Tom Cruise's version of a first date

(Aka an excuse to post a picture of Scarlet Johansson.)

It seems Tom Cruise's version of getting to first base is when a potential girlfriend is willing to sit through a Scientology presentation. As Be Lambic or Green reported, Katie Holmes passed this test (er, shouldn’t that be “failed”?) and is joining the cult, but apparently she wasn’t his first choice. Scarlet Johansson was given the treatment first:

[Cruise] took me into this room, which was stifling hot, and was showing me all kinds of info about joining the church

(Snip)

After two hours of proselytizing… Cruise opened a door to reveal a second room full of upper-level Scientologists who had been waiting to dine with the pair, at which point the cool-headed ingénue politely excused herself.

How reliable is the story? Impossible to say, but it fits with Cruise’s obsession with the cult. If true it also shows Johansson to be a cut above the average celebrity.  Smarter than Katie Holmes anyway.

Comments

[mw]

Read the press release from the War of the Worlds junket, where Cruise got testy over a question about whether or not the movie resonated with him due to Scientology's belief in aliens? Apparently Cruise insisted aliens have nothing to do with Scientology teachings and advised the interviewer read some of Elron's fine literature. Can Tom really NOT know about Xenu and the intergalactic war thing? It looks like there are indeed aspects of the religion that Scientology's trophy celebrities are kept from.

Tom has been having an odd meltdown lately. Both Katie and Scientology have dogpiled his public credibility lately and added him to the celebrity woo-woo list in a surprisingly short time period. Up until a few weeks ago he was a regular superstar, loved by some, not loved by others, but not necessarily considered part of the weirdo contingent by either group.

[Orac]

You should also check out his interview with Matt Lauer to see Cruise meltdown. Lauer persisted in asking him about some of his loopier comments about psychiatry, particularly his bashing of Brooke Shields for using antidepressants after postpartum depression:

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3tc.htm

[Skeptico]

Funny. So Cruise thinks psychotherapy is pseudoscience? I suppose bad science fiction masquerading as science is better?

It’s a pity Lauer didn’t directly call him on the pseudoscientific Narconon program.

[Amanda]

I noted while watching Batman Begins the other day that Tom would certainly be stoked with the portrayal of the psychiatric profession. I dunno about the "average celebrity" bit, seems to me the average celeb is no more or less gullible/whatever than the average normal folk, just they have microphones stuck in their face more often.

I *have* been gratified to see the way Scientology has been scoffed at during this whole TomKat business. Not just by People Like Us, but the community, media, blogs etc in general. Excellent.

[Joseph Thompson]

Tom knows about Xenu et. al. In fact, legend has it that when he finally got to read the OT3 document, he cracked and Co$ had to keep him locked up for a while until his insanity levels subsided.

The question would be "Have they told Katie yet?". Celebrities usually get crammed through all the courses they can pay for, which is why Tom's OT8 (or is it 9 now?) and Joe and Jane Clambrain at the local org have spent a decade in pre-clear.

Surely his sister/publicist/fellow clam would be reminding him about what happened to Ben Affleck after we all got sick of hearing about Bennifer, though.

I wish the US media would grow a pair and dig into Scientology. They have no problems exposing Kabbalah, TM, the Moonies, televangelists, Caritas, etc., so why are they so afraid of Co$ attorneys?

[mw]

Joseph, I think it has to do with Scientology's hyper-litigiousness. At any given time they usually have hundreds of active lawsuits in play, few of which they actually intend to win, but the goal there is to screw your opponent to death with legal fees. To go after something most people dismiss as silliness, that sort of financial and personal hassle isn't worth the effort. Anyway about 15 years ago Time did a really abusive cover story on Scientology, calling it a "cult of greed," and the harassment the writter of that article got from those loons apparently lasted for years.

[mw]

Check this out. HILARIOUS transcripted version of Cruise/Lauer face-off, with -- erm -- appropriate illustrated commentary.

http://youcantmakeitup.blogspot.com/2005/06/cruise-uncontrollable.html

[Joseph Thompson]

I don't think it's necessarily about the lawsuits. Major media companies already deal with countless crackpot suits daily.

I think it's because any TV outlet that did so would find itself minus a bunch of employees the next day. For every A-list celeb like Cruise, there are quite a few nobodies who just happen to owe their jobs to Co$ connections.