Paul Haggis Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

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The race by the AMPTP and the WGA to get a deal done by sundown had plenty of folks thinking back to a very memorable episode of Entourage — Doug Ellin, included.

A.D. Amorosi In November 2001, Ludacris was set to release his third album, “Word of Mouf.” At the same time, however, his debut on film, “The Wash,” was also about to hit theaters. Luda’s role in the DJ Pooh-directed comedy starring Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg was small. But “The Wash,” along with his goofball antics in several of his music videos (“if you do them right, videos are like acting reels,” he says), put Luda in front of major league filmmakers such as the late John Singleton and Paul Haggis. In back-to-back films, the rapper became a movie star as Tej Parker in 2003’s “2 Fast 2 Furious,” followed in 2004 by the Oscar-winning “Crash.” Some 30 more movies would follow.

Hollywood Reporter survey found that a majority would like to go back and change their 1977 votes for “Rocky” to “All the President’s Men.” And looking back at 1999, if they had to do it all over again, they’d give the gold to war epic “Saving Private Ryan” instead of the largely-forgotten “Shakespeare in Love.” But there have been a lot more recipients of Hollywood’s highest honor that have fallen out of favor — and sometimes in epic fashion. Here are 11 examples of Best Picture winners that probably wouldn’t win the award in 2023 — that is, if they were even green-lighted in the first place.

A New York jury today found filmmaker Paul Haggis liable on all three counts of rape and sexual abuse in his treatment of Haleigh Breest, who left a party in Manhattan with him in 2013 and then sued the Oscar winner in 2017 claiming he repeatedly forced sex on her in his apartment that night. 

Leah Remini is standing up for a fellow former Scientology member — which would ordinarily be commendable. But this time the friend is Paul Haggis — and the setting is his civil rape trial.

Leah Remini testified Monday that Paul Haggis, and not his accuser, is the real victim in his New York sexual assault civil trial. 

Paul Haggis was back on the witness stand today and said the only sex he remembers having with Haleigh Breest at his apartment in 2013 was consensual and limited to oral sex initiated by her. 

Paul Haggis took the witness stand today in his Manhattan trial for sexual assault, and the Oscar-winning Crash filmmaker and former Church of Scientology member’s first words when asked by his lawyer Priya Chaudhry how it felt to be testifying were: “I’m incredibly nervous, of course, and I’m very happy. Because for five years I’ve been unable to clear my name.”

UPDATED with afternoon session: The oldest daughter of filmmaker Paul Haggis said Monday there is “circumstantial” evidence of a Church of Scientology plot against her father, who is facing a rape accusation in New York civil court, after he walked away from the religious organization and became a vocal Scientology critic. 

A former high-ranking official in the Church of Scientology said Friday that the organization never forgets its enemies “until they are destroyed,” and he said that filmmaker Paul Haggis, who quit Scientology, remains one of its biggest targets. 

A psychologist who testified for Anthony Rapp in his failed case against fellow actor Kevin Spacey took the stand Friday, again for the plaintiff, in the New York sexual assault civil trial of filmmaker Paul Haggis. 

UPDATED with afternoon session: A friend of Haleigh Breest’s who texted her in 2013 that filmmaker Paul Haggis had committed “borderline rape” against Breest dropped the “borderline” qualification in court on Thursday. 

A fourth Jane Doe testifying in the sexual assault civil trial of filmmaker Paul Haggis said Thursday that she was the target of an “attempted rape” by Haggis outside of her apartment building at night after an event at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015. 

Haleigh Breest finished testifying Tuesday in her sexual assault civil trial against filmmaker Paul Haggis, and jurors began watching the video deposition of another Haggis accuser who has said she went to his office in Los Angeles in 2008 to discuss a possible book adaption and wound up fleeing the building when he suddenly tried to kiss her.

A Canadian woman testifying in the sexual assault civil trial of filmmaker Paul Haggis said Monday that when she rejected Haggis’ sexual advances at a television industry festival in Canada in 2006, he pinned her against a wall in his hotel room, and later groped and shoved her as she prepared to leave the hotel in a taxi.

Haleigh Breest, the woman accusing Oscar-winning Crash director Paul Haggis of raping her in 2013, finished her direct testimony Friday with a last round of friendly questioning from one of her lawyers, Zoe Salzman — and then faced a more combative interrogation lasting almost three hours without a break.

The sexual assault civil trial of Oscar-winning Crash writer-producer Paul Haggis continued today in Manhattan, with accuser Haleigh Breest back on the witness stand.

The sexual assault civil trial of Oscar-winning Crash writer-producer Paul Haggis began today in Manhattan with opening arguments from both sides citing a text exchange by the accuser.

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.”

Being Mortal. Murray adds his name to a long list, especially since this month alone, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Paul Haggis and Danny Masterson are all on trial facing various allegations of sexual misconduct. New details about Bill Murray’s suspension from the Searchlight Pictures film have emerged from a recent report from Puck.

Ethan Shanfeld English pop singer Rex Orange County, whose real name is Alexander O’Connor, has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman on six separate occasions in London. The 24-year-old artist appeared at Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday to deny the allegations. After pleading not guilty to all six charges, O’Connor was released on unconditional bail. A provisional trial date has been set for Jan. 3, 2023. O’Connor allegedly assaulted the woman twice in the West End on June 1 and four additional times the next day, once in a taxi and three times at his home in Notting Hill.

Opening statements have begun today in Kevin Spacey’s trial over sex abuse claims by Star Trek Discovery’s Anthony Rapp. The proceedings in a New York federal courtroom come as Harvey Weinstein, Danny Masterson and Paul Haggis all face sex crimes trials of their own starting next week.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Kevin Spacey and Anthony Rapp are set to square off in a federal courtroom on Thursday, in the first of four #MeToo trials to get underway this month in New York and Los Angeles. The other three trials involve producer Harvey Weinstein, director Paul Haggis and actor Danny Masterson. The four cases — two civil, two criminal — each involve at least one sexual assault allegation against a once-powerful celebrity whose career was badly damaged, if not destroyed, in the court of public opinion. Coming five years after the #MeToo movement began, the trials will involve similar themes — power imbalances in the entertainment industry, the dynamics of sexual assault, the reliability of memories, and the nature of due process.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer A judge ruled on Friday that director Paul Haggis will be allowed to argue at his upcoming civil trial that the Church of Scientology is behind a rape allegation against him. Haggis is accused of raping publicist Haleigh Breest after a premiere in New York in January 2013. She sued him in 2017, and the case is set to go to trial next month. Haggis has claimed that the encounter was consensual, and that rape charge came in retaliation for his decision to leave the church and to become a vocal critic of it. Breest’s attorneys sought to block Haggis from pursuing that defense at the trial, saying it is nothing more than “speculative fantasy,” and that Breest and her other witnesses have no connection to the church. But her ruling on Friday, Judge Sabrina Kraus allowed Haggis to raise the theory.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Director Paul Haggis is scheduled to face a civil trial in New York next month on an accusation that he raped publicist Haleigh Breest after a film premiere in 2013. The trial will come nearly five years after the suit was filed, and just a couple of months after an Italian court dismissed a similar accusation against the director. Breest’s lawyers are now seeking information about the Italian case, which they may seek to introduce at the New York trial. In a motion filed on Tuesday, they asked Judge Sabrina Kraus to order Haggis’ lawyers to turn over records related to the case.

Kevin Spacey Pleads Not Guilty to Sexual Assault Charges In UK Court Director Paul Haggis Arrested in Italy on Sexual Assault Charges Supreme Court Will Not Hear Case to Reinstate Bill Cosby's Conviction  

Italian judges have rejected a request by state prosecutors to re-detain Canadian director Paul Haggis, while an investigation into sexual assault allegations against him continues.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentA judge in the southern Italian city of Lecce has ruled that there are no grounds to further pursue an investigation into allegations that the Oscar-winning Canadian director Paul Haggis had sex with a young woman without her consent.The court ruled in favor of Haggis late on Friday, Italian news Agency ANSA reported on Saturday.“After viewing the evidence and hearing arguments from both sides, the District Court of Lecce, an appellate court with three judges, unanimously rejected a prosecutor’s appeal to have Haggis’ house arrest reinstated,” said Haggis’ Italian lawyer Michele Laforgia in a statement issued on Saturday. Haggis, who won two Oscars for “Crash” and is also known for writing “Million Dollar Baby,” was arrested on June 19 in Ostuni, a location in the southern region of Puglia on the heel of the Italian boot, on charges of sexual assault allegedly inflicted to a 28-year British woman over the course of two days in June.

been arrested in Los Angeles and booked for alleged serial sexual assault, the LAPD confirmed in a press release.Weinberg — who served as a co-executive producer on numerous TV shows including and — is accused of committing numerous sexual assaults, including rape, between 2012 and 2019 in the Los Angeles area.According to the LAPD, Weinberg allegedly «targeted women in grocery stores, coffee shops, and other public places.» Police allege that the producer «would approach the women who were in their 20-30s, under the guise of being a photographer and would set up photo shoots with them.»The police claim that «once the women were in his residence, he would sexually assault them during the photo shoot.»Police say they are seeking to identify any possible additional victims.Weinberg was arrested at a home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles on July 15, and his bail was set at $3,225,000.Per Weinberg's IMDb page, he has not worked as a TV producer since 2016, when he was credited as an executive producer on two episodes of Epix's political comedy series .

UPDATE, 2 PM: A judge in Italy on Monday ordered film director Paul Haggis released from house arrest while prosecutors decide whether to pursue their investigation into allegations of sexual assault against him, The Associated Press reports.

K.J. Yossman “Crash” director Paul Haggis has made yet another court appearance in Italy, where he is currently under house arrest in a hotel after being charged with sexual assault.Both Haggis and his alleged victim, understood to be a British woman in her 30s, attended the courthouse in the Southern port city of Brindisi accompanied by their lawyers for the special evidence pre-trial hearing.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterDirector Paul Haggis, now under house arrest on sexual assault charges in Italy, has gotten a trial date for his rape lawsuit in New York.The trial is set to begin on Oct. 11, before Judge Sabrina Kraus in Manhattan.

Film director Paul Haggis appeared in court in southern Italy on Wednesday amid a police investigation into a woman’s allegations he had sex with her without her consent over the course of two days. Haggis, 69, made no comment as he arrived with Italian attorney Michele Laforgia at the courthouse in Brindisi, a port town in Puglia, the region that forms the "heel" of southeastern Italy.There was no sign that members of his family who were in Italy at the time joined him.

An Italian investigating judge has ruled that Canadian film director Paul Haggis is to remain under house arrest amid ongoing investigations into allegations of sexual assault against him.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent“Crash” director Paul Haggis and his Italian attorney appeared in court in Brindisi, southern Italy, on Wednesday to answer questions and attempt to prove his innocence in a preliminary hearing probing an unidentified woman’s allegations of sexual assault and aggravated personal injury.Haggis, 69, made no comment as he entered the court with attorney Michele Laforgia at the courthouse in Brindisi, a port town in the region of Puglia, on the “heel” of the Italian boot.They left the courthouse after several hours of questioning by judge Vilma Gilli. They are now awaiting the judge’s decision later today on whether to set Haggis free pending further investigation; or, instead, have him jailed or continue to be held under house arrest in a hotel in the nearby town of Ostuni.