Eva Green Was 'Humiliated' By the Release of Her Private WhatsApp Messages

Actress Eva Green is in court this week because of a lawsuit she filed against a production company, White Lantern (Britannica) Ltd., over a film called A Patriot. Green was cast in the film, but production on the film fell apart over financing. Green sued because her contract stipulated that she was to be paid $1 million whether the film was completed or not. The production company claims that Green intentionally sabotaged the film so that she could buy out the script and make it herself. The production company claimed that Green made unreasonable demands and that production had to stop after she abandoned the film, which was also set to star Helen Hunt and Charles Dance.

As part of the discovery process, and in an effort to prove that Green undermined the film, a number of private Whatsapp messages were disclosed in court. From Variety:

Among them are missives in which Green calls Sherborne “arseholes” and “sad little people” and describes one of the producers on the project, Jake Seal, as “evil” and “the devil.” She also referred to the crew at production facility Black Hanger Studios as “shitty peasants.” On Monday, the court heard that Green had described the failing project as a “B-shitty-movie”.

As part of a lengthy cross-examination, White Lantern’s lawyer, Max Mallin KC, asked Green whether she was “accustomed to lying in text messages,” to which Green responded that she has a “very direct” manner, before adding: “I was not expecting to have my WhatsApp messages exposed in court. It’s already very humiliating.”

It’s not cool to call anyone “shitty peasants” or “sad little people,” but it aligns with my vision of the “very direct” Eva Green. Before she sued, someone probably should have told her that her direct messages would have become a part of the discovery process.

The producers, meanwhile, said that she was “demanding,” to which Green gave a perfectly Eva Green response. “I was not demanding anything. I was making suggestions and it was to ensure the quality of the movie … They were just suggestions. Of course, the producers were very free to say no.”

When opposing counsel asked her to “explain the words in a message that had been sent during the final weeks of the film’s development, Green grew visibly frustrated, retorting: ‘Words, words, words.’”

Eva Green sounds like a parody of Eva Green, and it is hilarious. Her Eva Green-ness, however, apparently did not affect her relationship with the writer and director of the film, Dan Pringle, who a visibly relieved Green went over to hug after she left the witness stand.