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Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis said at a trial on Thursday that the woman he accused of rape at times seemed “ambivalent” during their initial kiss, but later took the initiative.
Mr Haggis gave evidence on the second day of the civil trial, portraying the woman Haleigh Breest as a willing partner in their solitary sex.
Ms Brest, 36, testified earlier in the civil trial, repeatedly and explicitly telling Haggis, 69, that she was not interested in having sex with him.
She says the writers of Car Accident and Million Dollar Baby forced her to perform oral sex and then raped her when she told him to stop.
Mr. Haggis said Ms. Brest, a publicist who worked at the film’s premiere, flirted with him at a post-screening party in January 2013, before accompanying him to drinks at his Manhattan apartment.
He agreed that she had told him beforehand that she would not be staying overnight, but he said it seemed like a “fun” remark.
Once they arrived, he passed within minutes.
In hours of testimony, Mr Haggis admitted that Ms Brest was sometimes reluctant to accept what he said were five different kissing episodes.
He said he told her once: “If you want to do something, do it. If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it.”
“She seemed contradictory in a way,” Mr Haggis said.
But he said Ms Brest seemed to gain confidence with each kiss and reassured him when he expressed the ambivalence he was beginning to feel.
Mr Haggis said Ms Brest seemed “confident” when they arrived in the guest room as they started kissing and eventually moved to the guest room bed.
He said she “giggled” as they removed some of their clothes as their physical activity became more intense.
Eventually, he said, she moved him to receive oral sex, saying, “I’m pretty good at this.”
“The way she said it was kind of cute,” Mr Haggis said.
He said he “did not know” and “did not remember” vaginally inserting her.
“I don’t know if it ever happened,” he said.
He said he fell asleep and ended up going to his bedroom while she was sleeping.
He said he was disappointed she didn’t leave her phone number on the note when he found her missing in the morning.
In Ms Brest’s description, she did not respond to Mr Haggis’ two attempts to kiss her, once by pressing her to the fridge, but did not leave because she did not want to offend regulars at the premiere.
She said he later pushed her onto the bed, undressed her, aggressively demanded oral sex and raped her after she showered.
The next day, Mr Haggis emailed her photos of the previous night’s premiere. He said he hoped the reply would include her phone number. It didn’t.
Haggis recalled that 10 days later, when they met at another event, she was smiling and friendly, adding that their encounter was “a little awkward,” which sometimes happened with someone having sex for the first time. after.
He said after two days he decided she was “too emotionally immature” and stopped responding to her emails.
Afterwards, Mr Haggis said that whenever he took his girlfriend to an event where she worked, Ms Brest would be “notably absent” from her usual red carpet position.
But he said in the four-and-a-half years between their sex and the filing, when he didn’t have a woman on his arm, she was friendly and behaved normally.
He said he never told anyone about his night with Ms Brest.
When his lawyer asked him how often he thought about it, he replied, “Be honest with God, never.”
Mr Haggis was also asked why he objected to providing DNA in connection with the lawsuit.
He said his only concern was that it would fall into the hands of Scientologists because he was “increasingly suspicious” of their role in the lawsuit.
His defense suggested the case was retaliation for Mr. Haggis, who left the church in 2009, for his public criticism of the Church of Scientology.
Lawyers for the church and Ms Brest called the argument a bogus conspiracy theory.
Lawyers for Mr Haggis have agreed Ms Brest has nothing to do with Scientology. No witnesses said they had concrete evidence linking the church to her lawyers or to four women other than Ms Brist, who testified that Mr Haggis also sexually assaulted them.
Mr Haggis denied the other women’s allegations in emotional testimony, adding that he felt “humiliated” to testify against them while his adult daughter watched.
At one point, he asked for a short break and walked out of court with one of his daughters’ arms.
“I was terrified,” he later told the jury, “because I don’t know why women, why anyone would lie about something like this.”
Ms Breest has relinquished her right to anonymity.
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