Paul Haggis Rape Trial Begins With Focus on Scientology and Abuse of Hollywood Power
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Opening statements began on Wednesday in a civil trial against Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis, who has been accused of raping a publicist nearly a decade ago. Haleigh Breest, who filed a lawsuit against Haggis in 2017, alleges that the screenwriter and director forced her to perform oral sex and then raped her after she reluctantly agreed to have a drink at his Soho apartment following a movie premiere. Her attorneys asserted to jurors that the director used his fame and position in Hollywood to pressure Breest, who was 26 at the time. “The defendant, Paul Haggis, is a famous movie director and screenwriter. He’s won two Oscars. He’s talented. He’s powerful. He’s also manipulative,” the plaintiff’s lawyer Zoe Salzman told the jurors in a Lower Manhattan courtroom. “The evidence in this case will show Mr. Haggis used his storytelling skills and fame to prey on, manipulate and attack vulnerable young women in the film industry.”