Crash Oscar winner says he didn't deserve to win

Scene from the movie Brokeback Mountain.

In the past few years, no movie has been a more controversial pick for Best Picture than 2005's Crash. When it won the top prize at the 78th Academy Awards, many critics were shocked that it beat out more revered choices like Brokeback Mountain and Capote.

And now, the writer-director has said even he doesn't think it deserved to win.

Writer-director Paul Haggis says he didn't deserve an Oscar for his movie Crash.

Paul Haggis, speaking to Hitfix¸ says that he wouldn't have voted for his own film to win, saying he saw the "artistry that was in the other films".

"Was it the best film of the year? I don't think so. There were great films that year. Good Night and Good Luck, amazing film. Capote, terrific film. Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, great film. And Spielberg's Munich. I mean please, what a year."

The movie, starring Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle and Terrence Howard, follows several different storylines and multiple characters in Los Angeles across two days. It triumphed at the 2006 Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Original Screenplay and Editing and netting three other nominations.

Sandra Bullock in a scene from the movie Crash.

Many expected Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, to win. Though it did win Ang Lee Best Director, many accused the Academy of being homophobia over the decision.

Crash has the lowest RottenTomatoes rating of the five nominees, sitting at 75%, while Good Night and Good Luck is highest with 93%.

Though he doesn't support it, Haggis says that he is glad to have won as the Oscars are "lovely things", and he defends the movies portrayal of stereotypes, saying they were intentional.

In his review in August 2005, NZ Herald reviewer Peter Calder gave the movie two stars and called it "so contrived and laboriously assembled that it feels as if it were written by a computer".

In February, The Hollywood Reporter polled hundreds of Academy members to see if they would change past controversial wins, and Brokeback Mountain was picked as the more deserving winner. Crash is not alone though: the poll also revealed that Shawshank Redemption, Saving Private Ryan and All the President's Men would have won over Forrest Gump, Shakespeare in Love and Rocky respectively.

Haggis, who has also worked on Casino Royale and Terminator: Salvation, directed all six episodes of the David Simon-miniseries Show Me a Hero, which premieres on SoHo September 3.