Paul Haggis stood Thursday for the second day of his civil trial, denying the rape charges against him. He testified that he and Haleigh Breest, a former juvenile publicist suing him for sexual assault, were flirting and seemed to be “having a really good time” after a movie premiere in 2013.
Priest alleges that the Oscar-winning director forced her to have oral sex with him and then raped her in his Soho apartment after an event hosted by the Film Society, where she worked as an independent publicist. He told jurors in a lower Manhattan courtroom that Priest “never gave me any indication that anything other than consensual” until she filed a lawsuit years later in 2017.
In his hours-long testimony, Haggis, whose “Million Dollar Baby”, “Crash” and “Casino Royale” credits include, offered a different picture of the events that took place that night. It was alleged that Priest seemed very interested in him and voluntarily engaged in oral sex with him after he said she was “very good at this”.
“None of it was without consent,” he told the jurors.
Haggis and Priest clashed over many other details surrounding the match a decade ago. Priest testified last month that Haggis pressured her to go to his apartment for a drink after an event in the entertainment industry. Priest, who was 26 at the time, remembers feeling “completely paralyzed and terrified” as 59-year-old Haggis kissed her against her will and took her to a bedroom, where he allegedly forced her to perform oral sex and then raped her.
He denied that he had “violently raped Priest” and asserted that he had “no recollection” of engaging in sexual intercourse with her that night. However, Haggis admitted to jurors that Brest was sending “mixed signals” in his apartment. After he kissed her, Priest remembers saying, “No, I shouldn’t.”
“He was a bit shy,” he said Thursday of Priest’s behaviour. “This is an old reference, so no one will get it, but [she was acting] Like Betty Boop.”
He explained that he did not understand what Priest meant when she said she “shouldn’t” become intimate with Haggis. “Is she religious? Was she a strict moral upbringing?” he recalls wondering. “I received such mixed signals. She was saying [‘I shouldn’t’]Then you will kiss me enthusiastically.”
During his testimony, he also denied accusations of four other women, all of whom preferred not to be named, who testified during the trial that Haggis sexually assaulted them. Brest’s lawyers use the testimonies of these women to prove that Haggis’ alleged rape of Brest is part of a pattern of behaviour. They also hope to paint a portrait of a Hollywood celebrity who used his “story-telling skills and fame to exploit, manipulate and attack vulnerable young women in the film industry”.
Haggis became increasingly violent and began to cry on Thursday as he denied the claim of one of Jane Doe’s accusers, who last week testified that Haggis made “extremely degrading” comments about his ex-partner, Deborah Renard, over breakfast at a Toronto movie. Festival in 2015. Renard and Haggis divorced in 2016 but are still good friends. She testified on behalf of her ex-husband on Wednesday and sat in court with Haggis’ four children during his two-day testimony.
“[Jane Doe] I said I called [Deborah] whore. I’ve never called women that,” he said, weeping to the jury. “That’s despicable.”
Again, much of his testimony focused on the Church of Scientology, of which Haggis has been a member for decades. He and his lawyers have tried to suggest that the Brest rape charge was in retaliation for Haggis’ decision to leave and for criticizing the controversial religion out loud in 2009. It appears that attorneys for the plaintiff and defense agreed last week that there was “no evidence” to suggest that Brest had ties to Scientology. Her lawyers linked the argument to a conspiracy theory.
Haggis says he is “not surprised” that there is no concrete evidence of Brest’s association with Scientology.
“These people don’t leave their fingerprints,” he testified, referring to the intimidation tactics of Scientology members. “They left their footprints everywhere, but not their fingerprints.”
Haggis told the jury he felt “scared” and “humiliated” by the accusations leveled at him by Brest and the other women who came forward.
He said, “I don’t know why women, or anyone else, would lie about things like that… They make up or distort the truth.” “My kids had to read all these false claims and lies.”
He went on to testify, claiming that he “didn’t know why” the women made up false stories about their encounters with him.
“I don’t think they’re all lying. I think they’ve convinced themselves that’s true,” he said through his tears. “I just know it’s not true.”
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