Mission possible: this is how Scientology star Tom Cruise became the good man in Hollywood

Simon Meier

Cher still says Tom Cruise was one of her “five best lovers.” In the 1980s, when Cruise was about to become a superstar. He was 23, she was 39, he was very shy, she wasn’t, it was for filming “Top Gun” and he wasn’t in Scientology yet. He was a different person. Two years later, in 1987, he married actress and Scientologist Mimi Rodgers.

The two get to know each other when Cruise goes to his “auditing”, his initiation process, Rodgers is his auditor. Cruise keeps falling in love with women he works with. He met Nicole Kidman on the set of “Days of Thunder”, Penelope Cruz on the set of “Vanilla Sky”, he met Katie Holmes when he talked about a possible role for her in “Mission Impossible”.

In Scientology, Cruise finds what he was always looking for and couldn’t find. Not in Catholicism when he considered becoming a priest. And certainly not in the form of alcohol, which got him kicked out of seminary and his beloved football team. In Scientology he finds hard rules. Instructions for use for life.

And he finds people who want to build him up to become the new Christ. They spin him into a cocoon of care and surveillance, the staff in his homes are cared for by Scientology, they are like slaves, they earn nothing and keep Scientology informed of his every move.

Cruise flies from cinema success to cinema success, shooting with De Palma, Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Ridley Scott. Scientology teaches him that there are no boundaries and he sticks to that. Become a super body. To the man who pulls the craziest stunts himself. He toils like a man possessed and wins the admiration of his peers and audience. Where Cruise says it’s hard work inside. He emphasizes – even today – that he is only risking his life for the public.

Scientology also drums into his mind that as a superman he has a duty, nay, the “authority” as he calls it in a creepy video, to save others. help in an accident. To ensure that a criminal does not commit another crime. fight against drugs. be a real man. And a knight. A law above the law. A typical cruise hero.

He also adheres to that. Helps complete strangers in need on several occasions. Ensures that his film partners are always in the best light, comes to work with coffee for everyone in the morning and knows every cable-laying vessel by name. Actually a dream man, it would just be nice if he came up with all the ideas himself.

In the late 1990s, Scientology wants to initiate him into his darkest cult activities. That’s too much, Cruise imagines herself in a sci-fi movie, gets out and retreats for two years with Nicole Kidman and Stanley Kubrick to shoot the erotic cult dream play “Eyes Wide Shut”. But Scientology wants and brings him back. So thoroughly that Kidman divorced after ten years. So thorough that in a 2004 interview with Rolling Stone, he said, “Some people, well, if they don’t like Scientology, well, fuck you. Really, fuck you. periods.”

The problem that almost cost him his career is that he suddenly can’t control himself. His urge to convert for Scientology becomes unbearable. And when he jumped on the couch at Oprah Winfrey’s in 2005, stunned with love for Katie Holmes – it looks like he was completely on cocaine – aside from Will Smith’s slap in the face, this is the most embarrassing moment in the history of Hollywood to date.

And then he insults Brooke Shields for describing how she used psychiatric drugs to treat her postpartum depression. Drugs are drugs, says Cruise, unacceptable. He’s without a studio for a while, “Mission Impossible” is in danger, the hero has become a laughing stock, you could almost call him the Till Schweiger of Hollywood.

Finally, Katie Holmes also flees and wins sole custody of daughter Suri, it is the biggest defeat for Cruise and Scientology, Holmes was carefully selected and raised, and Scientology boss David Miscavige witnessed.

And now? When this year’s Oscar nominees gather for their legendary February luncheon, Cruise takes center stage. Seasoned divas like Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis almost passed out. Austin Butler seems enlightened. Guillermo del Toro flaps. Ke Huy Quan goes crazy. Malala is excited. Spielberg says Cruise saved the movie theater. And Cruise thinks so.

It’s been like this for a few years now, the 60 year old is more popular than ever. Todd Field, the director of the Oscar-nominated Cate Blanchett epic “Tár,” says Cruise showed him the right way when he was shooting “Eyes Wide Shut,” when Field still wanted to be an actor: He wanted to be with offered him a cup of coffee during a break in filming and kindly explained to him that he really wasn’t an actor, but that he might have been an extremely talented director. He later helped Field save his debut film, In the Bedroom, from Harvey Weinstein’s encroachment, and Field received five Academy Award nominations. Cruise, the facilitator.

When the 2021 Golden Globes jury is attacked for lack of diversity, he joins the protest and is the only one to return his three trophies. Sail over the righteous.

So what happened? Has Cruise turned his back on Scientology forever? He does not have. He just stopped talking about it. Quiet. No more comments on his church or his private life, that is the requirement for each of his interviews. He likes to talk about anything and everything, preferably about his films and those of others, he is an ardent supporter of cinema and regularly goes to public appearances in various disguises.

In the 2010s, his image was restored. Everyone is relieved. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, who refused Cruise honorary citizenship in 2005 with harsh criticism of his Scientology mission, is now happy to pose for a photo with him in front of the Eiffel Tower.

When “Top Gun: Maverick” should have been acquired directly by a streaming provider due to the pandemic, it held back for two years. Until the cinemas reopened. “People have been waiting 34 years for the movie, so they can wait longer,” he said. “Top Gun: Maverick” became the most successful film of his career, selling 623,368 tickets in Switzerland. Now that he’s been nominated for six Oscars, the industry is so thankful to him.

He’s still megalomaniac, but how can he not be when he’s given titles like “the last true movie star,” physically surpasses the rest of Hollywood even at 60, has entertainment skills like no other, and a few great movies has made for art house audiences, in which he also shows self-mockery (for example, as a guru coach in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia”).

His perfectionism is feared and probably something like sex to him. He continues to be kind, polite, courteous, supportive and helpful as required by the Scientology Code of Conduct.

At this point, he’s only gently whitened his teeth, and his smile, which used to be said to stay on his face like a mask when a joke had long since dried up, now has the right timing. Everything is perfect. The achievement deserves respect. There’s a lot of good in the man. And still a lot of Scientology.

The Zurich arthouse cinema Xenix is ​​showing a retrospective on Tom Cruise in April.