A former freelance television producer testified on Thursday that Paul Haggis allegedly assaulted and attempted to rape her at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.
Jurors in a lower Manhattan courtroom watched a 2019 video deposition of the woman, who recalled feeling physically and emotionally in fear at the time of their encounter. She alleges that Haggis, the Oscar-winning writer and director of “Crash,” had “relentlessly” pursued her sexually before she managed to escape into her apartment building after an event at TIFF.
“It made me feel like he was somebody not only to be emotionally feared, he was somebody to be physically feared,” she said in her testimony. “My personal well-being was in jeopardy. It was a terrifying feeling.”
Haggis is fighting a civil rape lawsuit from former film publicist Haleigh Breest, who alleges the filmmaker forced her to perform oral sex on him and then raped her in his Soho apartment in 2013 after a movie premiere.
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So far, four additional women, all of whom prefer to remain anonymous, have accused Haggis of assault. Attorneys for Breest are using their testimonies to attempt to prove that Haggis’ alleged rape of Breest is part of a pattern of behavior. They also hope to illustrate a portrait of a man who used his “storytelling skills and fame to prey on, manipulate and attack vulnerable young women in the film industry.”
In the case of Jane Doe No. 4, she was introduced to Haggis by her boss at a gathering for the non-profit Artists for Peace and Justice during TIFF. The accuser, who was 26 at the time, described her initial encounters with the filmmaker as professional. But as the night went on, she felt the dynamic shift, becoming convinced he was deliberately following her in a manner that seemed “odd.”
The next day, Jane Doe said Haggis emailed her asking to get coffee in the morning, and she agreed as a professional courtesy.
“I was going to be working in this industry for a long time,” she said. “I didn’t want to create an enemy if I didn’t have to.”
During their meeting, she recalled a growing feeling of discomfort as Haggis began to make “very degrading” comments about his ex-partner.
“He used the term ‘bitch.’ He used the term ‘crazy actress,’” she said. “He’s talking about her pleasuring him and how she was the best at doing it. At that point, I started to tune into where this person’s head was at.”
It wasn’t until that night, however, that Haggis began to actively pursue her, she said during her testimony. They sat next to each other at the premiere of “Spotlight” after Haggis allegedly made some phone calls to ensure their proximity in the theater. “We were not seated close to the people I knew,” she said. “It felt very manipulated.”
During the film’s afterparty, Jane Doe said she “started getting squeamish” when Haggis kept handing her drinks and following her around. “He put his hand on the small of my back and began introducing me to people,” she said. She eventually managed to escape to the bathroom, where she remembers amping herself up to confront Haggis about his inappropriate behavior.
“‘I’m not interested in being with someone who works in my industry,’” she said she eventually worked up the courage to tell Haggis. “He looked deeply saddened, as if something terribly awful had happened.”
She remembered Haggis responding, “I didn’t want to make you feel bad,” to which she told him the situation felt “contrived and manipulated.”
She said Haggis told her, “I’m the most manipulative man you’re ever going to meet.” She claimed that Haggis then grabbed her and tried to “open mouth kiss” her while she was calling an Uber on her phone inside the venue. After she “squirmed and pulled back,” Haggis allegedly smiled and said, “This is going to be good.”
Realizing that she “had to escape,” she said she hailed and then sprinted toward a taxi. Before she could lock the door, though Haggis let himself into the cab while she repeatedly screamed, “Get the fuck out. Fuck you.”
“The taxi driver sat there and Haggis said in a lull, ‘I will take the cab back to my place,” she testified. “I pulled my legs up to my body and I turned to the side and I just stared out the window.”
When the taxi arrived at Jane Doe’s address, Haggis got out of the car as well and paid the driver in cash before following her to the door. Before she could get inside by herself, Haggis forcefully grabbed her and attempted to kiss her again, she alleged. She said she hit him in the throat and loudly screamed in the hopes of getting the attention of someone who was walking nearby.
“That was the first time that Haggis’ demeanor had completely changed,” she said. He stepped back after realizing “he was going to be seen doing something very awful,” she alleged, and she used the moment to get into her apartment without letting Haggis through the door. She said Haggis was standing outside the window while looking “visibly confused.”
“I felt like I was free,” she testified. “I was scared that if he got into my apartment, I would not be able to stop him. The thought of rape came into my mind. He was in another world of anything I could ever comprehend.”
