Paul Haggis: Oscar-winning filmmaker responds to ‘damaging’ sexual assault allegations

It is yet to be decided whether the case will be brought to trial

Paul Haggis photographed in 2017 (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis has given his first interview since being arrested in Italy over allegations of sexual assault.

Haggis, who is best known as the director of the 2005 Best Picture winner Crash, has strongly denied the accusations.

He was first arrested on 19 June in the town of Ostuni, in the southern Italian region of Puglia. A woman who had joined him there had accused him of sexually assaulting her over two days.

Prosecutors claim Haggis then went with the woman to Brindisi airport and abandoned her in a “precarious physical and psychological condition”.

Speaking to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Haggis claimed that he had made “two mistakes”, but denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.

“My first mistake was allowing someone who I hardly knew to come and visit me. It was foolish,” he said (per Deadline’s translation). “The second mistake was on the last morning after an incident occurred that I personally found particularly unpleasant, I decided to end this situation; I took this person to the airport hours before her flight.

“I’m upset with myself for these errors in judgment but cannot comprehend that they resulted in false and damaging accusations against me,” he said.

Haggis was relased from house arrest last week, but is not allowed to leave Italy until the investigation is over, with a decision on whether the case will go to trial still forthcoming.

Haggis (centre) arrives for a hearing to be questioned by a judge following his arrest in Italy (REUTERS)

“There are some things that I cannot understand, like how it’s possible that in your country you can start and continue a trial even when the accusation is not corroborated by clear evidence,” he said. “It seems strange and unjust to me that innocent people can apparently be prosecuted for years.”

“My attorneys explained to me that in Italy, a trial could last many years. I can’t even imagine the damage that kind of prosecution could cause to my family and my ability to provide for them,” he added.

Haggis has previously been accused of sexual assault by multiple women, including Haleigh Breest, who is currently awaiting a civil trial after suing Haggis. The director has denied all allegations.

“I am still bound by the court order I signed almost five years ago and cannot reveal any evidence or information I have learned,” Haggis said in the new interview.

“The woman in the United States did not make a criminal complaint against me; she demanded nine million dollars from me to keep silent, about a consensual one-night encounter we had five years earlier”.

If you have been raped or sexually assaulted, you can contact your nearest Rape Crisis organisation for specialist, independent and confidential support. For more information, visit their website here.