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Saturday, August 11, 2007

Will Tom Cruise Get the Last Laugh?


One year after he was publicly fired by Paramount Pictures for his erratic behavior Scientologist Tom Cruise is in Germany filming his highly anticipated Bryan Singer project "Valkyrie" (to be released 08/08/08) as the head of the resurrected United Artists studio recently injected with $500 million, while the Hollywood power couple responsible for his firing may be headed for a bitter divorce.


Almost one year ago Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone fired Tom Cruise after 14 years of cooperation and hundreds of million of dollars in box office revenue because, as he put it, Tom's recent behavior (including jumping on Oprah Winfrey's couch, attacking Brooke Shields because of her use of antidepressants, etc.) hurt box office results of the studio's costly "Mission Impossible 3."


Redstone (84) later explained his wife Paula Fortunato (44) a former schoolteacher (because of whom he divorced his first wife Phyllis in 2002 after 52 years of marriage) influenced him in his decision because she believed Cruise's behavior was unacceptable and she, as the rest of the country, began to hate him. One year later, the couple appear to be headed for a nasty divorce.



Meanwhile, Tom Cruise and his business partner Paula Wagner made a deal with MGM late last year to resurrect the flatlining United Artists movie studio (known for Pink Panther, Rocky and James Bond franchises) and, with the blessing from Merril Lynch worth $500 million, manage the studio and oversee the production of new blockbusters, many of which will star Tom Cruise.



The studio's first project is the new Robert Redford movie "Lions for Lambs" (out November 9, 2007) starring Redford, Cruise and Meryl Streep which was filmed earlier this year on the campuses of Claremont Colleges in California.



In the movie, injuries sustained by two Army ranger behind enemy lines in Afghanistan set off a sequence of events involving a congressman (Cruise), a journalist (Streep) and a professor (Redford).



Cruise is currently filming his summer 2008 movie "Valkyrie" in which he plays Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg "the good Nazi" who was one of the leading figures of the failed July 20 Plot of 1944 to kill German dictator Adolf Hitler.

Both projects are fairly inexpensive compared to Tom Cruise's previous blockbusters ("Lions for Lambs" cost only $35 million to produce, "Valkyrie" will cost $80 million). But if Cruise's United "Screw You Sumner Redstone" Artists project is a success, the controversial Scientologist will be getting his last laugh.



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posted by Justin Van De Kamp at 5:00 PM 2 Comments

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Germany Bans Cruise Nazi Movie


Germany has banned the makers of the Tom Cruise movie about the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler from shooting at German military sites because Cruise is a Scientologist and Berlin believes the Hollywood cult masquerades as a religion to make money. Is the German Government intolerant and paranoid in their hatred of Scientology or do they have a good reason to be worried?

Berlin has never recognized Scientology as a church, and in 1992 it established The Scientology Task Force for the Hamburg Interior Authority, an organization whose primary mission is to monitor the activities and publications of Scientology, raise public awareness about the organization, and serve as a resource to Scientology members who may wish to exit the group.

Furthermore, German politicians have called Scientology members "a cancer" on its society, as their aims included "world domination and the destruction of society," as well as "infiltration of business and government." Has Berlin gone too far?

In addition to its controversial origins, teachings and business practices, Scientology has generated additional negative publicity as early as the 1970s when their criminal activities, the so-called "Operation Snow White" and "Operation Freakout" had been exposed.

"Operation Snow White" was carried out in the 1970s - the goal was to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Scientology operatives committed infiltration, wiretapping, and theft of documents in government offices, most notably those of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Eleven highly-placed Church executives, including Mary Sue Hubbard (wife of founder L. Ron Hubbard and second in command of the organization), pleaded guilty or were convicted in federal court of obstructing justice, burglary of government offices, and theft of documents and government property.

"Operation Freakout" was a covert plan intended to have the author Paulette Cooper (she wrote the highly critical book "The Scandal of Scientology") imprisoned or committed to a mental institution. The plan failed after the "Operation Snow White" was exposed.

In 1991 Time Magazine published an article entitled "The Cult of Greed and Power" unmasking the practices of the organization. Scientology filed a $416 million lawsuit which was ultimately dismissed. The cult is known for harassment and litigious actions against its critics and enemies.

Last year Paramount Studios pompously parted its ways with Tom Cruise after reports about a dozen Scientology members surrounding studio chief Brad Grey on a parking lot in an attempt to pressure Grey to give Cruise a better deal in the Mission Impossible 3 project.

According to Radar Online, John Travolta used similar tactics in the 1990s to get FOX to produce science-fiction stinker "Battlefield Earth" (based on founder Hubbard's science-fiction book) which eventually bombed at the box office - it cost $73 million to produce, but earned $21 million in domestic sales.

Former FOX studio chief Bill Mechanic said at the time: "He had Scientologists all over me. They come up to you and they know who you are."

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posted by Justin Van De Kamp at 12:25 PM 1 Comments

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes Attend Australia's Richest Man's Wedding @ Côte d'Azur


Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise, wife Katie Holmes and daughter Suri hit the beach party on Paloma Beach, St Jean de Cap Ferrat on French Riviera on Tuesday, having arrived as guests for Australia's richest man and fellow Scientologist James Packer's wedding to fiancee Erica Baxter, an Australian model-tuned-singer.


Cruise and wife Katie presented the image of a picture perfect family for the French paparazzi throughout the five hour party, parading their baby Suri and posing on a wharf for family shots. Katie than stripped to a black one-piece bathing suit, revealing her toned body and going for a dip in the sea with Suri.

The family was driven to the $6 million party in a luxury silver car, zooming out the front gate of the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc where many of the guests are staying. Cruise then met with the couple at the pre-wedding beach party, congratulated them and shared jokes with them as the paparazzi kept their cameras working.



James Packer is the son of the late billionaire media mogul Kerry Packer and is the Executive Chairman of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL), which owns some stations of the Australian commercial television network Nine.

Packer was also a director of Australian telecommunications company One.Tel which collapsed in 2001 and cost his company over AU$300 million. He has since recovered by creating a global gambling empire.

In 2002, Packer began attending the Church of Scientology, taking courses on the Church's Dundas campus. It was reported in the Australian media that Tom Cruise had urged Packer to join Scientology and begin auditing sessions.



Tom Cruise had a very close bond with Packer, especially after his separation from Nicole Kidman.

The Sydney Morning Herald said "the bond between the two men strengthened in the wake of the collapse of telephony company One.Tel last year and his separation from wife Jodhi in June".

During this time, Packer travelled extensively to the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles.



UPDATE: It has just been reported that the secret wedding took place at 11:00 a.m. Central European Time on Wednesday morning (that's 5:00 a.m. EST) in a secret location. It is believed the couple went either to a nearby yacht to be married by a ship's captain, or possibly to a French town hall to be married by a local mayor.

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posted by Justin Van De Kamp at 10:00 AM 0 Comments

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Katie Holmes Pregnant, Again


British tabloid The Sun has revealed in the "Bizarre" section of their website that Hollywood actress Katie Holmes who gave birth to her and husband Tom Cruise's child Suri in April of last year is pregnant again. Meanwhile, pre-production work is under way for Tom Cruise's World War II drama "Valkyrie" which begins shooting in Berlin in July.

The couple have flown to Nice, France after helping friends David and Victoria Beckham celebrate Real Madrid's victory on Sunday when Katie was still hiding her bump under a loose dress.

According to the tabloid, the couple joined the post-match party where revellers drank wine called Primat — huge bottles the equivalent of 36 normal bottles. Baby Suri was left in Berlin where Tom has been preparing for his upcoming movie.

Hollywood press meanwhile reports that Dutch actress Carice Van Houten was chosen to play the female lead opposite Cruise in the Bryan Singer drama also co-starring Tom Wilkinson.

The story is based on the true-life attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Kenneth Branagh has already joined the cast.

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posted by Justin Van De Kamp at 12:30 PM 1 Comments

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