Eva Green has said a B-movie made by “shitty peasants” could have killed her career. The Casino Royale star was due to to play the lead role in A Patriot, but the project collapsed in October 2019 after failing to secure funding. Green is now suing production company White Lantern, claiming she is owed $1million (£810,000) for the film, despite its cancellation. White Lantern, meanwhile, claims that Green undermined the project and then walked away, causing the film to collapse. A Patriot, which was written and set to be directed by Dan Pringle, originally had a projected budget of approximately $10million (£8million). However, with the producers struggling to secure funding, the budget was slowly decreased without Green’s knowledge. Max Mallin KC, representing White Lantern, asked Green why she signed up for the film, to which to the actor replied: “I fell in love with the story and thought it had to be told.” Green also said that she was drawn to the role of playing a solider, as it was something she had never done before. She was also interested in the film’s themes of climate change. Referring to one of Green’s texts, Mallin asked if she had described A Patriot as a “B-shitty-movie”, to she agreed she had. She then confirmed that she wouldn’t have signed on to the project had she known about the film’s financial issues and apparent lack of quality. Asked if she still would have starred in the “B-movie” version of the film in return for $1million, she said: “I don’t care about the money. I live to make good films, it’s my religion.” When Mallin suggested that making a B-movie can be damaging for an actor’s reputation, Green agreed, stating it could “kill” her career. “When an actor has appeared in a B-movie you are labelled as a B[-movie] actor and never get quality work again… It could kill my career,” she said. The actor also said that, when she realised the full extent of A Patriot’s financial troubles, “I kind of panicked”. In further exchanges revealed in court, Green referred to the film’s local crew members as “shitty peasants from Hampshire”, while also describing one of the executive producers as “evil” and “the devil”. When questioned about her choice of words, Green stated: “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.”