Paul Haggis
Paul Haggis
Paul Edward Haggisis a Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known as screenwriter and producer for consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners, 2004's Million Dollar Baby and 2005's Crash, the latter of which he also directed...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth10 March 1953
CityLondon, Canada
CountryCanada
character writing men
Now we really like to put people in boxes. As men, we do it because we don't understand characters that aren't ourselves and we aren't willing to put ourselves in the skin of those characters and women, I think, terrify us. We tend not to write women as human beings. It's cartoons we're making now. And that's a shame.
years enough profit
There's something that's so basically corrupt about any system in which a good and fair profit is not enough. There has to be more, every year, every quarter, because your stock price has to rise.
jobs thinking giving
I don't think it's the job of filmmakers to give anybody answers. I do think, though, that a good film makes you ask questions of yourself as you leave the theatre.
dream fighting boxing
If there's magic in boxing, it's the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys and detached retinas. It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.
crash feels
We crash into each other just so we can feel something
jobs years two
You'd be surprised how many writers, or how many actors, if they miss a paycheck or two, they've got nothing. As a writer or an actor you can have four or five jobs in one year and then have none for two years.
writing answers trouble
I like to write about things about which I have no answers, questions that trouble me. These things trouble me.
writing interest uneasy
Unless I'm really uneasy with what I'm writing, I lose interest very quickly.
mother missing
I miss my mother very, very much.
two murder-mysteries relax
I like taking genres and subverting them. I did that with In the Valley of Elah. I said, Okay, this is just a murder mystery. Relax. And then, two thirds of the way through, I broke every convention of a murder mystery.
character worst asks
Usually the characters are where I start. Then I continually ask myself, 'What's the worst thing that could happen to this character?'
writing contradiction humans
What I love about writing is the contradictions we all embody as human beings.
guy like-me lots-of-money
There are very few guys like me. I make a lot of money. I didn't always...
writing matter projects
Always write from your gut, no matter what the project is.