Actress Eva Green told the court she would not make an ending B-movie that compromised stunt safety

Hollywood actress Eva Green, who is suing financiers for her fees for a failed film in which she was set to star, has told a London court she would not make a career-ending ‘B-movie’, which she said that he cut back on stunt safety and pay crew.

The French actress is suing White Lantern Films and SMC Specialty Finance for the $1 million fee she says is owed over the collapse of the planned independent film A patriotin which she was to play the leading role as a soldier.

The production company has countersued against Green for breach of contract, blaming her for the failure of the sci-fi film before it went into production in late 2019 and saying it never intended it to go ahead.

Green, 42, testified before the High Court in London today that she was concerned the film’s production team had cut corners and cited how her stunt training had been cut from four weeks to five days.

This is “extremely dangerous for action films,” she said, citing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ fatal shooting in 2021, for which actor Alec Baldwin is charged with involuntary manslaughter.

“Look at what happened to Alec Baldwin in the movie rustproducers cut corners, no security measures and a young woman was killed,” she told the court.

Baldwin has denied responsibility for the shooting, saying live ammunition should never have been allowed on set and gun operators are responsible for firearm safety.

In their written submissions, White Lantern’s attorneys said Green, also executive producer on the project, made improper claims regarding the crew, filming locations and equipment.

They cited Green’s WhatsApp messages, in which she described one producer as a “fucking idiot” who should be fired and another as “nasty”. She also described the film’s financiers as “assholes” and some proposed crew members as “sucky pawns”.

“I wanted to make the most brilliant movie possible,” Green told the court, agreeing with White Lantern attorney Max Mallin that making a “B-movie” could ruin her career.

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When asked by Mallin if the director approached her about making a “B s***ty movie” — a reference to a text message she sent about the film — for $1 million, she said, she wouldn’t.

Green, whose attorneys say she has never broken a contract or missed a day of shooting in her 20-year career, said she could have secured a quality film by getting a strong core crew, but producers didn’t want to pay industry prices .

“I didn’t want to work with an inferior crew. I wanted to work with a high quality crew who only wanted to be paid industry standard rates,” Green told the court.

Green said the script for A patriot had been one of the best she had read and she had fallen in love with the story: “It was about climate change, it was very close to my heart.”

The trial, which concludes next week, will determine liability with a later price.