Пол Эдвард Хэггис: Өмір жолы мен шығармашылығы

Canadian screenwriter, producer, and director

Paul Edward Haggis was born in London, Ontario, the son of Mary Yvonne (née Metcalf) and Ted Haggis, a World War II veteran and Olympic sprinter in the 1948 Summer Olympics. He was raised as a Catholic, attending Catholic school and facing confrontations with children from Ontario's Protestant majority. His family had stopped going to Mass after finding their parish priest driving a Cadillac, and he considered himself an atheist by early adulthood. Haggis attended St. Thomas More Elementary School. He started secondary school at Ridley College in St. Catharines, but began getting into bad behavior by skipping his required Royal Canadian Army Cadets drills, breaking into the prefect's office to erase his demerits, and reading the radical magazine Ramparts. After a year, Haggis's parents transferred him to a more progressive preparatory school in Muskoka Lakes. Haggis was taught by a producer of the CBC Radio One news program As It Happens, who allowed him to sit with him as he edited John Dean's testimony to the Watergate hearings for broadcast. After being inspired by Alfred Hitchcock and Jean Luc Godard, Haggis proceeded to study art at H. B. Beal Secondary School. With The Facts of Life, Haggis also gained his first credit as producer. He gained recognition in the film industry for his work on the 2004 film Million Dollar Baby, which Allmovie described as a "serious milestone" for the writer/producer, and as "his first high profile foray into feature film". Haggis said that he wrote Crash to "bust liberals", arguing that his fellow liberals were not honest with themselves about the nature of race and racism because they believed that most racial problems had already been resolved in American society. He has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Writer's Branch since 2005. This allows him to vote on the Academy Awards. In 2008, Haggis founded production company Hwy61 Films with producer Michael Nozik, and signed a deal to produce films for United Artists. The company is named after the title track of Bob Dylan's 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited.

Haggis lives in Santa Monica, California. He has three daughters from his first marriage to Diana Gettas and one son from his second marriage to Deborah Rennard. His younger sister, Jo Francis, is a film editor; they have worked together on several projects. In 2009, Haggis founded the non profit organization Artists for Peace and Justice to assist impoverished youth in Haiti. In an interview with Dan Rather, Haggis mentioned that he is an atheist.

After maintaining active membership in the Church of Scientology for 35 years, Haggis left the organization in October 2009. He was motivated to leave Scientology in reaction to statements made by the San Diego branch of the Church of Scientology in support of Proposition 8, the ballot initiative which banned same sex marriage in California. Haggis went on to list other grievances against Scientology, including its policy of disconnection, and the smearing of its ex members through the leaking of their personal details. In an interview with Movieline, Haggis was asked about similarities between his film The Next Three Days and his departure from the Scientology organization; Haggis responded, "I think one's life always parallels art and art parallels life." In February 2011, The New Yorker published a 25,000 word story, "The Apostate", by Lawrence Wright, detailing Haggis's allegations about the Church of Scientology. The article ended by quoting Haggis: "I was in a cult for thirty four years. Everyone else could see it. I don't know why I couldn't."

In 2017, Haleigh Breest filed a lawsuit against Paul Haggis regarding an alleged rape in 2013. Haggis denied all allegations and filed a countersuit, claiming Breest intended to bankrupt him by extracting a $9 million settlement. His suit was dismissed. In 2021, Haggis asked a judge to expedite his civil trial. He said he "cannot continue to pay his legal bills." Haggis requested the judge set a trial "at the earliest practical date." His lawyer, Seth Zuckerman, wrote in the motion that "the defendant is no longer in a position to finance his defence with this matter lingering in advance of trial." Following the initial accusation, three additional women came forward with various accusations of sexual assault and misconduct. Fellow former Scientology members Leah Remini and Mike Rinder have defended him, suggesting that the Church of Scientology may be involved, an assertion both the accusers and the Church itself deny. On June 19, 2022, Haggis was arrested in Ostuni in southern Italy over allegations of sexual assault. Local law enforcement charged him with aggravated sexual violence and aggravated personal injuries. On November 10, 2022, a New York jury found Haggis liable for the rape of Breest in a civil suit and ordered him to pay her at least $7.5 million. On November 14, the jury ordered Haggis to pay an additional $2.5 million in punitive damages.

Year Title Director Writer Producer Ref. (References) 1993Red Hot 2004Million Dollar Baby2006The Last Kiss 2013Third Person2016GoldExecutive 20185BDocumentary filmCo directed with Dan Krauss

Year Title Director Writer Executiveproducer Creator Notes Ref. (References)1987The Return of the Shaggy DogSan Francisco International Film FestivalKanbar AwardScreenwriting workSatellite AwardBest Screenplay, AdaptedMillion Dollar BabyOutstanding Screenplay, OriginalCrashSoutheastern Film Critics Association AwardBest Screenplay, OriginalUSC Scripter AwardUSC Scripter AwardMillion Dollar BabyWashington DC Area Film Critics Association AwardBest Screenplay – OriginalCrash2006Writers Guild of America AwardBest Original Screenplay