TORONTO -- On a network populated by majestic CGI dragons, brooding homicide detectives, and a foul-mouthed president, a period piece about municipal politics might seem a tough draw.
But Canadian Paul Haggis, who directed all six episodes of the new HBO miniseries "Show Me a Hero," is used to making gambles like this one.
After all, the 62-year-old followed his Academy Award-winning race epic "Crash" by directing the scarcely seen Iraq War tale "In the Valley of Elah" (which nevertheless scored an Oscar nomination for star Tommy Lee Jones).
He takes pride in defying the typical rhythms of Hollywood.
"I could have had a much easier career, I know," he said during an interview Friday in Toronto.
"I like my independence. I like being fiercely independent -- not necessarily going where the country wants me to go.
"Or my agents," he adds, with a burst of laughter. "I go where I want to go."
This time, Haggis's creative compass guided him to a collaboration with beloved "The Wire" mastermind David Simon, a partnership so alluring for Haggis that he agreed for the first time in his career to direct someone else's script.
So, what hooked the London, Ont., native? Another tale about racial intolerance and chasmic class division.
Based on a 1999 book by former New York Times journalist Lisa Belkin, "Show Me a Hero" details the bitter battle over the federally mandated placement of a public-housing structure in an affluent section of Yonkers, N.Y., in the late 1980s.
Oscar Isaac portrays Nick Wasicsko, the mayor who cheerfully charged into office seemingly just for the sake of it. He ultimately took on the progressive side of desegregation -- at great political, and personal, cost.
Winona Ryder, Alfred Molina, Catherine Keener and Jim Belushi round out another starry cast for Haggis, who seems to remain a persuasive draw for marquee actors.
Even after years of rigorous criticism over the way his "Crash" handled race issues, Haggis was eager to leap back into the fray.
"It's one of the most important issues of our time, I think: how we're dealing with people of colour, how we're dealing with the poor," he said.
"In this case, people on all sides of the issue were right in one way or another.
"Obviously ... we had to desegregate. We can't just keep sticking the poor and the darker people onto one side of the town and thinking that we're serving them.
"At the same time, we looked at those towers from those days and we thought: Would you want one of those on your street? I would have to say no."
Although Haggis is a two-time Emmy winner -- to go along with his two Oscars -- one could argue that his relationship with TV has been somewhat rocky.
His gritty mid-90s crime saga "EZ Streets" received rapturous reviews but still lasted only 11 episodes. A decade later, his similarly acclaimed Irish organized crime saga "The Black Donnellys" eked out only 13 episodes before meeting its premature end.
Didn't Haggis -- so successful in film -- ever feel like giving up on the small screen entirely?
"When 'EZ Streets' failed so quickly -- and 'The Black Donnellys' and other things that I really loved like 'Due South,' which lasted a year and disappeared from American television -- it got to the point where I said: The hell with this. Get me into films where I can just do what I want," he replied.
"That was the same point where everyone was just rushing to television," he added with a smile.
"But I'm a bit of a contrarian and always have been."
