Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Scientologists Reportedly Unhappy With ‘The Master'


A while back we heard that Tom Cruise (who has remained friends with PTA since "Magnolia") had been shown "The Master" and that he "had issues" with it. Yesterday, in light of his recent divorce, the NY Daily News did some digging (or speculating) by intimating that the Church of Scientology was unhappy with certain aspects of the film.
A source familiar with Paul Thomas Anderson ’s film about the founder of a Scientology-like religious movement tells us officials of the controversial church group “hit the roof” when they learned — presumably through Cruise — that the movie contains a scene which suggests the belief system was little more than a product of the leader’s fertile imagination.

According to our insider, one scene that didn’t sit well with Cruise takes place on a patio where Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Freddie Sutton, a troubled drifter who becomes Dodd’s right-hand disciple, watches Dodd pontificate about the religion he has created.
During the scene, the source says, another character close to the founder turns to Phoenix and says of Dodd, “You know he’s making it up as he goes along.”
Referring to the actual Church of Scientology, our source says, “Tom Cruise’s people are grumbling about this line — amongst others — but Anderson is not taking it out.”
Cruise’s spokeswoman declined to comment on this story. Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw responded: “No one in the church has seen the film, and we have no comment. ”
Given the media circus surrounding the TomKat divorce right now it's hard to tell the fact from fiction but it certainly wouldn't surprise us.


Update: A commenter points out that the article also refers to Phoenix's character as Sutton (not Quell as he was updated to later on) which could mean that the entire thing is bunk or just that their fact checking wasn't so up to date.

The one thing I couldn't help but thinking when I was in LA last week was that the timing is perfect for shining a spotlight on the film now just 3 months away. Apparently Kristopher Tapley was thinking the exact same thing and wrote a piece about it over at Hitfix
"If indeed the TomKat thing plays out in such dramatic hues with Scientology front and center, it could be an interesting turn of events, establishing "The Master" as the zeitgeist play of the season."
If you follow us on Twitter you know that we crossed the threshold into double-digits over the holiday with now only 94 days until the film's US release. And for those of you who have been asking, IMDB lists "The Master" as having a November 9th release date (or 9th November, whichever you prefer) which is not too much longer to wait.

Stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates. 

5 comments:

  1. This is probably bogus information per NYDN's "Insider". The Phoenix character is named Freddie Quell in the final film, not Freddie Sutton as he was called in the early leaked script (and as he's reportedly called in this news story). That makes this story suspect.

    Hit whoring by NYDN based on the Cruise screening reports most likely.

    I can't wait to hear Scientology's REAL reactions to the final product when it hits though. It's going to be delicious. October 12th seems like it's 20 years away...

    ReplyDelete
  2. As far as Scientology having problems with the film, that was to be expected. Saying that a religion is basically a bunch of made up shit, isn't anything new.

    Hopefully $cientology won't try to sabotage the film or anything. Specially when Award season gets here.


    P.s: November 9th release in the UK!? Fuck... That means I'll probably have to wait until 2013 to watch it in the shitty 3rd world country I'm in right now :'( I wanna go back to America! The wait is killing me...

    ReplyDelete
  3. it is strange how publicity "falls" into the lap of Hollywood over and over again...and that isn't to say the Cruise divorce is a sham...coincidence seemingly follows Hollywood around more often than not.

    1st time at this site...love what you guys do!

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Scientology unhappy with the master"

    no shit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wonder how Christians felt about "Jesus Camp"?

    I'll go with "Religulous"

    ReplyDelete