Independent films are very hard to get made, but I'm lucky enough to get them made, so I'm going to keep doing it. I like my independence. I like being able to tell a story the way I want to tell a story. I don't like developing it with a team. I like coming to a story and deciding whether I want to do it or not.
Paul HaggisIf you believe in someone enough, and you just don't stop believing in them, mo matter what, no matter how much they push you away, and no matter how often they prove they're only there to use you.
Paul HaggisYou don't do pictures because the audience is ready for them. You do them because there's something gnawing at you, something inside.
Paul HaggisThe radical rightwing pegs Hollywood as a leftist town, which is completely wrong. There are a lot of actors, writers, and directors who talk a liberal agenda... but all the studio bosses, for as long as there have been studios, have all been as far rightwing as you can possibly imagine.
Paul HaggisWhen I started to allow the characters to go where they wanted to go, I just had to follow.
Paul HaggisYou don't make a film because the audience is ready for it. You make a film because you have questions that are in your gut.
Paul HaggisWe are manipulated by fear and the fear of others, and how we're often manipulated into doing things and voting in ways that are against our own best interest. Look at healthcare. People will tell you that healthcare is socialism and communism, and they're doing this while their wife needs an operation and their kid needs braces.
Paul Haggis