When Lawrence Wright’s Scientology exposé Going Clear was released in 2013, the Church of Scientology International released a statement that began with the following: “Mr. Wright’s book is so ludicrous it belongs in a supermarket tabloid. The claims are nothing more than a stale rehash of allegations disproven long ago.” If a book (who buys those anymore?) can incite such fury, imagine how Tom Cruise’s religion factory is going to react to an HBO documentary.
THR has learned that Oscar winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) is putting the finishing touches on a film that tackles the Church of Scientology and its Tinseltown tentacles. HBO, no stranger to controversy, having ushered such hot-button docs as The Case Against 8 and the Paradise Lost trilogy to the screen, is eyeing a 2015 airdate.
The film, which is expected to feature new revelations about the controversial religion and its famous followers Tom Cruise and John Travolta, almost certainly will draw an aggressive response from the notoriously litigious church. (Via)
HBO Documentary Films president Sheila Nevins commented “we have probably 160 lawyers [looking at the film],” which is also the number of people who watched the final episode of Life’s Too Short. The subject matter is obviously fascinating as is, but it’ll be interesting to see how HBO promotes the documentary. “It’s like Game of Thrones, except instead of dragons and nudity, there are space mutants and Jenna Elfman.” Sold!
