Pendant longtemps, Tom Cruise est resté discrèt sur son appartenance à la scientologie: il ne figurait pas sur la liste des célébrités scientologues sur le site de la secte et sa puissante publiciste, Pat Kingsley bloquait les questions des journalistes à ce sujet. Tout cela a bien changé, surtout depuis que Cruise a remplacé Kingsley par sa propre soeur, elle aussi scientologue.
Lors d'une séance d'interviews pour la sortie du nouveau film de Michael Mann, Collateral, d'autres journalistes qui l'ont interviewé pour Le Dernier Samourai m'ont dit qu'il était insatiable sur le sujet. Et lors d'une conférence de presse avec une trentaine d'entre nous, il a spontanément vanté l'influence de la secte sur sa vie. C'est là où j'ai gaffé. Tom Cruise interprète un tueur à gages dans Collateral. Or Michael Mann est passionné de psychologie et fait travailler ses acteurs avec des psys pour comprendre les motivations et réactions de leurs personnages. Will Smith acclame cette méthode et dit que depuis le tournage de Ali, il soumet les scénarios de ses films à plusieurs psys et leur dit: "Expliquez moi pourquoi mon personnage fait ca." J'ai demandé à Tom Cruise s'il avait préparé son rôle avec des pros pour se mettre dans la peau d'un redoutable assassin. Réponse cinglante, sourire un peu crispé : "Je ne crois pas dans la psychologie." Il précise: "Je n'ai jamais travaillé avec des psychologues. Jamais. JAMAIS." Eclat de rire général. Oups, j'avais oublié que les scientos rejettent la psychologie!
Tom Cruise aurait carrément dit que la psychiatrie devrait être hors la loi. La profession avait réagi en invitant Cruise à se faire examiner. Michael Mann n'a pas voulu expliquer en détail comment il avait travaillé avec sa star, vu ses restrictions. Tom Cruise est excellent dans le film et je l'aime bien comme acteur. Il est aussi beau gars en personne que sur écran géant mais ses rires forcés et robotiques vous auraient sans doute déplu aussi.
PS: un ami français également journaliste à Hollywood remarque que John Travolta aussi se met à parler abondamment de scientologie. On se demande si l'Eglise de sciento demande à ses stars de mettre le paquet face à la montée en puissance de la Kabbale, maintenant que la fameuse ficelle rouge des stars "kabbaleuses" est disponible dans les supermarchés Target.
Thanks Amy! Glad to have you back in L.A. But remember that both my French and my English are filled with terrible mistakes!
I wish I could have gone with you last night to Luke Thompson's rock'n'roll birthday party at the museum of action figures. There should be more pics on his site.
It wasn't a blooper for you to ask that question, as if everyone is supposed to know the ins and outs of his cult. But it sounded like the guy is a pompous ass-guzzler for getting tense over such a question. I halfway hope L. Ron's zombie's whip up a batch of Kool-Aid and have a Jimmy Jones session.
"Kaballah" people freaks me out. Met one here in London. Scary.
But the FAQ on their Website is quite hilarious.
My favorite bit.
A Christian friend of mine once told me that he did not believe Dinosaurs existed?
What is a Kabbalists point of view please?
Dinosaurs did exists, in Adam and Eve's time, when humans were hundreds of feet tall. Man was created as is, and the neanderthals and other human-relative beings were separate species that became extinct over time.
Emmanuelle:
Ever since his admission that COS instructors helped him with his lifelong aversion to reading, I think Cruise has been pretty open about his beliefs...I'm surprised he didn't bring up Eli Lilley ---the other bete noire of practicing scientologists...
I think the BIGGEST threat to Scientology is a hipper, more politically progressive therapeutic cult known as "Re-Evaluation Counseling" which is very influential in the Pacific Northwest.
http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/article/id814/pg1/
CN
hey emmanuelle! glad to see you are still chasing scientologists. ;-)
btw, i imagine you know that beck married his scientologist girlfriend--the actress marissa ribisi. as if that didn't resolve the question of whether he is a scientologist or not, he has also shown up as a donor (they call it a "sponsor for total freedom") on the Church of Scientology's rolls (under his birth name, beck campbell).
Much as I like Michael Mann's movies, I think it's strange that a director wants shrinks to do his job for him. Hitchcock got great performances from some pretty unlikely actors by playing with their emotional states, not by getting a group of MSWs to tell them what to think. But, then followers of LROn need to be told what to think.
Well, your occasional mistake in English is usually rather adorable. As for your French, I'd be thrilled if mine were good enough to do more than just peck my way through the meaning and actually catch you in one. Travolta's wife is the closest thing to a Stepford Wife I've ever met, down to the ever-glazed look in the eyes.
Once again I chance upon many people who obviously don't know jack about Scientology. I personally know several Scientologists, living in LA where it's huge, and find all of them to be quite rational, FREE THINKERS, not zombies, and very compassionate, while also being very intelligent. Has anyone blasting the RELIGION (notice I didn't say cult) actually investigated beyond what they read on the internet or heard through a third party?" Where did those people get their opinions?
But go ahead and rain crap down on Scientologists if you want and pooh-pooh their poster boys if it makes you feel better. But for crying out loud get all the frickin' facts first, please!
P.S. And what the HELL is Kaballah anyway? Me and my Scientologist buddies have never heard of it.
Andrew:
I don't think this thread reflects a widespread bias against Scientology---merely human curiousity---we'd be having the same discussion if Cruise was a practicing krishna.
If Scientology had a better reputation for accepting constructive criticism, maybe people wouldn't have such a negative view of the organization.
I personally believe the biggest unconventional quasi-religious group to infiltrate Hollywood is the 12-Step "Recovery" crowd...
well, andrew, i don't know how you can assume that there are "many" people here who don't know jack about scientology. a few people here have called it a cult; that's not many, in my book. i haven't seen anyone say anything particularly damning about it, though i admit the general attitude is dismissive to negative.
i imagine you think that if anyone calls it a cult or has a negative opinion about it, they must not know jack about it. well, i know people who were in and got out and have very negative opinions about it, and they do know jack about it. i do believe that most of the regular people doing scientology are fine people--nice, intelligent, funny, etc. and i think it's totally possible that they get real benefits from the courses in communication and other interpersonal skills. but there has also been a whole lot of abuse within the organization, especially in the sea org. the cos, as an organization, and not the public members, is, from what i've heard and read, most of the problem. (you shouldn't be so quick to dismiss reading things on the internet--there are lots of interesting documents about misdeeds by the cos.)
as far as scientology being a RELIGION goes: it was not called a religion for years, even by l. ron hubbard. it was more like a self-help thing. but then hubbard decided to go for the tax-exemption benefits that being a religion would bring.
religions are kind of wiggly things, aren't they? if you call something a religion, does that make it one? if i say i'm going to start a religion, and we're going to worship albino hamsters, does that make it a valid religion? if i make up a backstory for it, like the albino hamsters are actually the reincarnated descendants of our first ancestors, who spontaneously sprang into existance out of some ancient blackhole, does that make it true?
Thank you all for stopping by! Andrew, I wouldn't "rain crap" on people just because they are Scientologist celebrities, please. Tom Cruise is awesome in Collateral, and I'm a big Greta Van Susteren fan. But I don't think I'm so ignorant about Scientology: I've interviewed an official in the past, a big "theology" book in French is right here on my shelf whenever I need to check up on something, and I also receive newsletters on a weekly basis, plus "Source" magazine from their "Flag land base" gets in my mailbox for some reason. Because of all that, I could use the common expression "Sci-Fi religion," but "cult" is really the word I'm sticking to.
Emmanuelle, I wasn't refering to you when I said "rain crap." I was speaking in general about some of the comments people had posted. However, I do happen to disagree about your labeling it a cult. Although I can see where people get that (intense admiration for the founder for instance), cults are exclusive, while Scientology is inclusive. Cults often have solemn rites and ceremonies, Scientology does not.
In my opinion, it's more philosophical than religious, but it IS technically a religion. Not simply for tax exemption or credits, but because it deals primarily with the spirit and its relation to the universe.
I'm sorry to hear that anyone has had a bad experience beause from the couple of courses I took I felt it was a worthwhile endeavor. So do millions of others across the world.
Right now, I'm more worried about the possibility of Bush getting back in office. Talk about exclusive. His administration excludes everyone but corporations and the wealthy. I'm bugged by the right's French bashing also.
I welcome debate and thoughts....
Also, I have to say unbiased that I think Collateral is in the category of top 5 best films for the year so far.
Oh, and I looked up Kabbalah? I don't see anything strange about it except for the fact that Britney Spears is interested in it.
I welcome debate and thoughts too. thanks Andrew, would love to speak about it more. Meanwhile, I wasn't dreaming: Tom Cruise's openess about scientology is quite new. See the Rolling Stone profile:
"But the most surprising change is that the famously press-phobic Cruise seems more open than ever about his commitment to Scientology, having provided funds for a detoxification clinic to help New York firefighters who became sick after 9/11."
it's not like these people are actively making choices
get to the heart of scifitology's origins:
me, JACK PARSONS
google me kiddies
i taught l.ron all he knew (knows)
good tiiiimes....
I'd pay a lot of money to see Albert Ellis (REBT.org), the father of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, have a go at him. Good one, asking the psychology question. I guess asking him whether he thinks cults should be outlawed would have been out of the question!
Glad you're back. You've been missed. Your blog, by the way, is not only entertaining and informative, but a fantastic tool for those who are trying to improve their sucky French!