A while ago it was reported that Paul Haggis was collaborating on a book about his own involvement in the Church of Scientology with author Lawrence Wright, these reports have now been denied by the author himself and the Oscar winning director. News of this apparently came about when Wright got an interview with and then profiled Haggis about his departure from the Church of Scientology.
Wright confirmed this by stating:
Both the article and the eventual book will explore the Haggis family’s experience inside the church and their decision to leave it. Haggis has been extremely helpful and candid, but he is certainly not a collaborator.
The book entitled: “The Heretic of Hollywood: Paul Haggis vs.The Church of Scientology”, would be about Haggis’ experience inside the church and the eventual controversy that eventually pushed him out, he claimed that the church forces their members to shut non-Scientology members out of their lives. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time this has been suggested, in the past the BBC have produced two fantastic documentaries about the church and its dodgy dealings.
The reason why this is interesting is because this is an insider Hollywood project about Scientology that appears to be proceeding. Who knows what trouble they have had with getting it this far, the church is incredibly secretive about its goings on and they have attempted to crush anything that has a negative word to say about it. Most recently Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master was plunged into development hell when the funding was pulled, which is at very best suspicious. I look forward to reading this.