Tom’s pop-up preaching for movie chums
Actor’s on-set booth to plug Scientology
TOM Cruise is so devoted to Scientology he set a booth up on set to try to convert the cast and crew on one of his films, according to a top Hollywood agent.
Michael Ovitz, who used to represent the 56-year-old, said he ignored warnings to keep quiet about his controversial faith.
He says in his memoirs: “We advised our clients to keep their heads low and mouths shut. In those days, Tom
Cruise’s profile as a Scientologist was minimal because we’d told him, ‘Keep your religion and your work separate’.
“I read Dianetics, by the founder of Scientology, L Ron Hubbard, to better understand what we were up against and went to see David Miscavige, Hubbard’s successor, and explained we had a common interest: ‘We don’t want to see Tom’s name in the paper for anything but his career.’ “Spielberg told me that on the set of their 2005 film War of the Worlds Tom set up a Scientology booth to proselytise.” Cruise has campaigned for Scientology to be recognised as a religion in Europe. In 2013, he claimed ex-wife Katie Holmes filed for divorce because she did not want their daughter Suri involved with it.