Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes

[canadian_angel]

You know, I never really realized how true that is, but you guys are so right! He never plays anything different. I think there's maybe been one or two movies where he's shown actual range, but otherwise, it's just TC in whatever story that he's decided to act in. I'm so glad other people are starting to realize it!
Whenever I see an old movie and I see his smirk or sneer, I just want to smack him!

[Google]

 

[AJane]

Originally Posted by Krom

If Tom was just some actor who had some very private kooky beliefs, ALL of these defenses would mean a heck a lot more than they do.

Except that's exactly what he was up until the Oprah debacle. Not to mention he's not even an oddity in Hollywood circles for being a Scientologist.

I have zero sympathy for Nicole Kidman. She owes much of her celebrity status to the years she was married to Cruise - she was essentially just another pretty actress when they hooked up. Sure, it's possible she may have become famous on her own, but I'm pretty sure there are many, many talented actresses who don't manage to achieve worldwide fame just because they're good at acting. She married him and brought children into their relationship knowing fully that he was immersed in his faith, religion, cult, or whatever. I have a very hard time believing that these Xenu freaks are holding some kind of mob-type threat over the head of Nicole Kidman, unless of course she was far more involved in it all than is commonly believed.

[lopevian]

When I first saw Nicole Kidman in "Dead Calm", I knew she was going to be a huge star, if not in Hollywood, than at least in Australia. While her marriage to Tom Cruise surely put her on the map, I think she would have attained a reputation for high caliber acting even without him on her arm. Marriage to Tom Cruise didn't do anything for Mimi Rogers' career, though she was married to him for about a quarter of the time Nicole was.

[MFWalkoff]

Wow, Tom looked irked just now at the end of the SAG Awards! Not only did his buddy John Travolta's movie Hairspray lose the big award, but the winners (No Country for Old Men, BTW) went on about how the studio system is floundering and that actors are delighted! I guess since he now runs his own "studio", he felt the jab. Hee hee hee!

[MissNomer]

Originally Posted by canadian_angel

You know, I never really realized how true that is, but you guys are so right! He never plays anything different. I think there's maybe been one or two movies where he's shown actual range, but otherwise, it's just TC in whatever story that he's decided to act in. I'm so glad other people are starting to realize it!
Whenever I see an old movie and I see his smirk or sneer, I just want to smack him!

Hard and Sideways! I'm with you 100%! The word that I think of when I see his face is 'smarmy'. I ALWAYS change the channel!

[Krom]

Okay, while this anti-Scientology movement on YouTube is digging up a LOT of hard information on how dangerous they are, it's also getting people to post some pretty FUNNY stuff as well.

For example, search for "The First Church of Xenu's Recruitment Video". This is obviously a comedic take on a joke opposition "Church" where Xenu is the savior instead of the Evil Warlord...

If you want to see TERRIFYINGLY CREEPY and yet bizarrely funny in ONE thing (this has actually been on Defamer for days apparently, so apologies if its been linked here already and I just missed it)?

Bootlegs: Newly Unearthed Scientology Orientation Video Reveals Church's 'Mind Control' Tactics; But Without It, Kirstie Alley 'Would Be Dead'!

Kirstie is almost an afterthought in it. The truly scary part is the talk between those two guys.

The thing is it seems almost like a comedy skit, something SNL might have done. Except they are SERIOUS.

[beesknees]

Originally Posted by MFWalkoff

Wow, Tom looked irked just now at the end of the SAG Awards! Not only did his buddy John Travolta's movie Hairspray lose the big award, but the winners (No Country for Old Men, BTW) went on about how the studio system is floundering and that actors are delighted! I guess since he now runs his own "studio", he felt the jab. Hee hee hee!

Good, I'm seriously glad Tom's Scientology buddy John Travolta did not win for "Hairspray". Tom Cruise just looked pissed off and like he had a chip on his shoulder the entire time he read his SAG bit. When I see TC now I cannot stand to look at him. At all.

Good thing Tom was on at the end of the SAG awards otherwise I would have turned it off. What studio is Tom running these days? I forgot. Remind me so I can boycott that studio's films the next time I'm at the movie theatre.

I don't want to fund any of Scientology's activities and I wonder which percentage of the studio's profits get funneled back into the Cult, (err..Church) of Scientology. I'm just sayin'........

[MFWalkoff]

He and his partner Paula Wagner took over United Artists. So far they've released Lions for Lambs, which didn't make much of an impression critically or financially.

If Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks could see what has happened to the studio they founded almost a century ago, they'd certainly freak.

[Veruka]

Originally Posted by beesknees

Good, I'm seriously glad Tom's Scientology buddy John Travolta did not win for "Hairspray". Tom Cruise just looked pissed off and like he had a chip on his shoulder the entire time he read his SAG bit. When I see TC now I cannot stand to look at him. At all.

I don't think that Tom was angry about anything. I think he was just trying to come across as a highly respected, serious, veteran actor. It's just that Tom is a really bad actor, so when he tries to come across as a highly respected serious veteran actor, it comes across as looking the same as a very talented actor playing angry.

[Krom]

There ARE some brave people left in the world. Even in the midst (and genetic pool) of true evil (how else would you describe David Miscavige?), maybe something noble can flourish--in his niece.

AFP: Niece of Scientology's leader backs Cruise biography

Niece of Scientology's leader backs Cruise biography

1 hour ago

PARIS (AFP) — The author of a controversial new biography on celebrity Scientologist Tom Cruise has found an unexpected new ally: the niece of Scientology's current leader, David Miscavige.

In an open letter to a senior Scientology official that has been widely posted on the Internet, Jenna Miscavige Hill described how her own family was broken apart by the movement's policies.

Hill's father is Ron Miscavige, the older brother of David Miscavige, the current leader of the Church of Scientology.

"Hell, if Scientology can't keep his family together -- then why on earth should anyone believe the church helps brings families together!" she wrote.

Hill, 23, wrote the letter after Scientology attacked writer Andrew Morton's recently published book "Tom Cruise: an Unauthorised Biography". The actor is a vocal advocate for the movement and the book gives it extensive coverage.

In a 15-page statement issued on January 14, Karin Pouw, the movement's public affairs director, denounced the book as a "bigoted defamatory assault replete with lies".

But in her reply to Pouw, Hill retorted: "I am absolutely shocked at how vehemently you insist upon not only denying the truths that have been stated about the church in that biography, but then take it a step further and tell outright lies."

In particular she challenges Scientology's denial that it puts pressure on members to break all contact with relatives who do not support the movement -- a practice known as disconnection.

Hill said it was this policy that broke up her own family.

"As you well know, my parents officially left the church when I was 16 in 2000," she wrote. Having been separated from them since the age of 12, she decided not to go with them.

But she added: "Not only was I not allowed to speak to them, I was not allowed to answer a phone for well over a year, in case it was them calling me."

Hill goes on to detail how Scientology officials intercepted letters from her parents and her friends.

She was only allowed to visit her parents once a year for a maximum of four days, she wrote -- and then only after her parents threatened legal action to get access.

When she returned from these visits, she was questioned to see if her parents had said anything bad about the movement.

Asked about the Hill's statement, Pouw told AFP: "The church stands by its statement of 14 January. The church does not respond to newsgroup postings."

Contacted by AFP, Hill said she had circulated the letter to draw attention to the practice of disconnection.

"My intention is to put it on a public forum so they are pressured into changing their ways -- even if it is just to cover for themselves."

Founded in the United States in 1954 by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology was officially recognised as a religion there nearly 20 years later.

But it is often accused in Germany and other European countries, including Belgium, France and Greece, of exploiting its members financially.

Morton's book is currently at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for hardback non-fiction after its first week on sale.