Tom Cruise remains on top after all these years. Top Gun: Maverick earned nearly 1.5 billion at the box office, and scored six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. But as great as his recent film work has been, some think most of his links to Scientology. Cruise is synonymous with the controversial religion now, but it was his first wife, Mimi Rogers, who introduced him to the church. The couple eventually divorced, and Rogers left Scientology for good. Like most stories related to the church, the story behind their split is strange and full of unconfirmed rumors.
How did Tom Cruise meet his first wife, Mimi Rogers? Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers arrive at 1989 Oscars March 29, 1989 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion,Los Angeles, California. | Paul Harris/Getty Images
Cruise and Rogers started dating in 1985. In hindsight, it was probably a red flag that the pair couldn’t even agree on how they first met.
How did Tom Cruise meet his first wife, Mimi Rogers? Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers arrive at 1989 Oscars March 29, 1989 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion,Los Angeles, California. | Paul Harris/Getty Images
Cruise and Rogers started dating in 1985. In hindsight, it was probably a red flag that the pair couldn’t even agree on how they first met.
- 2/8/2023
- by Garrett Burke
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Louis Theroux’s latest documentary, My Scientology Movie, posed a unique challenge for the veteran filmmaker: How do you make a movie about a subject that has no interest in cooperating?
The answer, he learned, is you get creative. Theroux’s film has all the hallmarks of other notable Scientology exposés like Paul Haggis’ Going Clear and Leah Remini’s A&E series, including emotional interviews with ex-members and bizarre confrontations with parishioners and private investigators.
What separates My Scientology Movie from its predecessors is Theroux’s use of dramatic reenactments as a way not only to capture a version...
The answer, he learned, is you get creative. Theroux’s film has all the hallmarks of other notable Scientology exposés like Paul Haggis’ Going Clear and Leah Remini’s A&E series, including emotional interviews with ex-members and bizarre confrontations with parishioners and private investigators.
What separates My Scientology Movie from its predecessors is Theroux’s use of dramatic reenactments as a way not only to capture a version...
- 3/11/2017
- by Michael Miller
- PEOPLE.com
On a recent Sunday morning in London, BBC documentary host Louis Theroux was cooking pancakes for his children in his pajamas when local police came to his home to look into a reported threat on his life.
Then things got stranger. The police said they learned of the threat because the Church of Scientology had reached out to them … to pass along word of someone else purportedly out to harm Theroux.
Read More: Tribeca Review: ‘My Scientology Movie’ Is a Tinseltown Riff on ‘The Act of Killing’
“Maybe, thanks to them, I was saved from having some deranged Louis Theroux-hater coming around and whacking me around the head,” said Theroux, whose latest documentary, “My Scientology Movie,” opens in theaters today. “I just thought, this is vaguely comical.”
A certain amount of strange behavior is to be expected when making a movie about Scientology. The organization is well known for...
Then things got stranger. The police said they learned of the threat because the Church of Scientology had reached out to them … to pass along word of someone else purportedly out to harm Theroux.
Read More: Tribeca Review: ‘My Scientology Movie’ Is a Tinseltown Riff on ‘The Act of Killing’
“Maybe, thanks to them, I was saved from having some deranged Louis Theroux-hater coming around and whacking me around the head,” said Theroux, whose latest documentary, “My Scientology Movie,” opens in theaters today. “I just thought, this is vaguely comical.”
A certain amount of strange behavior is to be expected when making a movie about Scientology. The organization is well known for...
- 3/10/2017
- by Andrew Lapin
- Indiewire
BBC journalist Louis Theroux explores the Church of Scientology in his new documentary, “My Scientology Movie.” “Following a long fascination with the religion and with much experience in dealing with eccentric, unpalatable and unexpected human behavior, the beguilingly unassuming Theroux won’t take no for an answer when his request to enter the Church’s headquarters is turned down,” reads the official description of the film.
Read More: Louis Theroux Takes On Xenu With Documentary ‘My Scientology Movie’ — Review
Besides unscripted scenes, the film, directed by John Dower (“Ronald,” “The Last 48 Hours of Kurt Cobain”), also includes a series of scripted scenes in which actors replay incidents former Scientology members claim they experienced being part of the church. The film features interviews with Jefferson Hawkins, Marc Headley and Marty Rathbun, who all worked for the Church of Scientology in the past, and actors Tom De Vocht, Paz de la Huerta and Steven Mango,...
Read More: Louis Theroux Takes On Xenu With Documentary ‘My Scientology Movie’ — Review
Besides unscripted scenes, the film, directed by John Dower (“Ronald,” “The Last 48 Hours of Kurt Cobain”), also includes a series of scripted scenes in which actors replay incidents former Scientology members claim they experienced being part of the church. The film features interviews with Jefferson Hawkins, Marc Headley and Marty Rathbun, who all worked for the Church of Scientology in the past, and actors Tom De Vocht, Paz de la Huerta and Steven Mango,...
- 3/6/2017
- by Yoselin Acevedo
- Indiewire
My Scientology Movie Magnolia Pictures Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B Director: John Dower Writer: Louis Theroux, John Dower Cast: Rob Alter, Tom Cruise, Paz de la Huerta, Tom De Vocht, Jefferson Hawkins, Marc Headley, Steven Mango, Andrew Perez, Marty Rathbun, Stacia Roybal, Conner Stark, Louis Theroux Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 2/22/17 Opens: […]
The post My Scientology Movie Review: Bizarre scenes of bikini-clad woman appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post My Scientology Movie Review: Bizarre scenes of bikini-clad woman appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 2/23/2017
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Louis Theroux plays this setup- and stunt-driven documentary for laughs
This is less an in-depth investigation into the Church of Scientology than an entertaining but highly contrived string of scenes featuring Louis Theroux kicking an anthill and then watching the inhabitants react. Although he interviews several high-profile defectors from Scientology – most notably pugnacious former enforcer Marty Rathbun – Theroux’s approach is largely stunt-based. Using Rathbun as an adviser, he stages recreations of the world behind the fortified walls of the Scientologists’ compound. But to what end? It’s played more for humour than for the mounting discomfort generated by a similar technique in The Act of Killing. In the absence of interviews with current Scientology members, Theroux hovers around the entrance to the headquarters, trying to charm a few words out of the bristling security detail. It’s a device that owes a debt to Michael Moore’s bumbling everyman persona.
This is less an in-depth investigation into the Church of Scientology than an entertaining but highly contrived string of scenes featuring Louis Theroux kicking an anthill and then watching the inhabitants react. Although he interviews several high-profile defectors from Scientology – most notably pugnacious former enforcer Marty Rathbun – Theroux’s approach is largely stunt-based. Using Rathbun as an adviser, he stages recreations of the world behind the fortified walls of the Scientologists’ compound. But to what end? It’s played more for humour than for the mounting discomfort generated by a similar technique in The Act of Killing. In the absence of interviews with current Scientology members, Theroux hovers around the entrance to the headquarters, trying to charm a few words out of the bristling security detail. It’s a device that owes a debt to Michael Moore’s bumbling everyman persona.
- 10/9/2016
- by Wendy Ide
- The Guardian - Film News
Last year at the 2015 Lff Louis Theroux’s film on the Church of Scientology played to great acclaim. It followed Alex Gibney’s well-known Going Clear in shedding light on the Church, and it’s taken a year of festival play to get to its welcome UK release. Theroux’s jewel in the crown is Marty Rathbun, an […]
The post Exclusive: When Louis Met… HeyUGuys, to discuss his first feature length film, My Scientology Movie appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The post Exclusive: When Louis Met… HeyUGuys, to discuss his first feature length film, My Scientology Movie appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 10/7/2016
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
All sorts of weird stuff starts happening as Theroux reiterates the sheer nastiness of the organisation in his provocative documentary
The Church of Scientology is a deeply strange organisation and, appropriately enough, Louis Theroux has made a strange film about it. It works as a companion piece to another documentary, the one that I think is the definitive takedown: Alex Gibney’s Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, from 2015. It’s an interesting, if flawed piece of work; Theroux’s opaque manner masks an uncertainty as to exactly what he wants to say, and he finally seems to turn on his own chief witness.
Theroux’s Scientology movie is undoubtedly a smart piece of what could be called improv-ocation. He shows up in La, advertising his intention to film a series of scripted and unscripted scenes recreating key moments from the life of the Scientologists’ sinister chief, David Miscavige.
The Church of Scientology is a deeply strange organisation and, appropriately enough, Louis Theroux has made a strange film about it. It works as a companion piece to another documentary, the one that I think is the definitive takedown: Alex Gibney’s Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, from 2015. It’s an interesting, if flawed piece of work; Theroux’s opaque manner masks an uncertainty as to exactly what he wants to say, and he finally seems to turn on his own chief witness.
Theroux’s Scientology movie is undoubtedly a smart piece of what could be called improv-ocation. He shows up in La, advertising his intention to film a series of scripted and unscripted scenes recreating key moments from the life of the Scientologists’ sinister chief, David Miscavige.
- 10/6/2016
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
[Embedcode {}] Louis Theroux, cousin of actor Justin Theroux, goes inside the Church of Scientology for his new documentary, My Scientology Movie. "This is my chance to experience Scientology first-hand," Theroux says as the premise of his film. "It's not like any church you can think of." However, along the way the British-American filmmaker encounters many difficulties that prevent him from gaining access to Scientology insiders due to their refusal to cooperate. "Eventually I realized they were never going to let me in," Theroux explains. But that doesn't stop him. He recruits Marty Rathbun, ex-member and former inspector general of the Church of Scientology.
- 9/30/2016
- by Karen Mizoguchi
- PEOPLE.com
[Embedcode {}] Louis Theroux, cousin of actor Justin Theroux, goes inside the Church of Scientology for his new documentary, My Scientology Movie. "This is my chance to experience Scientology first-hand," Theroux says as the premise of his film. "It's not like any church you can think of." However, along the way the British-American filmmaker encounters many difficulties that prevent him from gaining access to Scientology insiders due to their refusal to cooperate. "Eventually I realized they were never going to let me in," Theroux explains. But that doesn't stop him. He recruits Marty Rathbun, ex-member and former inspector general of the Church of Scientology.
- 9/30/2016
- by Karen Mizoguchi
- PEOPLE.com
The Church of Scientology has become the big bad of documentary filmmakers. Last year brought us Going Clear, a movie that delved into the bizarre history of Scientology and the strange, terrifying figure of its current leader David Miscavige. This year brought us a book by former Scientologist and actress Leah Remini, reigniting interest in the notoriously secretive and notoriously litigious group. Now, My Scientology Movie, from British journalist Louis Theroux and director John Dower, takes us ever deeper into the weird world of Scientology and the people that…make movies about Scientology.
As the title suggests, My Scientology Movie takes a novel approach. Rather than making a straight documentary, Theroux and Dower take their inspiration from Scientology’s love of big, lavish productions and decide to produce huge reenactments of alleged abusive events.
After being turned down for interviews by everyone within the Church, Theroux brings in the most...
As the title suggests, My Scientology Movie takes a novel approach. Rather than making a straight documentary, Theroux and Dower take their inspiration from Scientology’s love of big, lavish productions and decide to produce huge reenactments of alleged abusive events.
After being turned down for interviews by everyone within the Church, Theroux brings in the most...
- 4/18/2016
- by Lauren Humphries-Brooks
- We Got This Covered
Director: Alex Gibney; Writer: Alex Gibney; Starring: Mike Rinder, Marty Rathbun, Paul Haggis, Jason Beghe; Running time: 119 mins; Certificate: 15
Bring me Louis Theroux! There are many moments during this disappointing depiction of Scientology where you may be crying out that very same plea.
Unlike the staggeringly good Amy, this documentary fails to muster any sense of objectivity towards the subject matter and frequently comes across as overly manipulative - the very trait it seeks to expose and demonise when it comes to Scientology. It's epitomised by the use of footage featuring key figures in the religion, including John Travolta, Tom Cruise and its founder L Ron Hubbard, which often dwells or freeze frames on the blazing eyes or wild laughter in a bid to make them look crazy. It devalues its objectives.
Such subjective treatment needs a stronger authorial presence in the film, beyond the occasional off-camera voice of the interviewer.
Bring me Louis Theroux! There are many moments during this disappointing depiction of Scientology where you may be crying out that very same plea.
Unlike the staggeringly good Amy, this documentary fails to muster any sense of objectivity towards the subject matter and frequently comes across as overly manipulative - the very trait it seeks to expose and demonise when it comes to Scientology. It's epitomised by the use of footage featuring key figures in the religion, including John Travolta, Tom Cruise and its founder L Ron Hubbard, which often dwells or freeze frames on the blazing eyes or wild laughter in a bid to make them look crazy. It devalues its objectives.
Such subjective treatment needs a stronger authorial presence in the film, beyond the occasional off-camera voice of the interviewer.
- 6/26/2015
- Digital Spy
In the wake of HBO’s explosive Scientology documentary “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” which premiered Sunday on HBO, director Alex Gibney said former church members featured in the film have been threatened by the institution. “Most of the real vitriol is for the people who were in the film,” Gibney told TheWrap in an interview this week. “They’ve received threats of physical harm, threats of having their homes taken away, threats of being forced into bankruptcy. They’re being followed by private eyes and surveilled.” Prominent ex-congregates including Marty Rathbun, publicist Sylvia “Spanky” Taylor, Tom...
- 3/30/2015
- by Matt Donnelly
- The Wrap
It always seems documentary filmmakers have a hard time walking the line between commentator and story teller. Separating themselves from the subject and allowing the nature of the story they are telling to tell itself rather than manipulating it for their own means. This is a problem I've always had with Michael Moore's documentaries as he seems only interested in preaching to the choir rather than exploring both sides of the debate. When it comes to Alex Gibney's Scientology documentary, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, I genuinely feel he has done his absolute best to stand back and observe rather than inject himself or his opinions. He details an organization that, rather than respond to accusations, chooses to attack when confronted, and this has been going on even before the film's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2015 and continues to this very day.
- 3/26/2015
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The familiar tale of the billion-dollar rise of L. Ron Hubbard's sci-fi self-help religion-like philosophy/prank/cash-suck gets urgent, stylish treatment in Alex Gibney's HBO doc, a fleet and surefooted account of Scientology's origins, Hubbard's years at sea escaping U.S. taxes, and the misery and harassment faced by the church's apostates. In this case those include director Paul Haggis, ex-second-in-command Marty Rathbun, and onetime Travolta-wrangler Sylvia "Spanky" Taylor, whose efforts to take her child from a church nursery and escape her life of barely paid hard labor is here a tale of heart-clutching suspense. Lawrence Wright, whose book offers the film its reportorial basis, observes that there's no way John Travolta and Tom Cruise can't know about the slave-like cond...
- 3/11/2015
- Village Voice
One of the hottest tickets at Sundance was for "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief," Alex Gibney's new documentary. The first trailer has arrived, and it gives you just a taste of the revelations to come courtesy of Gibney, "Going Clear" author Lawrence Wright, and former Scientologists like director Paul Haggis, Marty Rathbun, and Hana Eltringham.
The response at Sundance was overwhelming, and some critics reported receiving an email from a Church of Scientology spokesperson requesting that they amend their reviews with a statement from the organization. The Church of Scientology has also responded with advertisements and online media campaigns targeting Gibney himself.
HBO, which will be airing "Going Clear" on March 29, had 160 lawyers vet the documentary beforehand.
[Via EW]...
The response at Sundance was overwhelming, and some critics reported receiving an email from a Church of Scientology spokesperson requesting that they amend their reviews with a statement from the organization. The Church of Scientology has also responded with advertisements and online media campaigns targeting Gibney himself.
HBO, which will be airing "Going Clear" on March 29, had 160 lawyers vet the documentary beforehand.
[Via EW]...
- 2/20/2015
- by Jenni Miller
- Moviefone
There are a lot of juicy revelations waiting to be discovered in Alex Gibney's upcoming Scientology documentary, "Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief." But perhaps the juiciest is the assertion that the cult group/religion forced Tom Cruise to divorce Nicole Kidman because her father is prominent psychiatrist, a practice Scientology is steadfastly against. "So in time, what they tried to do was, through auditing, get his head back away from Nicole — to literally turn their children against her, and tell their children that she was a suppressive person," Gibney told Vulture last month. "In addition, Tom was — as this has been written many times — concerned about Nicole Kidman’s possible infidelities. According to [former high ranking Scientologist] Marty Rathbun — he was the key fixer for [Scientology head] David Miscavige — Marty said he had a conversation with David Miscavige saying, 'Tom wants me to wiretap, this is ridiculous.' Miscavige said...
- 2/19/2015
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Doc reminds viewers of the insidious power of L. Ron Hubbard’s church that has long focused on Hollywood
“Going Clear,” the much-anticipated documentary about Scientology by veteran filmmaker Alex Gibney, caused a ruckus at Sundance on Sunday, resurfacing the most damaging accusations against the religion including a campaign to break up Tom Cruise’s marriage to Nicole Kidman.
Since the defection from the church in recent years by prominent members like Paul Haggis and investigative work including the book by Lawrence Wright on which the film is based, the worst of Scientology is already out there.
Also Read: Tom Cruise...
“Going Clear,” the much-anticipated documentary about Scientology by veteran filmmaker Alex Gibney, caused a ruckus at Sundance on Sunday, resurfacing the most damaging accusations against the religion including a campaign to break up Tom Cruise’s marriage to Nicole Kidman.
Since the defection from the church in recent years by prominent members like Paul Haggis and investigative work including the book by Lawrence Wright on which the film is based, the worst of Scientology is already out there.
Also Read: Tom Cruise...
- 1/26/2015
- by Sharon Waxman
- The Wrap
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