Crash auteur Paul Haggis recalls the night he shot Matt Dillon's most unsettling scene: when his racist cop takes advantage of a hands-on-the-car pat-down to brazenly grope an African-American woman (Thandie Newton) — right in front of her husband (Terrence Howard) — after catching them engaging in some vehicular hanky-panky. Shortly before cameras rolled, Haggis says Dillon talked it through: I'm actually doing this couple a favor. Because with a different cop, they'd be in a lot of trouble. But I'm letting them go and teaching them a lesson. I'm really helping them, aren't I? ''And then he stepped away to shoot the scene, and I'm sitting there thinking, 'Holy crap! I can't believe he's thinking that!''' says Haggis. ''But then you realize: That's exactly what his character thinks. Matt understood him completely.''
Not surprising: First-time nominee Dillon, 41, has been getting into the heads of bullies (My Bodyguard), lowlifes (Drugstore Cowboy), and assorted scuzzballs (There's Something About Mary) since his teen idol days — roles most leading men take sparingly, if at all. ''I liked Matt because he's a brave actor,'' says Haggis, ''who doesn't gauge roles by how they will affect his public perception.''
The actor also has a softer, woozier side, and his natural affability makes us believe in the tricky paradox that hatred and heroism can coexist in the same person. After shooting Crash's troubling sexual assault, Haggis recalls finding Dillon by himself, standing next to a car, lost in thought. ''He was just shaking his head, going, 'Holy s---. What have I done?' It was like he was ashamed,'' the director says. ''But for me, it was such a lesson in what actors do, or should do: They become these people, without any judgment.'' In doing so, Dillon serves as Crash's conscience and a mirror to its audience.
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