ARTICLES
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SCIENTOLOGY IN HOLLYWOOD
article by Jason Daniel Baker
Scientologists in Hollywood include John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston, Tom Cruise and ex-wife Mimi Rogers, Jason Lee, Kirstie Alley, brothers Danny and Chris Masterson, Erika Christensen, Nancy Cartwright, Catherine Bell, Geoffrey Lewis and daughter Juliette Lewis, Michael Pena, Giovanni Ribisi, Jenna Elfman, Leah Remini, Singers Isaac Hayes and Chaka Khan, jazz musician Chick Corea, Karen Black, Anne Archer, Priscilla Presley and daughter Lisa Marie, Michelle Stafford, Corin Nemec, Jason Beghe, Bernadette Peters, Cathy Lee Crosby. The list is growing. Some members (Giovanni Ribisi and Juliette Lewis for instance) were raised in the religion indicating a continuity that punctures the notion suggesting Scientology is just a passing fad or trendy cult.
While much of the hype is based on the talent in front of the camera that has embraced Scientology, Director J.J. Abrams, Ernest Lehman, screenwriter of The Sound of Music, Dick Tracy screenwriter Floyd Mutrux and composer Mark Isham (A River Runs Through It) are but a few examples of behind the scenes talent in the Church.
The mainstream media may have collectively decided to ridicule Scientology for various reasons but Hollywood is world renowned for it's flakiness. All kinds of weirdness and basic eccentricity are accomodated if those involved deliver vast sums of box office money or huge ratings. Scientologists (at least the ones you hear about) do that in spades.
The history of Hollywood has been one rife with important people vital to the entertainment industry abusing mass quantities of drugs, using prostitutes, espousing bizarre political stances etc. What is Scientology compared with that?
What is Scientology compared with other world religions? It has it's bad PR but Catholicism is being painted as a cadre of anti-semitism and pedophilia these days. Islam is being, and has long been characterized as a terrorist phenomenon. The media has actually been rougher in covering them than in covering Scientology.
Scientology claims to be the world's fastest growing religion. It is impossible to locate a time in American history when so-called small sects were not growing at a faster rate than denominations viewed as large and stable. It's growing stable of members in Hollywood have many occasions to work together.
Tom Cruise and Jason Lee co-starred in VANILLA SKY. Cruise and Kelly Preston co-starred in Jerry Maguire. Cruise starred in Mission Impossible 3 directed by fellow Scientologist J.J. Abrams.
Juliette Lewis has appeared on an episode of MY NAME IS EARL with fellow Scientologist Jason Lee. She has also appeared on an episode of DHARMA & GREG with fellow Scientologist Jenna Elfman. She also co-starred with Giovanni Ribisi in THE OTHER SISTER. Ribisi has also appeared on MY NAME IS EARL numerous times.
Ethan Suplee plays the brother of fellow Scientologist Jason Lee on the show MY NAME IS EARL. He has also appeared with Lee in MALLRATS, CHASING AMY & CLERKS II.
Leah Remini's first substantial role was as a guest star on CHEERS as Carla's daughter Serafina. Her first scenes were with fellow Scientologist Kirstie Alley.
Bodhi Elfman is husband to fellow Scientologist Jenna Elfman. He has appeared on her series Dharma & Greg and on the series VERONICA'S CLOSET which starred fellow Scientologist Kirstie Alley. He also appeared in the movie version of THE MOD SQUAD with fellow Scientologist Giovanni Ribisi, in COLLATERAL with fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise and in the 2002 movie LOST with fellow Scientologist Michelle Stafford.
Scientologists Jason Beghe and Catherine Bell co-starred in the 2002 tv movie CAB TO CANADA.
Are these cases of Scientologists helping fellow Scientologists get work? Or are these merely indicative of the prevalence that Scientology is getting in Hollywood? If Scientology could not get work for it's people do you really think an unlikely star as Bodhi Elfman would have a career?
You have to wonder when Scientology's influence in Hollywood will result in it's forming it's own film studio. The critical mass is falling into place and the money is in evidence.
Of course one need not become a Scientologist to get to work with Scientologists more than once. Thomas Gibson played Greg on DHARMA & GREG with Jenna Elfman and co-starred with Tom Cruise in the films FAR & AWAY and EYES WIDE SHUT.
Woody Harrelson has co-starred with Kirstie Alley on CHEERS, Juliette Lewis on NATURAL BORN KILLERS.
Former Scientologists like Patrick Swayze and Diane Canova (the tv series SOAP) have seen their careers decline after disowning Scientology. Coincidence? Probably.
Other past Scientologists include Jerry Seinfeld, Top Gun producer Don Simpson and actor Brad Pitt. Simpson is dead. Seinfeld does not work much in an onscreen way these days but Pitt is no less of a star than he was when he left Scientology.
The rest of the list of Ex-Scientologists? Here are just a few: Actresses Sharon Stone, Sofia Milos and Peggy Lipton, Emilio Estevez, director Oliver Stone, poet Leonard Cohen, John Brodie (former all-pro quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers), singers Lou Rawls and Ricky Martin.
Some of these people have perhaps joined temporarily to derive momentary advantage. One might speculate that membership put a director or producer in position to get an A-list actor for a movie (a huge step in getting a project greenlighted by a major studio) and joining Scientology helped.
Did Oliver Stone join Scientology to get Tom Cruise to star in BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY? Did Don Simpson join Scientology to get Tom Cruise to star in TOP GUN? The conspiracy theories are endless.
Conversely Karen Black, an actress who at one time during the the 1970's seemed to be in the most talked about movies of every year but gained a reputation for being extremely difficult to work with does not seem to have benefitted in recent years by affiliation with Scientology.
It will be telling to see what happens to those stars that have not just shunned but openly denigrated Scientology. Brooke Shields is one such star. Will her career be hurt by her numerous clashes in the media with Tom Cruise?
Tom Berenger used the fact that his wife was a Scientologist in divorce proceeding with his wife. He publicly criticized Scientology. His career has declined but it was going downhill anyway.
Actor Mike Farrell (MASH) also publicly criticized Scientology but he never had much of a career anyway outside of minor TV stardom and whatever decline it might have had could just as easily be attributed to the public criticisms the left-leaning ex-Marine has continually made of powerful interests throughout his career.
Director Richard Donner ran afoul of Scientology over a single line in perhaps his dumbest movie DELIRIOUS. The line and scene are not even worth repeating but seem to hint at brainwashing and refer to Scientology. Donner has suggested he received threatening phone calls from Scientologists over the reference.
Hollywood weirdness being what it is suggests that not only should celebrities in the entertainment field have their own religion but perhaps even their own planet.
CULT OR SECRET SOCIETY?
Author Alexis De Toqueville was effusive in talking about the United States in his writings. The one thing he felt made the U.S. special above all else was the strength of it's associations and the loyalty those associations were able to command from their respective members.
At the time that De Toqueville was writing the United States remained a bastion of various religious sects seeking refuge from repressive regimes in other countries. The United States has, of course, changed.
Religious sects that are in any way different from established religions are continually ridiculed as cults. Even with glamourous, well-heeled celebrities as members Scientology has not shaken the "cult" label and is viewed by some critics as being similar to the Moonies or Hari Krishnas.
Some even suggest that the term "cult" flatters what Scientology is saying that it is really just a gloirified tax shelter utilizing American tax laws regarding religion to their advantage.
Whatever it is and whatever it once was will continually be talked about no matter what it becomes. Included in that will be accusations of being a cult or secret society which will end when public perception collectively decides it should.
Hollywood has many associations of different varieties that entertainment industry people have found themselves in. Scientology has become the biggest and strongest. It offers an unmistakable path for advancement to it's members.
Source links:
http://www.factnet.org/Scientology/celebcrit.html
http://www.bible.ca/scientology-poor-famous-members.htm
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