was later relocated to Black Hangar Studios outside London.

On Thursday, Harry Boyd – a first assistant director on the project who later resigned – said he visited the Hampshire studios around six weeks before the start of filming.

He told the court: ‘It was like a morgue. It should have been busier than this courtroom, with lots of people running around.’

Ms Green claimed Mr Seal was planning to make a ‘cheap B movie’, describing him as ‘the devil’ and ‘evil’, production manager Terry Bird as a ‘f****** moron’, and local crew members as ‘s***** peasants… from Hampshire’.