Tom Cruise – Scientology Stand Over Men
September 15, 2006 by staralicious
Filed under Tom Cruise
As reported by Radar, there may have been more to Viacom kingpin Sumner Redstone sacking Tom Cruise.
Redstone cited Cryise’s personal conduct as the reason for killing his production deal with Paramount but new allegations that the actor dispatched goons from the Church of Scientology to intimidate Redstone’s studio chieftan, Brad Grey may not have helped matters.
According to a high-ranking media executive, Paramount Pictures honcho Grey had a highly unpleasant run-in with the Church during his tense negotiations with Cruise over Mission: Impossible 3. Grey, who had recently joined the studio, entered the talks determined to make Cruise accept a smaller share of the gross revenues than he had from the first two installments in the franchise. (For those films, the actor reportedly took home an unheard-of 30 percent of the total revenue.) Leaving the office one night, the diminutive Grey, walking to his car in the Paramount lot, suddenly found himself surrounded by more than a dozen Scientologists, who pressured him to ease up on the actor, according to the source.
Following a terse exchange, the visitors allowed Grey to get into his car and leave, but the message was clear. Though he was unnerved by the incident, sources say, Grey stood his ground. After protracted negotiations, Cruise eventually agreed to a less generous deal.
Neither Grey nor Paramount responded to repeated queries, but a spokeswoman from the Church of Scientology disputes the report, saying, “The Church has nothing to do with anybody’s business affairs.” But to many Hollywood veterens, the incident is reminiscent of another recent backlot battle:
In the late nineties, John Travolta furiously lobbied reluctant former Fox studio chief Bill Mechanic to produce Battlefield Earth, the science-fiction stinker based on a story by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. “He had Scientologists all over me,” Mechanic told Radar last year. “They come up to you and they know who you are.” Despite the religion’s reputation for intimidating its enemies, Mechanic, like Grey, was unswayed: “Do you think in any way, shape, or form that weirding me out is going to make me want to make this movie?” he said.
Scientology stand over men, what next?
[tags]tom cruise, scientology, intimidate[/tags]
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