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June 20 (UPI) -- Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis -- who directed the hit 2005 film Crash and co-wrote two James Bond films -- has been detained in Italy as prosecutors look into claims that he sexually assaulted a woman there. The Canadian-born Haggis was under house arrest at a hotel in Ostuni in southern Italy on Monday, where he'd gone for an arts festival. The woman who accused Haggis said that he assaulted her in a hotel room for at least two days.
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Haggis, 69, faces charges of sexual assault and aggravated personal injury.
Police said that the woman made the accusations after she was dropped off in Brindisi, purportedly by Haggis, and was found there acting strange in a "confused state."
The arts festival, called the Allora Fest, begins on Tuesday and will run until Sunday.
Haggis' attorney Priya Chaudhry said that Italian law prohibits her from discussing details of the case.
"I am confident that all allegations will be dismissed against Mr. Haggis. He is totally innocent and willing to fully cooperate," she told the Hollywood Reporter.
In 2018, Haggis was sued by publicist Haleigh Breest over a rape accusation in 2013 in her New York City apartment, and three other women later accused him of sexual misconduct. Haggis has denied the claims.
Haggis won two Academy Awards for Crash in 2006 and was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2004 for writing Million Dollar Baby. He also co-wrote two James Bond films -- Casino Royale in 2006 and Quantum of Solace in 2008.
