Paul Leahy

Movies

“	Did you cut yourself because you truly wanted to die, or did you just want some attention? Tonight, you'll show me.	”
	— Jigsaw confronts Paul with his attempted suicide.^[src]

Paul Leahy is a fictional character from the Saw franchise. He serves as a minor character in Saw, Saw IV, and Saw V.

He was portrayed by Mike Butters.

Biography[]

Attempted Suicide[]

Paul Leahy was an average middle-class man. At one point in his life, he became a patient of the Homeward Bound Clinic, a recovery clinic for drug addicts ran by Jill Tuck under the motto "Cherish your life." At the age of 46, Paul attempted to commit suicide in early 2004 by cutting his wrists with a straight razor but somehow managed to survive. Due to his attempted suicide, he was eventually targeted by John Kramer, better known as the Jigsaw Killer, who was, in fact, Jill's ex-husband. (Saw, Saw IV)

Abduction[]

Hoffman Paul — Paul strangles Mark Hoffman.

One night during the month after his failed suicide attempt, Paul sat in his car. After getting drunk, he tried to commit suicide again by cutting his wrists with a glass shard from his broken liquor bottle but was interrupted when someone bumped his car's rear. When he got out to see what happened, he was suddenly attacked by John Kramer and his accomplice, Detective Mark Hoffman, who covered their faces with pig masks. Paul tried to fight them off and nearly managed to do so by almost strangling Hoffman but was ultimately sedated by John with an anesthetic.

When he lost consciousness, John and Hoffman took him to a basement, where they had set up a game for him to see if he genuinely wanted to die. The back part of the basement area was fenced-in and, thereby, basically turned into a cage. This cage was filled to the brim with razor wire. After Hoffman undressed him and took him to the back part of the razor wire cage, John started the timer for the game. Then, they went into hiding next door. (Saw, Saw V)

Death[]

When Paul woke up again, he found an audiotape left by John. Upon playing the recording, a distorted voice confronted him with his failed suicide attempt in the past month. John questioned whether Paul actually wanted to die and accused him of cutting his wrists only to attract attention. Therefore, he offered him a choice. If Paul wanted to die, all he had to do was to stay where he was. However, if he wanted to live, he had to find a way from the back part of the room to the exit door on the other side within two hours. Otherwise, the door would be locked, and Paul would be left to die in the cellar.

Ridden by fear and desperate to save his life, Paul immediately started to panic. Upon trying to find a way out, he crawled through the cage. However, as Paul was undressed and moved too hastily, the tightened skeins of razor wire cut deep into his flesh. Although he almost made it to the exit, the wires sliced up his stomach and major blood vessels. Therefore, Paul ultimately lost consciousness and succumbed to massive blood loss, mainly from his femoral artery. (Saw)

Post-Mortem[]

When Paul's game was over, John and Hoffman, who had observed the game from the adjacent room through a peephole in the door, left their hiding spot. To symbolize his lacking survival instinct, John cut a jigsaw piece from his skin before leaving the basement along with his accomplice. (Saw, Saw V)

Paul's corpse was found approximately three weeks later. Upon examining the crime scene on March 19, 2004, the investigators found the audiotape and thereby learned about Paul's torturous ordeal and the reason for his game. Detective Allison Kerry, a homicide detective who worked for the Metropolitan Police Department, investigated the scene and found the peephole used by John and Hoffman to witness Paul's demise. When her colleagues, Detective David Tapp and Detective Steven Sing, arrived, Kerry presented them with the recording. Paul's corpse was then taken to the morgue, where Dr. Adam Heffner performed the autopsy on his body. (Saw, Saw V, Saw VI)

Personality[]

Paul Leahy was a sane and average middle-class man. Although not much can be said about his general personality, his brief interactions with his doctor, Jill Tuck, suggested that he was a polite and friendly individual. However, Paul was unhappy with his life, as proven by his drug addiction and repeated suicide attempts. While his first attempt was possibly driven by his wish to get attention, the second try indicated that Paul indeed suffered from severe depression. Nonetheless, his abduction by Jigsaw and his fear of dying in the latter's deadly trap at least temporarily reinforced Paul's will to live, albeit his efforts to escape were ultimately in vain.

Trivia[]

In a flashback scene in Saw IV, Paul can be seen leaving the Homeward Bound Clinic. As actor Mike Butters had shaved his hair before shooting, many fans confused Paul with Trevor, a different character from the same film.
Originally, actor Mike Butters was offered to play the role of Jigsaw but declined the offer as he felt that the character did not have enough exciting scenes in the first film.

Appearances and References[]

Films
Saw	Saw II	Saw III	Saw IV	Saw V	Saw VI	Saw 3D	Jigsaw	Spiral	Saw X
Flashback, Pictured, & Corpse	Absent	Archive	Flashback	Flashback, Pictured, & Mentioned	Archive	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent

Other Media
"Saw" (2003 Short)	Saw: Rebirth (2005 Comic)	Full Disclosure Report	The Scott Tibbs Documentary	Saw: The Video Game	Saw II: Flesh & Blood
Absent	Appears	Flashback, Pictured, & Mentioned	Absent	Absent	Mentioned