Leah Remini testified Monday that Paul Haggis, and not his accuser, is the real victim in his New York sexual assault civil trial.
18.10.2022 - 23:55 / variety.com
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter A jury has been selected in the Paul Haggis rape trial, which is set to begin with opening remarks on Wednesday morning in New York City. Haggis, the Oscar-winning director of “Crash” and screenwriter of “Million Dollar Baby,” has been accused of raping a publicist named Haleigh Breest after a movie premiere nearly a decade ago. Breest’s lawsuit was filed in 2017 in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which led to an influx of sexual assault allegations against prominent men. Haggis has claimed the encounter, which took place in 2013, was consensual and maintains the rape charge came in retaliation for his decision to leave and then criticize the Church of Scientology. Prior to the trial, Breest’s attorneys sought to block Haggis from arguing that Scientology was orchestrating the allegations in retaliation, saying that Breest and other witnesses have no connection to the church. They also argued that pursuing that line of defense will distract the jury from the particulars of Breest’s allegations. But in September, Judge Sabrina Kraus ruled that Haggis will be able to use that argument.
On Tuesday, the defense and the prosecution questioned the potential jurors about their familiarity with the #MeToo movement, as well as the Church of Scientology. However, the focus on the controversial religion wasn’t nearly as pronounced as it was at the jury selection for the rape trial for “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson, which is currently underway in Los Angeles. Attorneys revealed that Leah Remini, the “King of Queens” star who left Scientology and became an outspoken critic, and Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon are among the defendant’s potential witnesses who could be called to testify.
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 sparred with a lawyer Friday over the meaning of a woman saying “no,” explaining again that when Haleigh Breest said “no” to him peeling off her tights she was not refusing sex.
EXCLUSIVE: The stacked multi-generational romantic comedy Maybe I Do, starring a host of A-listers including Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon, has sold to a bunch of key international territories.
Dark for the past two days, Danny Masterson’s rape trial resumed Wednesday with testimony from Jane Doe #2 about the former That ‘70s Show star’s alleged assault of her in 2003. However, before the last of the trio of women at the heart of the case had her time on the stand today, the defense accused former Scientologist and The King of Queens star Leah Remini of potentially denying their client a “fair trial.”
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.”
Paul Haggis will testify Wednesday in the New York sexual assault civil case brought against him by Haleigh Breest, a lawyer for Haggis said Tuesday. The lawyer, Seth Zuckerman, said that Haggis’ ex-wife, Deborah Rennard, is scheduled to go first, followed by Haggis.
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.
Bleecker Street has taken North American rights to the comedy The Fabulous Four, starring Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon (Feud: Bette and Joan), two-time Academy Award nominee Bette Midler (Hocus Pocus 2) and two-time Emmy winner Megan Mullally (Will & Grace), with Academy Award winner Sissy Spacek (Sam & Kate) coming aboard to round out its core cast.
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.
EXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American rights to the multi-generational romantic comedy Maybe I Do, starring Diane Keaton (Mack & Rita), Richard Gere (Arbitrage), Susan Sarandon (Monarch), William H. Macy (The Conners), Emma Roberts (About Fate) and Luke Bracey (Elvis), from the global film and television studio Fifth Season, formerly known as Endeavor Content.
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.
UPDATED with afternoon session: A Los Angeles police officer testified Thursday during Danny Masterson’s rape trial that while didn’t remember the specifics of an initial meeting with Jane Doe #1 in 2004 at the LAPD Hollywood station, he did take her claims about being attacked by Masterson in his Hollywood Hills home in April 2003 “to be a sexual assault.”
Determined to expunge almost any mention of Scientology from Danny Masterson’s rape trial, defense attorney Phillip Cohen told the jury from the beginning that consistency would be core of his client’s case. That vow was very much on display Thursday as the lawyer sought to spotlight the supposed inconsistencies in the testimony of Jane Doe #3.
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.
The beginning of the second week of testimony in Danny Masterson’s rape trial hurtled towards another request from the defense for a mistrial.
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 final day of the first full week of testimony in Danny Masterson’s multiple rape trial Friday may have started a bit later than usual, but things got fiery pretty quick.