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Tom Cruise on Oprah puts Mission Impossible III in danger

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ManaByte

ManaByte

Member
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/m...9600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print&position=

Just months into his tenure as chairman of Paramount, Brad Grey is facing the sort of decision that makes Hollywood executives quiver: whether to proceed with production of the hugely expensive "Mission: Impossible III," even as its star, Tom Cruise, is puzzling associates and members of the public with his behavior while promoting another Paramount venture, "War of the Worlds."

An executive for Viacom, Paramount's parent company, said the studio had not yet decided whether to push ahead with production of "Mission: Impossible III," one of the company's most valuable franchises and a project on which tens of millions of dollars has already been spent. Shooting was planned to begin in Italy on July 18 and to continue on location in Europe and elsewhere.

"No definitive decision has been made; it's a discussion," said the executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared endangering the studio's relationship with Mr. Cruise. Other executives involved in the discussion said the production became an issue in recent days as the budget has climbed well over $150 million. A studio spokeswoman, Janet Hill, declined to comment.
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While promoting that film over the last several weeks, Mr. Cruise engaged in an increasingly public discussion of his religion, Scientology. Then he set tongues wagging in Hollywood and elsewhere with an hourlong appearance on the May 23 "Oprah" show, during which he jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell rapturously to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend, the actress Katie Holmes.

Many Hollywood stars are involved with the Church of Scientology, and there is nothing particularly unusual about trumpeting a new love. But some executives at Paramount and DreamWorks have voiced concern that fans were becoming distracted from the movie, which cost some $130 million to produce.

"You can have so much attention on a particular issue that maybe the movie doesn't get as much attention as it might," Marvin Levy, a spokesman for Mr. Spielberg, a partner in DreamWorks, said of the show. "It's the topic of conversation, for many reasons."
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Still, there have been other publicity hiccups related to Mr. Cruise's increasingly public association with Scientology, the religion founded by the science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. In a series of television interviews on "Access Hollywood" last week, the star spoke at length about his passion for Scientology, at one point criticizing Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants: Scientology considers modern psychiatry and its medications to be harmful.

And in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel in April, Mr. Cruise got into a heated exchange with an interviewer who called Scientology a pseudo-science after the star said he had personally "helped hundreds of people get off drugs." Mr. Spielberg was present at the interview and found himself defending Mr. Cruise's dedication to Scientology by comparing it to his work for his Shoah Foundation, which promotes education about the Holocaust. A DreamWorks executive called the exchange unfortunate.

One Spiegel interviewer, Lars-Olav Beier, said he was given a tour of Scientology's celebrity center before the interview. Ms. De Vette said Mr. Cruise talked about Scientology simply to answer questions. "Scientology didn't come up on 'Oprah,' " she observed. "It's a matter of what's being asked. He's not talking about it more than in the past."

Ms. De Vette also said she had not heard that plans for "Mission: Impossible III" were under review, and added that Mr. Cruise was in training for the film's stunts. "I know nothing about that," she said, referring to a Tuesday report on the Web site huffingtonpost.com that the film might be suspended. "As far as I know we're moving ahead."

Mr. Cruise's insistence on making his religion a prominent part of his current work has raised some resistance in Hollywood. Some executives from the United International Pictures, which is releasing "War of the Worlds" overseas, complained earlier about being asked to take a four-hour tour of Scientology facilities in Los Angeles in late January.

And Mr. Cruise's insistence on having a Scientology tent on the set of "War of the Worlds" created a conflict at Universal, where the movie was being shot, two executives involved said. The executives, who asked not to be identified to protect industry relationships, said that Mr. Cruise, his agent Kevin Huvane and Mr. Spielberg all had to appeal personally to the president of Universal Studios, Ron Meyer, for the tent to be permitted on the studio lot, where no solicitation is allowed.

The studio required that the tent not be used for recruitment purposes, they said. A studio spokesman declined to comment.
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P

Prince of Space

Banned
Some executives from the United International Pictures, which is releasing "War of the Worlds" overseas, complained earlier about being asked to take a four-hour tour of Scientology facilities in Los Angeles in late January.
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what
 
A

Azrael

Member
I think the Church of Scientology has a stash of pictures of Tom Cruise having gay sex and is blackmailing him or something.
 
W

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
Everyone has those pictures that wants them, though, Azrael. Its called "Eyes Wide Shut."

This is just nuts. I don't think he's tryign to force his religion on people... until they ask him about it. Like he doesn't go into interviews with an agenda to spread Scientology, except for that Access Hollywood stuff. But I mean... that stunt with the tent on the set? What a fucking joke. Although, there's a good chance that they were tehre just watching the film. Its not exactly a long-stretch to imagine scientology members enjoying movies about aliens killing all of humanity.
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Many Hollywood stars are involved with the Church of Scientology, and there is nothing particularly unusual about trumpeting a new love. But some executives at Paramount and DreamWorks have voiced concern that fans were becoming distracted from the movie, which cost some $130 million to produce.

"You can have so much attention on a particular issue that maybe the movie doesn't get as much attention as it might," Marvin Levy, a spokesman for Mr. Spielberg, a partner in DreamWorks, said of the show. "It's the topic of conversation, for many reasons."
Click to expand...

This doesn't make much sense to me. A lot of people are invariably more interested in stars' personal lives than their movies, so this is hardly something new.
 
T

Tazznum1

Member
33_katieholmescoldsores01.jpg
 
D

dskillzhtown

keep your strippers out of my American football
Well, Tom can always co-star with John Travolta in the sequel to 'Battlefield Earth'.


BTW: I think it is funny that my job has the Battlefied Earth site blocked because

"The Websense category "Non-Traditional Religions and Occult and Folklore" is filtered."
 
H

heavy liquid

Member
Man, Cruise has finally gone off the deep end. I kinda hope that he has a string of movies that fail, just to see how he ties it in with Scientology. Especially after he ripped Brooke Shields (who is a nut herself, but that's besides the point).

And thanks, Tazz. I used to think Katie Holmes was cute.. :(
 
G

Ghost

Chili Con Carnage!
To be fair to Tom, that opera set was just full of woman screaming for his man juice, literally, i think he just went a little crazy with it.
 
W

Willco

Hollywood Square
There was a report that Katie Holmes is likely to adopt Scientology now!

WE'VE GOT TO SAVE HER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! WHO'S WITH ME?
 
H

Hitman

Edmonton's milkshake attracts no boys.
Tom Cruise rocks. After War of the World's destroys Box Office numbers people will forget about his Oprah appearance and movie producers will start sucking his dick to get him in movies again.
 
S

Shogmaster

Member
Willco said:
There was a report that Katie Holmes is likely to adopt Scientology now!

WE'VE GOT TO SAVE HER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! WHO'S WITH ME?
Click to expand...


Fuck that dude. The bitch's got mad herpies. Let them have her.
 
M

Macam

Banned
Mel Gibson's completely gone off his rocker and it's been nothing but money hats for him. Tom Cruise just seems to be following suit.
 
H

heavy liquid

Member
trippingmartian said:
You can't really fault Cruise for having a strong belief system, but that stunt he pulled on Oprah Winfrey was just wacky.
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Nah, I just fault him for having a strong belief in a pseudo-religion like Scientology. ;)
 
M

Manics

Banned
I believe it's the lack of sex with Miss Holmes that is driving Tom nuts right about now. He's carryin around a pair of huge blue balls.
 
T

Tazznum1

Member
I still say he's acting like this because this is the first time he got an erection with a female and doesn't know how to respond to it.
 
P

Particle Physicist

between a quark and a baryon
Manics said:
I believe it's the lack of sex with Miss Holmes that is driving Tom nuts right about now. He's carryin around a pair of huge blue balls.
Click to expand...


:lol i told my sister this.. and she wouldnt believe me that holmes is a professed virgin.
 
C

cubanb

Banned
Wow. WHat the heck is up with cruise. That was just plain wacky. From kneeling to couch surfing to trying to wrestle Oprah.
Whatever Vitamins he is taking , he needs to stop
 
S

spliced

Member
Cruise has been super figity in most of the interviews I've seen him do in the last few years so this Opera thing didn't seem that odd to me. I don't think he likes being in front of a live audience talking about himself.
 
M

MIMIC

Banned
So I finally get around to watching the Oprah interview in it's entirety. And this nigga IS crazy. At first, it's like, "Oh, he's just really happy...ha ha ha." But when he jumped on the couch AGAIN, it's like, "Damn, you need to bring it down a little."

Oprah: "This is beyond smitten; this is GONE!"
Tom: "I'm standing on your couch!"

And then he proceeded to ATTACK Oprah. :lol

:lol

As long as he doesn't kill anyone, I still like 'em. He hasn't TOTALLY turned me off. :)
 
D

Diablos

Member
MI:2 sucked ass. The first one was one of the best examples of what movies in the 90's had to offer, however. But MI:3 will likely keep up the fine tradition of fucking everything up. So yeah, ditch the project for all I care.
 
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