First modification: 10/20/2022 – 00:52Last edit: 10/20/2022 – 00:51
New York (AFP) – Canadian Academy Award-winning director Paul Haggis sat in the New York court on Wednesday after being accused by an advertising agent of raping her in 2013, which the interested party denies.
The director of “Crash” (“Collision”) and screenwriter of “Million Dollar Baby” and “Casino Royale”, 69, arrived at the Manhattan South Circuit court Wednesday morning to find an AFP photographer.
Advertising agent Haleigh Breest accused the director in December 2017 of abusing and raping her in January 2013, when she was 26.
In the midst of a wave of the #MeToo movement of complaints of sexual violence and sexism against women, the director was accused by three other women of sexual assault. But she appears in New York only because of Breest’s denunciation.
Last June Haggis was arrested in southern Italy, after a young woman was reported for sexual violence, which he denied.
According to multiple US media outlets, the director’s attorneys suggested Wednesday before the popular court jury that Breest’s complaint had been remotely directed by the Church of Scientology after their breakup. A thesis that the complainant’s lawyers have denied.
In his complaint, Breest said that on January 31, 2013, after a film screening in Manhattan, the director insisted that they go for a drink at his house, instead of a bar as he wanted. Once there, Haggis forced her to fuck him and then raped her.
Known for being one of the creators of the “Walker Texas Ranger” series, Haggis received the 2006 Oscar for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for “Collision”. He was also the screenwriter of “Million Dollar Baby”, Clint Eastwood’s “Letters from Iwo Jima” and the James Bond episodes “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace”.
© 2022 AFP
