Tom Cruise is a real jerk

[Mann]

Oh it gets better:

From IMDB.

Cruise: "I Believe in Aliens"


Hollywood actor Tom Cruise believes in aliens - claiming it would be arrogant to think we, as humans, were alone in this universe. The movie star is currently promoting his new film War Of The Worlds, which sees him on the run from extra-terrestrials who cause havoc on earth. In a interview with German newspaper Bild, Cruise says, "Yes, of course (I believe in aliens). Are you really so arrogant as to believe we are alone in this universe? Millions of stars, and we're supposed to be the only living creatures? No, there are many things out there, we just don't know." Cruise is a long-time follower of the controversial Church of Scientology and is believed to be converting his fiancee Katie Holmes to the religion.

[anonymous1980]

I looked at the list of celebrity Scientologists. If all of them will die now, the biggest loss I will miss is Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson.

I gotta give some credit to Nicole Kidman. She was married to Tom for 10 years and didn't buy into that Scientology crap.

[Damien]

Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News:

TOM'S MISSION: IMPUDENT
June 26th, 2005


'Is this guy weird, or what?"

I remember seeing that question on the cover of People nearly 20 years ago, along with a picture of a comparatively normal looking Michael Jackson. Any week now, I expect the magazine's editors to dust the question off and run it again, with a photo of Tom Cruise.

Like Jackson, who was on top of the world when the media began to say out loud what everyone else was thinking, Cruise is on the brink of becoming the leading punch line in pop culture. Leaping on couches on national TV, dragging unlikely fiancée Katie Holmes around like a smiling blowup doll, dissing Brooke Shields for treating postpartum depression with modern medicine instead of the herbal remedies of the Church of Scientology... I say, is this guy weird or what?

The folks at Paramount, who once rejoiced at having Cruise and Steven Spielberg collaborating on H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds," must now be in a daze, having stood by helpless while their star's antics eclipsed whatever publicity they'd planned for the film. A few months ago, it looked like it might be the event movie of the summer. Now, three days before its opening, what have you heard about it?

During their public whirlwind courtship, Tom and Katie reminded me of victims in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." They look like regular humans, but as they giggle and bray for the cameras, they seem very odd. Even when they kiss, they don't seem sure where their lips are supposed to go. I hoped this would all turn out to be a brash cross-promotional publicity stunt, a deal worked out by the producers of "War of the Worlds" and "Batman Begins," in which Holmes has a role. It would be fun to see the entertainment media get punk'd.

But now, I think the deal was worked out between the actors' agents. The 42-year-old, twice-married Cruise has much to offer Holmes. She's a potential star, and he can make that happen quicker for her. Meanwhile, at a drop-dead gorgeous 26, she's good to go as a red-carpet companion for 20 years. If you think I'm being too cynical, consider Holmes' announcement - some six weeks after meeting Cruise and a few days before accepting his marriage proposal - that she's converting to Scientology.

It had to take more than love to convince the Catholic school-educated daughter of a lawyer to adopt a religion that believes we descended from the spirits of aliens banished to earth by the intergalactic ruler Xenu 75 million years ago.

Cruise once avoided discussing his religion with interviewers. But after firing his longtime publicist Pat Kingsley last year and replacing her with his sister and fellow Scientologist, he has been preaching like John the Baptist.

Scientology was founded by sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard, whose imagination when it came to aliens was clearly as vivid as Wells'. That Cruise has been inadvertently undermining a work of Wells by promoting a work of Hubbard's may be a milestone in literary irony.

[Big Magilla]

Check this out:

http://www.scientology-kills.org/celebrities/celebrities.htm

The piece on Greta Van Susteran is very funny.

[Mann]

hey, I get to see this movie for free and a day early...so his antics wont affect me

[Sonic Youth]

This just in: A few hours ago, Tom Cruise snuck into Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, stole Billy Graham's microphone and advised the crowd that all communion wafers were really Ritalin Chewables, but they could ward off the effects by converting to the Church of Scientology.

[Aceisgreat]

Okay. I just got home and I just saw the Lauer interview on Keith Olbermann. And Tom has lost his phucking mind! I don't know how Matt stayed so calm, so collected. Sorry, Steven. I was wary before, but I'm not going anywhere near your movie now. Katie, please - PLEASE - run for your life.

[Penelope]

I couldn't even finish watching the video. What a truly repulsive display of arrogance, ignorance and condescension.

[Sonic Youth]

I just watched the interview with the level-headed Matt Lauer. Cruise's arrogance, condescension and belligerence were rather shocking (all of which were heightened by his arrogance). I think if enough people see this obnoxious performance, his career will soon be in its last throes.

In the last throes, eh?

Let's take bets. What will self-destruct or peter out more quickly, the Iraq insurgency or Tom Cruise's career? Since Cheney hasn't weighed in on the second matter, my money's on the former Mr. Kidman.

Johnny Guitar, I know exactly what you mean. I would be lying if I were to say that celebrity gossip was beneath me. I'm not about to steal issues of People Magazine from my doctor's office, and I don't spend hours - or even minutes - on end discussing Ben and J-Lo or Nicholas Cage's months-long marraige to Elvis Presley's spawn with my friends. But I find such bizzare marraiges eerily fascinating, or do I mean fascinatingly eerie? It may not be worth more than a brief, condescending snigger, but I am amused by some of these celebrity shenanigans.

But this is different, because it's a cultural milestone taking place. How often has there been such an extreme unmasking of a public figure or a deconstruction of his image take place in real time? Not often, not while this public figure is still alive. Peter Sellars was a brilliant comedian and actor but a sick, atrocious human being. How much of the private man did the public know while he was alive? I'm sure there were hints, whispers and whatnot. (His numerous divorces must have provided some clue.) But once he died and the biographies started rolling out, the soul was laid bare. The public had to re-assess what they thought they knew about Sellars. The re-assessment process of everything the public thought they knew about Tom Cruise is unspooling while he's alive and supposed to be at his peak. Talk about cognitive dissonance. (And some would claim it confirms what they already knew, but let's get real. We didn't REALLY know until the primary source unwittingly confirmed it for us.) Me, I suspect Cruise has always been this awkward and immature all his life, but has been hiding it well. I'll leave it to others to speculate whether he's hiding in the closet or not. But it's his fanatical embrace of Scientology that's done him in, I'm afraid. He's riding an epiphanic wave, and now he can't restrain himself. He's destroying his career, and unfortunately he's taking the most expensive movie ever made along with him. He's doing neither Steven Spielberg nor the Church of Scientology any favors. On the other hand, public relations offices all over the world are blessing Cruise for a boom in clientele.

[Damien]

he went insane (again) on Matt Lauer this morning. You can click on the link and either read the transcript or download the video. I suggest that video's the way to go.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8343367/

I just watched the interview with the level-headed Matt Lauer. Cruise's arrogance, condescension and belligerence were rather shocking (all of which were heightened by his arrogance). I think if enough people see this obnoxious performance, his career will soon be in its last throes.

And what's with the Moe Howard haircut?

[Damien]

I'm sorry, but what's this s h i t all about? If Tom Cruise's in love then let him be in love.

Oh, puh-lease, don't be so naive . . .

[jack]

I'm sorry, but what's this s h i t all about? If Tom Cruise's in love then let him be in love. What is with you Yanks and Cruise's behaviour? Leave him the f u c k alone....

[Damien]

Cruise was particularly repulsive on Letterman last night, and Cindy Adams is completely on target: every mild little quip Letterman made, Cruise would laugh hysterically, bend forward and slap his knee, roll his head back, even say "That's funny!" After a commercial break, he was crouched down, moving along the front row of the audience shaking everybody's hand. Positively reptillian.

The best thing about the appearance was that the music with which Paul Schaffer's band introduced him was Van Halen's "Jump." (I don't know if Cruise got the Oprah couch connection.)

[Sonic Youth]

I missed the Oprah interview. Didn't see him on Letterman last night, either, and I understand he was pretty normal and calm. But he went insane (again) on Matt Lauer this morning. You can click on the link and either read the transcript or download the video. I suggest that video's the way to go.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8343367/

I swear, I am so not seeing this movie.

[Johnny Guitar]

I just wanted to chime in that the saga with Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Scientology, etc. fascinates me beyond reason. Temperamentally I have no patience with celebrity gossip and the like, but this whole shady enigma seems too "out there" to pass by ...