Ten years after 'Crash', Haggis divides critics with 'Third Person'

  • 10 years ago
Oscar-winning Canadian director Paul Haggis boasts a starry cast for his latest movie ‘Third Person’.

Featuring Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, Adrian Brody and Olivia Wilde among others, it’s an ambitious puzzle-movie featuring three couples in interlocking stories set in Paris, New York and Rome.

Israeli actress Moran Atias, who appears in one of the three stories, pitched the idea to Paul Haggis after working with him on ‘The Next Three Days’ and the TV adaptation of ‘Crash’.

“I really wanted to work with Paul again and I needed to come up with an idea or story or something and after very sad attempts Googling some stories online, rather than looking outside, I wanted to look in myself and find something that would be interesting enough and that I would be passionate about so I could pitch that to Paul,” she explains.

Atias is cast as a beautiful Roma woman who strikes up a relationship with a shady American businessman played by Adrien Brody.

“Relationships and intimacy between men and women are definitely a theme that I find incredibly mysterious still. We explored it in so many different dynamics of relationships in this movie but still there are so many questions that have not been answered,” she says.

American actress Olivia Wilde plays an ambitious young journalist having an affair with Liam Neeson, a prize-winning author. She says she was impressed with the movie’s jigsaw puzzle of characters: “I was so amazed watching everyone else’s storyline because we each had very different experiences in different countries and it was a really incredible project to be a part of. I mean the cast is kind of unreal,” she says.

Coming a decade after Haggis’ Oscar-winning ‘Crash’, which remains one of the most divisive victories in recent memory, ‘Third Person’ looks set to follow suit.

While some have described it as “an unexpected masterpiece”, others have called it “embarassing” and “absurd”.

‘Third Person’ by Paul Haggis is on worldwide release now.

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