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Tom Cruise is a victim of the Church of scientology «Saving Tom Cruise» Hollywood producer Kathleen Kennedy says Tom Cruise has expressed regret over comments the actor made regarding Brooke Shields' anti-depressant use (United Press International - Aug 25, 2006) South Park" Episode Said To Have Angered Tom Cruise Up For An Emmy (AP - North Hollywood, July 06, 2006) Tom Cruise, Dianetics & Scientology's Orientation Video (postchronicle.com - Jun 26, 2006) Pictures of TomKat's baby didn't sell (Fox New - June 26, 2006) Mission Impossible 3 Fails at the Box Office (Scientomogy.com - June 30, 2006 UK: Tom Cruise kills South Park Scientology episode
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By UPI Wire - Aug 25, 2006 LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25, 2006 (UPI) -- Hollywood producer Kathleen Kennedy says Tom Cruise has expressed regret over comments the actor made regarding Brooke Shields' anti-depressant use. The "War of the Worlds" co-producer said the 44-year-old Scientologist regrets comments he made last year on TV's "Access Hollywood" in which he criticized Shields for her use of anti-depressants, People magazine said. Cruise openly opposed Shields' use of the prescription drugs, which she admitted using for postpartum depression in her book "Down Came the Rain." On the show, Cruise called her "irresponsible" and suggested that women who are depressed merely take "vitamins and exercise." Cruise is a strong advocate of Scientology and has publicly expressed his disdain for psychiatry and its related medications. The "Risky Business" actor is in the center of a new controversy, which began Wednesday when Cruise's 14-year relationship with Paramount Pictures was severed by the studio, People said. United Press International |
Associated Press - North Hollywood, July 06, 2006 One of the Emmy nominees for best animated program is the episode of "South Park" that's said to have angered Tom Cruise and Isaac Hayes. The episode called "Trapped in the Closet" implies that Cruise is gay and makes fun of Scientology. Cruise's fellow Scientologist Isaac Hayes reportedly quit because he was upset with the episode. And when it came time to rerun it, Cruise allegedly called Comedy Central and demanded that it be pulled. It was, even though Cruise's people denied he asked for it. |
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Tom Cruise, Dianetics & Scientology's Orientation Video by Mike Baron Source: postchronicle.com - Jun 26, 2006 Thanx to a tip from our friend Jossip this morning, we got to watch the Scientology's orientation video. So like Jossip, we threw some Orville Redenbacher into the microwave, dimmed the lights, and tuned in for some really cheesy canned interviews. Like our friend Jossip, Our biggest problem wasn't with the film’ss peddling L. Ron Hubbard's medicine-man-like wares, but rather with the poor production value. One would think with all of Scientology's cash and the fact that they boast some serious star power the least they could have done was whip-up a little special effects besides those awful meteorites in the beginning of the film. IMDB has this summary : okay, this was bad. Unspeakably bad, but to the person informed about the truth about Scientology, kind of funny in a very sad way (think "Battlefield Earth," only worse, and with a lot of the same people involved). The audience won't be getting an unbiased view of this cult, but that's to be expected in a feature produced by the Church. What's unexpected is the degree to which it is pure, unadulterated propaganda, at a level that would make Leni Riefenstahl blush with envy. For example, Kirstie Alley, with a look of seriousness that is unsettling, declares, "Without Scientology, I would be dead today." The viewer is paraded with a number of Scientology suits, each with their own title. (One person, introduced as the "Director of Processing," acts as Orwellian as his job title implies. A sinister, b-movie villian chuckle, and the exacerbated sigh, (paraphrased) "The world out there is such a corrupting influence. We really have our work cut out for us in breaking our new recruits of that influence." Ick. Nevertheless, the propaganda of this film is produced in such a cheesy way that the film approaches self-parody. When actors like John Travolta are tapped as intellectual spokesmen (no offense to Travolta, but he isn't exactly Stephen Hawking), when L. Ron Hubbard is portrayed as the ultimate renaissance man/prophet/saint with utter sincerity, it's difficult to take any of the film's claims seriously. And as self-parody, you almost don't even need the MST3K crew to heckle the show; one would have to have the intelligence of peanut brittle to be unable to do it oneself. Despite a rating of 1, I will recommend people see this movie at their local Scientology centers (the only place this movie can be seen), if anything else, for a good laugh, and a view at how intellectually bankrupt this excuse for a film really is. A word of caution though: after this film, I and the group of friends I saw it with were split up and separately "interviewed" by members of the church. They were reluctant to allow us to leave, and were eager to have us confess personal shortcomings that caused us distress and difficulty in life, which of course they alone could solve. How you choose to handle this is up to you, but I ultimately found any attempt at a dialogue futile. I recommend that you treat this situation like you would a telemar- keter, politely thank them for their movie and their time, but state you aren't interested and leave. Certainly don't give them personal info like your address and phone #' See the film for the sheer hilarity of it, but don't expect to see Tom Cruise like we did. |
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Pictures of TomKat's Baby Didn't Sell
If like everyone else you've been wondering what happened to Suri Cruise and why we've never seen a picture of her, here is part of the answer: No one wanted to pay for her. According to my sources, a photo shoot of Suri was offered to Wire Image, the prestigious agency, for sale to the various celebrity magazines right after the little "Mission: Impossible"/"Dawson's Creek" tyke was born in silence to her unmarried movie starparents Tom Cruise and the dazed-looking Katie Holmes. An auction was conducted, with People, Us Weekly, Star and the lesser names like In Touch all putting in their two cents. Unfortunately, it must have felt like two cents to Cruise given the amount that Shiloh Jolie-Pitt fetched from People: $4 million, not to mention more from magazines around the world. The Cruise auction is said to have produced not more than a $3 million bid. At that point, the offer was rescinded. The mission was termed "impossible." No further word was heard from the Cruise camp. Exactly who from Cruise's strange inner circle initiated the contact is still unknown, although I am told the enterprise was "official." It's likely that the Church of Scientology would have gotten a cut, too, considering they like to take 10 percent of everything from their celebrity clients. And now that Suri is almost 3 months old, has her price gone up or down? The answer, says one of the mag's experts, is down. "Shiloh was the whole deal," my source said. "We won't see a baby like that again for a while." In other words, Britney Spears shouldn't expect a windfall for her latest Kevin Federline product.
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JUNE 30TH
UPDATE: MI3's domestic gross to date:
$131,525,369. Purported cost of the film, not including marketing:
$150,000,000. This weekend's gross was less than 1,000,000. The film will be pulled from distribution shortly. It will not make back domestically what it cost. There was a time when Tom Cruise movies actually made money in the US. Not anymore. Friday night's numbers are in for "Mission : Impossible III," and they aren't what Paramount or Tom Cruise might have hoped for. The JJ Abrams-directed blockbuster took in only $17 million according to website www.boxofficemojo.com. That's a good $3 million off the lowest predictions, and $8 million off what a real mega hit would have been. Box Office Mojo's Brandon Gray says that the weekend total should now be in the $45 million range (Official numbers came in around $48 million range). It's not a catastrophe by any means, but it does show that star Tom Cruise's public persona and negative publicity plus a raft of mediocre reviews for the film have put a dent in his plans to rule the universe. Grays says the new "Mission" numbers are a disappointment because both installments 1 and 2 did much better. "They each sold around 50 percent more tickets on their opening weekends (Friday-Sunday)," Gray says, "despite opening on Wednesdays." At this rate, Cruise may want some kind of pharmacological drug to ease the pain on Sunday night. Para- mount execs definitely will.
MI:3 will be the biggest non-event in this summer's line up of films. More about MI:3 source: http://www.scientomogy.com |
