'I have nothing against peasants': actor Eva Green defends outburst aimed at crew of failed movie

The Hollywood actor Eva Green has alleged "corners were cut" during attempts to make a failed multimillion-pound film at the centre of a legal battle, claiming the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of an Alec Baldwin film showed what could happen.

- Ben Quinn

Green, who is suing a film company over the collapse of A Patriot - in which she was to star as a soldier told the high court in London that the film's executive producer, Jake Seal, and his team had cut down her stunt training from four weeks to five days, which she claimed was "extremely dangerous".

"You look at what happened to Alec Baldwin on the movie Rust producers were cutting corners on safety measures which were in place and a young woman got killed," she said, referring to the death of Halyna Hutchins in 2021 in the US.

Green, who is suing White Lantern Film and SMC Speciality Finance for her $1m (£807,000) fee she says is owed over the collapse of the planned independent film, was giving evidence yesterday after the start of the case last week.

The two companies are countersuing, alleging she pulled out of and breached her contract in relation to the dystopian thriller. Their evidence includes vituperative WhatsApp messages, including in which she referred to Seal and his colleague Terry Bird as, respectively, "pure vomit" and "a fucking moron". Green is accused of effectively wrecking the film when it became clear the budget was lower than expected and production values could be compromised.