Attendees at a May 16 screening of 5B at the Cannes Film Festival got a surprise at the end of the movie: Paul Haggis’ name on the credits.
None of the press materials hinted at the fact that the 66-year-old Oscar-winning Crash writer-director — accused last January of rape and sexual misconduct, which he denied — had co-directed and produced the AIDS documentary with Dan Krauss.
A spokesperson for the festival says, “Paul Haggis’ name wasn’t credited in the production notes that were given to us by the production.”
As for why the 5B team expunged Haggis from production notes, an insider says: “There were conversations, and the mindset was that no one wanted the film’s message to be overshadowed by the scandal surrounding one person.”
Haggis has been working on the doc — originally titled Ward 5B, after the section of the San Francisco hospital that was on the front lines of the early AIDS epidemic — for years.
The film, which drew supporters at Cannes like Julianne Moore and Priyanka Chopra, got raves.
This story appears in the May 29 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
