Simply as Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell saves the world and his fellow fighter pilots from the aggressions of an evil nation on this summer season’s “High Gun” sequel, the actor is credited with saving the movie trade by spearheading a critically acclaimed motion blockbuster that has earned greater than $1 billion on the international field workplace.
However to perform this feat, Cruise didn’t simply line up the suitable director, insist on using “sensible results” for the thrilling aerial sequences or demand that the movie solely open in theaters. Cruise additionally needed to downplay what a brand new report says has lengthy been the actor’s “driving drive” to be a Hollywood hero: His devotion to the controversial Church of Scientology.
The group, based by the science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard in 1953, “appeals to the type of worldview Cruise embodies,” Vox stated. “The world is below assault from evil forces, Scientology teaches, and all that stops them is one good man who’s not going to let petty guidelines get in his means.”
As Vox and different shops have reported, being related to Scientology has turn out to be a P.R. legal responsibility for stars equivalent to Cruise and John Travolta, who used to speak brazenly about their dedication to the celebrity-friendly group. Scientology has been accused of being “a pyramid scheme at greatest and at worst, alleged to be an abusive cult taking advantage of pressured labor and human trafficking,” Vox stated, citing lawsuits and experiences from former members.
Over time, the church has repeatedly and strongly denied accusations that it has financially exploited its members or engaged in different types of abuse. It says these allegations have been concocted by disgruntled former members and that its critics are participating in a type of spiritual bigotry.
Nonetheless, Cruise’s reputation plummeted within the mid-2000s after he indulged in some high-profile oversharing about Scientology and his private life, in response to Vox and different shops. He jumped on Oprah Winfrey’s sofa to declare his love for third spouse Katie Holmes and publicly railed in opposition to Brooke Protect’s use of anti-depressants to alleviate her postpartum melancholy. In 2008, Cruise appeared manic and laughing in a leaked Scientology recruitment video, speaking about how the church impressed him to turn out to be a savior determine in on a regular basis conditions.
By 2011, Wired declared that Scientology is one purpose “nobody takes Tom Cruise severely anymore.” Extra unfavourable publicity for Cruise and Scientology got here the next 12 months after Holmes out of the blue filed for divorce. Tales emerged about how Holmes was wanting to retain full custody of their daughter, Suri, and save her from Scientology’s affect. It’s additionally been reported that Cruise has since had little contact together with his daughter as a result of she and her mom didn’t turn out to be Scientologists.
Scientology is trending… It is a REMINDER that Tom Cruise selected this faith over his daughterpic.twitter.com/63CXhWeTDf
— Neo Jane (@NeoJane8) July 22, 2022
The divorce opened up the floodgates for extra “damning” reporting on Cruise’s connections to Scientology and his shut friendship with chief David Miscavige, Vox stated. A 2012 Vainness Truthful exposé regarded on the means Cruise allegedly relied on the church to search out his subsequent girlfriend after his break up from Nicole Kidman, whereas Lawrence Wright’s 2013 ebook, “Going Clear,” reported that Cruise benefitted from Scientology ordering its members to repair up his houses or automobiles.”
Within the 10 years since his break up from Holmes, Cruise has labored “laborious to alter the narrative,” Vox author Constance O’Grady has stated. He has stopped his oversharing and virtually turned himself into “a clean,” IndieWire reported. He not often offers interviews and solely talks to journalists if they comply with not ask him questions on his faith and household, Vox stated.
One notable exception was in 2016 when a reporter for ITV managed to catch Cruise on the premiere of his movie, “Jack Reacher: By no means Go Again” and ask him about Scientology, The Guardian reported.
Cruise replied basically phrases, saying, “It’s one thing that has helped me extremely in my life. I’ve been a Scientologist for over 30 years. It’s one thing that's, … with out it, I wouldn’t be the place I'm. So, it’s a ravishing faith. I’m extremely proud.”
As extra details about the group’s alleged abuses has turn out to be public, by such automobiles as Leah Remini’s A&E present, “Scientology and the Aftermath,” “no Scientologist needs to be put ready having to answer questions on it,” Remini’s co-host, Mike Rinder, stated to the Bay Space Information Group in Could.
Certainly, it’s laborious to see Cruise nowadays letting himself be put in the identical place as Elisabeth Moss. The star of “The Handmaid’s Story” was pressed to clarify her dedication to Scientology whereas sitting for an in any other case glowing New Yorker profile that was revealed in April.
For the publicity blitz for “High Gun,” Cruise has averted these sorts of one-on-one conditions with reporters, whereas nonetheless producing enthusiastic headlines by touchdown a helicopter on an plane provider on the movie’s San Diego premiere, or gallantly escorting Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, right into a theater in London.
Cruise’s effort to alter the narrative has largely been profitable. He’s having fun with a late-career renaissance, with “High Gun: Maverick” raking in each cash and accolades. Writers even have hailed Cruise because the “greatest film star on the planet,” whereas severe discuss has emerged that his efficiency in “High Gun” might put him in rivalry for an Academy Award for the primary time in additional than 20 years, in response to Vainness Truthful.
“Maverick will not be Cruise’s greatest efficiency, certain,” stated Vainness Truthful’s Katey Wealthy. “However as a distillation of all the things that has made Cruise a generation-defining star, Maverick is just about excellent. If the Academy needs to lastly award Cruise a statue, it’s not going there might be a greater alternative to take action.”
Then once more, Wealthy factors out why a contemporary Oscars marketing campaign might be difficult for an actor who has lengthy “been protected by his tower of mega-fame and Scientology.” He’d must “to embark on some type of authenticity tour,” Wealthy stated.
For megastars, that often means addressing previous scandals and private demons in no less than one main interview that’s assured to go viral and form the dialog about them. When Brad Pitt was in rivalry for a greatest supporting actor Oscar for “As soon as Upon a Time in Hollywood,” he generated numerous public good will by opening as much as the New York Occasions and different shops about his struggles to beat alcohol abuse, poisonous masculinity and his painful divorce from Angelina Jolie.
It in all probability wouldn’t be really easy for Cruise to let go of his tightly managed public picture. “It’s one factor for Cruise to fly onto an plane provider or maintain court docket in entrance of a crowd in Cannes, and one other solely to open up for the type of profiles or roundtable conversations which can be ever-present in trendy Oscar campaigns,” Wealthy stated.