Last week, I had the honor of interviewing one of my favorite directors, and one of the most cerebral individuals I’ve come across in Hollywood – Mr. Paul Haggis. He’s most well-known for devoting years of blood, sweat, and tears to the film “Crash,” which pulled off one of he biggest upsets in Academy Awards history when it one best picture over Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” in 2006. Paul is also the master screenwriter behind the Oscar-winning picture “Million Dollar Baby.” I felt incredibly lazy in his presence.
I generally enjoy talking with directors because of how skilled they are at articulating their vision, and Paul is genius at it. If I had the means to go back to school and take directing class, I would search high and low for a teacher like him. He has an elegance and a lightness about him. I think it would be impossible to converse with this man and not learn something.
Off-camera he mentioned the screenplay he’s currently penning. I’m not at liberty to disclose the topic. But I can tell you, it’s long overdue, historical, and relevant to what’s going on today in politics.
Below is some classic Flip minoHD footage of Paul pre-interview. He was a huge fan of the Flip. In fact, he said he has a friend in Haiti who is shooting a film entirely on a Flip Cam. He talks about it about 3/4 into the video.
