With the recent death of Isaac Hayes I'm reminded of his involvement in the South Park controversy in which his belonging to the 'church' of Scientology made him less-than-inclined to work for the show anymore. Many of you may remember-- Hayes was offended by an episode of Comedy Central's South Park that ripped his religion a new one.
Vanilla Sky, the 2001 film in which Tom Cruise (the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard) finds himself trapped in a Lynchian nightmare, can be found on Jaman these days. I can't be sure, but I think this is around the time period when he starts going nuts in real life. Can you see it in his eyes?
Maybe Mr. Cruise is following a legitimate religious practice, but I'm still skeptical. L. Ron Hubbard was known to write fiction. He once claimed that he could make more money starting a religion than writing fiction. I'm just saying.
My question to all of you is, how many other films on Jaman have known scientologists in them? Post trailers in the comments!
Originally posted at 10:29am, Aug 14, 2008 PDT ( permalink ) john_the_harrison edited this discussion 4 months ago
Scientology is not a religion, don't take their logo at face value. Its a glorified pyramid scheme that ruins lives. Oh, and Tom Cruise is definitely already batshit in Vanilla Sky.
I can't think of any Jaman movies with nutbags in, but here is a list to scare yourself. here
Say what you will about Cruise, but give the man credit for being completely aware of the image he projects, and his willingness to interrogate his persona and celebrity - the facial mutilations he suffers in VANILLA SKY, the tortures he encounters in the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE films are different from, say, the ongoing martyrdom explored by Mel Gibson. Also, Cruise's performance in MAGNOLIA is a knowing (and rather brave) piece of self-examination. And I'm hearing that he's pretty hilarious as the studio chief in TROPIC THUNDER.
From what I've heard, he is pretty hilarious in Tropic Thunder. I will absolutely concede that I have enjoyed my fair share of Cruise roles, but a bad taste creeps into my mouth when I see clips of the man babbling on about his religion... I have to wonder, given the all-encompassing nature of Scientology, if the reflective roles he takes are directed by the church and not his own ambitions.
I guess what I'm really trying to say is that Scientology pisses me off because I think it's a money-grubbing cult that takes advantage of people (and takes a special kind of advantage with high-profile folks). Tom Cruise scares me because he's a public figure representing this cult, and a well-loved one to many people. There's a combination there that makes my skin itch. I am in no way qualified to accuse either the church of Scientology or Tom Cruise of anything, but the potential for a bad, bad cult to do bad, bad things is totally there. Just sayin'.
To appreciate the man's work it does help to separate oneself from the celebrity gossip that passes for news these days. Granted, the ubiquity of the stuff makes that difficult.
The names of many performers operating out of the L.A. entertainment industry appear on this list, from musicians to actors, but other than that, the vast majority of these individuals are not prominent scientists, doctors, social activists, tech geniuses, heads of nations, philanthropists, architects, journalists, CEOs . . . i.e., influential thinkers and leaders spanning the globe.
It may be that Scientology provides guidelines for keeping one's head straight in the insane world of Hollywood but from the outside, it's difficult to say. At this point, it looks less like a religion and more like a savvy social/business network for the movie & music industry.
Until I start hearing about stockpiles of ammunition in the Mojave dessert and children being forced to wear turn-of-the-century garb, I won't push the panic button just yet.
