Post by RS Davis on Jun 28, 2005 10:13:50 GMT -5
War of The World's Tom Cruise tries to stay focused when Scientology rears its head
By Neil Humphreys in Paris, TODAY
By Neil Humphreys in Paris, TODAY
The French journalist wanted Tom Cruise to kiss her on national television.
Obviously a minor celebrity in her own country, the Parisian TV presenter used the most tedious of gimmicks to make sure her story made the evening news.
It was as trashy as it was excruciating and clearly, the American superstar didn't want to play ball.
His nervous laughter reached manic levels, but the annoying hack in front of me was not easily dismissed.
"Please Mr Cruise, if you kiss me today, I can die a happy la-dee," she purred, in the most affected French accent since that of the The Pink Panther's Inspector Clouseau.
Eager to regain control of the War Of The Worlds press conference as quickly as possible, Cruise turned to his right and said: "Well? What do you think?"
It was Katie Holmes who, within five minutes, would be known as fiancee Katie Holmes. But at this stage she was still the less bankable Katie Holmes.
The Batman Begins actress held out her hand, making it clear that that was the only part of the Frenchwoman's anatomy her Top Gun could touch.
"Okay, then," said Cruise, motioning the simpering journalist towards him.
He grabbed her hand, kissed it coldly, laughed unconvincingly and Ms Nobody floated back to her seat.
The rest of us checked our watches. But the brief kissing farce sums up Cruise's recent shenanigans.
Despite being ranked 10th on Forbes magazine's power rankings, the ringmaster appears increasingly powerless in controlling the public relations circus.
No matter what he does to promote War Of The Worlds, which is released worldwide tomorrow, his off-screen antics, whether engineered by himself or others, end up undermining his efforts.
At best, he ends up looking foolish (on Oprah Winfrey's couch). At worst, he appears to be manipulative and intolerant of anyone who doesn't endorse his religion, Scientology.
More worryingly, the one-man movie production house, the Hollywood behemoth who has been an ATM machine for the major studios ever since Top Gun (1986), Cocktail (1988) and Rain Man (1988), no longer seems to be able to control the one thing that has always been regarded as untouchable: His image.
Real love or real publicity?
Part of the problem is that the 42-year-old is very difficult to accept at face value.
During the press conference in Paris at the historic Restaurant Le Train Bleu, housed within the famous Gare De Lyon train station, Cruise suddenly stopped, looked around the expansive room and said: "Can I just say this is the most beautiful train station I have ever seen?
"I've seen it on film so many times and it's just amazing to finally be here. Don't you think it's beautiful?"
He looked at Holmes, who nodded her agreement. She did this a lot.
But Cruise's apparent sincerity and inherent politeness was greeted with heavy sighing from the European journalists around me.
Indeed there was a discernible scepticism throughout the press conference, which is intriguing because it is not necessarily warranted. He answers questions at length, before thanking the journalist for asking the question (unlike, say, the monosyllabic Robert De Niro).
Cruise has never been convicted of drug abuse (like Robert Downey Jr), never been accused of attacking a hotel employee (Russell Crowe), never pinned a TV producer to the wall (again, Crowe) and never been called a marriage-breaker (just about everyone else in Hollywood).
And yet the three-time Oscar nominee Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Jerry Maguire (1996) and Magnolia (1999)is being savaged by the media for declaring his love for Holmes, attracting the kind of negative press usually reserved for the telephone-throwing Crowe and the child-loving Michael Jackson.
It is certainly difficult to reconcile the once-notoriously private star with the fist-pumping, couch-jumping lovesick actor who left Oprah speechless on her show last month. Noted for his PR savvy, Cruise's love declaration and subsequent marriage proposal to a woman he only met in April has raised eyebrows.
Indeed, American comedians have asked the question: Now that Batman Begins and War Of The Worlds are out in the cinemas, will Tom and Katie leave the world alone?
But Cruise does nothing to dissipate the cynicism by answering questions with the skill, and often conviction, of a politician.
When asked if the events of 9/11 had impinged upon War Of The Worlds' storyline (America struggles to secure its borders to an invisible, foreign enemy), the man who portrayed a top driver in Days Of Thunder (1990) moves the gear into Cruise control.
"People are going to bring to this story whatever they want," he said. "Personally, I believe it to be about family and the importance the family unit has in today's society.
"My character, Ray, protects his family when the aliens land. I hope that people take a moment out to think about children and our responsibility to them. That's what War Of The Worlds is really about."
But hasn't director Steven Spielberg already said that the storyline represents peoples' collective fears about the unseen things that surround them since 9/11?
A slight pause.
"Well, I know Steve has talked about that," admitted Cruise, never losing eye contact. "It might have impinged on his work, but that's not my take on this movie."
That's the Cruise Hollywood is more familiar with. Avoiding controversy by deftly side-stepping any verbal landmines, the actor survived two divorces (Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman), and a secretive relationship with actress Penelope Cruz without ever allowing his protective guard to drop.
Scientology, however, is another matter. In March 2004, Cruise fired Pat Kingsley, the head of the most powerful PR firm in Hollywood, who had handled his press for 14 years.
The reason? Kingsley had long made the subject of Scientology off limits at media conferences. It wasn't right for the image of Mr Mission Impossible.
But she allegedly asked Cruise not to discuss the religion during his promotional work for The Last Samurai (2003) and she quickly found herself replaced by his sister Lee Anne De Vette, a fellow Scientologist.
Now, Cruise can't stop talking about his religion.
The shadow of Scientology
"People ask me about Scientology all the time," he said. "If they ask, I'll tell them. It's interesting to me, to communicate my ideas ... Scientology has helped my life.
"It can help people get off drugs, (Scientologists) can help rehabilitate criminals. We're the only successful drug rehabilitation programme on Earth."
All of those points are of course highly contestable, but Cruise was not about to let facts get in the way of good rhetoric.
"I'm proud to be a Scientologist. In Hollywood, when people are in trouble they call me, because they know I'm the sort of person they can depend upon.
"Scientology is something that's good, it's quite magnificent," he said.
And we were supposed to be talking about Spielberg's "ET gone bad" film.
But the screen idol won't let up.
The father of two adopted children has recently criticised actress Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants (Scientologists shun psychiatry and mood-altering drugs) and found himself embroiled in a very public row last Friday with television presenter Matt Lauer, who discussed Shields. Cruise slammed psychiatry, claiming to know its history and accused Lauer of irresponsibly advocating drugs.
No wonder Spielberg, who, like Cruise, reportedly rejected a salary in return for a percentage of the War of the Worlds' profits, just wants to discuss aliens.
But Cruise can't seem to stay focussed on the task at hand.
When asked why he discusses Scientology with others, the New York-born actor said: "If I don't know something, I'll go and find out myself because bigotry and racism are things that people are not born with, they're educated that way.
"It's important that we communicate about these things so we can move beyond them.
"Look where we are today. I'm honoured to be here in Paris, it's a dream to be here with the person that I love and I want to be here in this beautiful place with all you people. I just wish everyone in the room well."
And somehow, Cruise had retaken control of the press conference with his final answer. His response was detailed, considerate and courteous.
Still, he never really answered the question[/b]
