Tom Cruise avoided protesters at the LA premiere of his Nazi movie Valykyrie last night by entering the press tent from an underground garage and not going out to mingle with fans at all. He dealt with the controversy the same way at the NY premiere on December 15. Neither venue had an outdoor red carpet, and Cruise didn’t sign autographs or greet people waiting for him. Photo agency Splash News said that some fans stood in the cold for hours hoping to see Tom and had to leave disappointed.
It was a whos-who of celebrity Scientologists at the opening too. Many of the people who showed up but weren’t in the movie were easily identified as members of Tom’s cult.
High profile Scientologists Jenna and Bohdi Elfman, Priscilla Presley, and “Young and the Restless” actress Michelle Stafford were in attendance. There was a some pregnant singer I’d never heard of called Holly Palmer, and some other random actors and actresses. Not all of the non-cast premiere attendees are easily-googled Scientologists, but it makes you wonder. (For instance actresses Kelly Hu and Bree Turner aren’t listed on the IMDB credits for the film. A lot of random people show up at premieres, but with the Scientology angle it kind of makes you suspicious.) There’s nothing wrong with inviting your friends for support, but does Cruise want to keep reminding the public that he’s a member of one of the world’s most dangerous and oppressive cults? He said he wasn’t going to talk about it, but it’s not like he’s really distancing himself. His wife, Katie Holmes, and their daughter, Suri, were not at the premiere as they’re in NY where Katie is performing on stage.
Ultimately the public will decide if Cruise has redeemed himself enough to entertain us again. His press junket might have ended triumphantly if he was starring in a more palatable move, and he should have chosen lighter fare for the holiday season. Valkyrie is not likely to be successful in attracting ticket sales or more than one or two technical nominations from the Academy.
Credit: Protester photos from Splash News. Premiere photos from Fame Pictures. Also shown are Cruise’s co-star Carice van Houten, Kenneth Branagh, and Thomas Kretschmann.
Why are the cute ones always so dumb?
I have been to quite a few premieres for films I have had absolutely nothing to do with. I went to the premiere of the The Others, which Tom produced and he was there on the red carpet. I even talked to him. Does that make me a Scientologist? There are obvious Scientolo’s at this premiere, but not everyone there is one. Guilt by association is not an intelligent philosophy.
Guilt by association is not an intelligent philosophy. Neither is your apparent over-weening need to try and exonerate yourself.
Regardless, Mr. Cruise, his robotic wife, the Elfmans, Will Smith and his wife and other known celeb Scientologists are permanently on my ‘do not watch’ movie/TV list.
Amen vdantev. I know enough of this terrifying cult to not support the actions of its practitioners.
i agree vdantev.. TOTALLY… i will NOT pay to watch, buy dvds nor WATCH IF FREE anything by this douche.. and yea, he’s had ‘work’ done..and recently too ! what an arrogant self serving ass hat tommygirl is..
Regardless of everything, and please note that I in NOOOO way agree with anything having to do with scientology, they are definetly NOT the only church/cult whatever out there that alienates its members, kills in the name of religion, preaches hypocritical things, or demands money from it’s parishoners/cultees. I mean let’s all be realistic here.
I don’t see how not being the only ones redeems the things you put on your list. I mean, seriously.
Here’s an interesting question. In the 1950s, a number of Hollywood celebrities were were linked (past or present) with a murderous movement, Stalin’s communist party. They were persecuted by people opposed to their association with communism, and most of them were unable to work for years, sometimes decades.
Should we now do the same with Scientologists? That is, deny them their right to work because we are disgusted by a movement with which they choose to associate themselves?
This seems to be what some of the above posters are suggesting.
I’m not equating Stalinism and Scientology – although I’m not a fan of either one. I’m asking, does someone’s association with a belief system and movement many people find repulsive mean they should not be able to work in Hollywood?
Does “I hate what you stand for” equal “I refuse to see any of your work”? Would it be cool for someone in the 1950s to refuse to see, say, anything by Dalton Trumbo or featuring John Garfield, out of sympathy for Stalin’s victims?
@CandyKay
I totally understand what you are saying. Scientologists cannot be discriminated against based on their beliefs. By the government. I do not (or at least try not to!) discriminate against people based on their age, sex, gender, race, where they were born, etc. You know what I do judge people on? The choices they make. These celebrities are choosing to publicly ally themselves with an organization I find (to put it mildly) questionable. They are free to join it. And I am free not to watch their movies based on that choice. If a celebrity chose to publicly declare allegiance to Nazis? I would do the same. They have freedom of choice, and are exercising it. I too, have that right.
wow the public can be such a bunch of morons… if scientology is “killing” people, the police will handle it… pick your battles people…this whole jumping on bandwagons to bring someone down is a trait in humanity that disgusts me… tom has been a scientologist for a long time and the fact that people are finding it amusing to drag this family down into the gutter really sickens me… this is the sort of behavior i would find in high school… seems like it never goes away, just takes on a bigger and more global venue…
just shut up and give it a rest already. if the movie is good, GO WATCH IT! jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez
If I refused to see every movie featuring actors whose personal lives frustrated me in one way or another, I’d never see a damn thing. Good movies are so few and far between (and I so rarely have a chance to escape to a multiplex), when a decent one comes out, I’m there.
lol @ the $cino support team.
Shay: awww, give them a break, they are stuck in a room, often 18 hours a day or more, to battle downstat press. At.. what is it again? 30 cents an hour? Always struggling to be upstat or they face being sent to the RPF, Scientology’s private prison camps.
All because they were gullible and are addicted to the feeling that they know the ultimate truth. Well, they did pay a ton of money for it, it must be truth!
$cientology Rock$! But $eriously folks$, Tom Crui$e $uck$ a$ an actor. He’$ inhuman. Perhap$ becau$e he’$ an alien! Maybe that’$ why all these $cientology actor$ $uck $o badly.
uuuuhhhhmmm correct me if I’m wrong, but the celebrities you mentioned back in the day that were accused of communism and couldn’t work were judged in a courtroom like setting. The difference is the paying public didn’t have a choice whether they got to see their favorite celebrities or not after that.
WE HAVE A CHOICE. The PAYING PUBLIC. You know, the people who go to work, work hard for their paychecks then go out and spend 12.00 a pop on movies that put people like tom cruise in numerous mansions around the world, and hundreds of millions of dollars in his bank account. People are becoming educated on the evils of this diobolical cult, and are refusing to basically put money into their “collection plate” by supporting any of it’s members, who donate a LARGE portion of what they earn FROM US to their evil cult!!!!
get it????? It’s TOTALLY different from the situation back in the 50’s