My Scientology Movie

Last updated

My Scientology Movie
My Scientology Movie.png
UK theatrical release poster
Directed by John Dower
Written by Louis Theroux
Produced by Simon Chinn
Starring
CinematographyWill Pugh
Edited byPaul Carlin
Music by Dan Jones
Production
companies
Distributed by Altitude Film Distribution [1]
Release dates
  • 14 October 2015 (2015-10-14)(London)
  • 7 October 2016 (2016-10-07)(United Kingdom)
Running time
99 minutes [1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.2 million [2] [3]

My Scientology Movie is a 2015 British documentary film about Scientology directed by John Dower, and written by and starring Louis Theroux. The film takes an unconventional approach to the subject matter, featuring young actors "auditioning" for parts playing high-profile Scientologists in scenes recreating accounts from ex-members about incidents involving senior church management. The Church of Scientology responded by putting the filmmakers under surveillance and denouncing the film.

Contents

My Scientology Movie premiered at the London Film Festival on 14 October 2015 before receiving a limited theatrical release in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2016 from BBC Films [4] with a North American release on 3 March 2017 from Magnolia Pictures. [5] The film received positive reviews from critics. [6] [7] [8]

Synopsis

After the Church of Scientology refuses to cooperate in making a documentary, Louis Theroux teams up with former senior church official Mark Rathbun to create dramatic reconstructions of incidents within the church witnessed by Rathbun and other ex-Scientologists. They focus in particular on alleged violent behaviour by the church's leader David Miscavige at its secretive Gold Base facility in California, which Theroux visits. The church retaliates by putting Theroux and his film crew under surveillance, leading to camera-wielding confrontations with a Scientology "squirrel buster" team and with church officials outside Gold Base. Theroux raises questions about Rathbun's own former complicity in the church's "terroristic" activities, leading to tensions between the two. [9] [10] [11]

Development

Theroux had long sought to make a documentary about the Church of Scientology from the inside but was repeatedly refused by church officials. In 2011, his producer, Simon Chinn, suggested making a 90-minute feature about Scientology. Together with director John Dower, they looked for ways to make a documentary – working title Stairway to Heaven: Louis Theroux and the Church of Scientology [12] – without access to its subjects. They wanted to avoid formulae that had been used by previous film-makers, such as interviews with ex-members intercut with archive footage and re-enactments, or an "in search of" approach documenting the fruitless quest to gain access. They eventually hit upon the idea of "negative access", illustrating the church by provoking a reaction from it. [7] As Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph puts it, contrasting it with the more methodical Going Clear by Alex Gibney, "where Gibney circled the movement right from its beginnings, seeking to analyse its methods and impugn its motives, Theroux just gets right in there and jabs it in the ribs, that imperturbable mask of irony driving its partisans even more bananas than usual." [8]

The Hole at Gold Base, where some re-enactments in My Scientology Movie are set The Hole Gold Base.jpg
The Hole at Gold Base, where some re-enactments in My Scientology Movie are set

Theroux and his team sought to take "inspiration from the showbusiness trappings of Scientology itself". With the help of various actors, they recreated events related by ex-members in the church's Gold Base and its punishment facility, The Hole. The ex-members who related these events helped to direct the scenes, which were filmed on soundstages in Hollywood. According to Theroux, "this was simply a visual way of bringing people's memories to life. But it soon became clear that the re-enactments would also allow me to question and probe those former Scientologists' versions of events." In conjunction with the former senior Scientology official Mark Rathbun, who is now one of the church's most prominent critics, he held auditions for about 30 young actors to play parts depicting church leader David Miscavige and its most famous member, Tom Cruise. In the process, "the documentary became a film about me trying to make the re-enactments". Theroux took inspiration from a film that he had recently seen, Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary The Act of Killing , which featured Indonesian genocidaires re-enacting their crimes for the camera. [7]

The church's reaction was predicted by Theroux, who said, "They have a habit of tailing, filming, questioning and investigating those who do stories on them." [7] Within a couple of months of the start of filming, the film-makers found themselves under constant surveillance. [7] The church mounted a campaign of harassment against the film-makers which drew "all kinds of stalker-ish emissaries and cranks out of the woodwork, not one of them doing much to reassure us that Scientology is in fact cuddly, socially progressive or misunderstood." They found themselves pursued "in broad daylight by mysterious cars with tinted windows". Occasionally they had face-to-face confrontations with camera-toting pursuers which they filmed in turn, so that "half the film consists of cameras pointing at other cameras, like an absurdist gunfight at dawn, with neither side willing to holster." [8] They also received numerous letters from Scientology lawyers. [7] Theroux found this behavior very strange: "They are behaving in a way that is so obviously pathological—you would think they would realize that other people would see that and think this is a religion of lunatics." [13]

Reception

The film was praised by The Daily Telegraph reviewer Tim Robey as "a giddy, Pythonesque delight". He commented that it was "all wickedly tendentious mischief, but when it's this gloriously funny, the points score themselves." [8] Variety magazine reviewer Guy Lodge described it as a "riotously funny" film that delivered "penetrating insights into the fiercely guarded administration of the church that Ron built. It's also a witty essay on the politics of surveillance". [9] Fionnuala Halligan of Screen Daily called the film "typically quixotic, consistently funny, and provocative in unexpected ways", describing it as "pleasingly eccentric" and "impish yet effective". [11] The Huffington Post called the film "absurdly funny". [14] In The Guardian , John Patterson found that the film "pulls off the neat trick of finding a revelatory approach to a topic that's been well covered of late: the Church of Scientology" before concluding that it "belongs in the company of the most serious work done on the church. The more sunlight that falls on this dark organisation, the better for all of us". [6]

Writing in The Observer , The Guardian's Sunday sister paper, reviewer Wendy Ide was less impressed, finding, "This is less an in-depth investigation into the Church of Scientology than an entertaining but highly contrived string of scenes featuring Louis Theroux kicking an anthill and then watching the inhabitants react. […] However, the one thing we do take from it is that the Church of Scientology is no laughing matter. The definitive film on the subject remains Alex Gibney’s Going Clear ." [15]

Soundtrack

The original music from the film was scored by composer Dan Jones, with additional music by Stew Jackson and performances by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. [16] The soundtrack was released in September 2016 by Wave Theory Records. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Zone (Scientology)</span> Scientology groups independent of the Church of Scientology

Free Zone, Freezone, and Independent Scientology are umbrella terms for the groups, organizations, and individuals who practice Scientology beliefs and practices independently of the Church of Scientology (COS). Such practitioners range from those who closely adhere to the original teachings of Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard, to those who have adapted practices far from COS beliefs and practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leah Remini</span> American actress (born 1970)

Leah Marie Remini is an American actress. She starred as Carrie Heffernan on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007) and as Vanessa Celluci in the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait (2017–2018), both alongside Kevin James.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Miscavige</span> Leader of the Church of Scientology (born 1960)

David Miscavige is an American Scientologist who is serving as the second and current leader of the Church of Scientology. His official title within the organization is Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center. RTC is a corporation that controls the trademarks and copyrights of Dianetics and Scientology. He is also referred to within the Scientology organization as "DM", "COB", and "Captain of the Sea Org".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair game (Scientology)</span> Actions of the Church of Scientology towards perceived enemies

The term fair game is used to describe policies and practices carried out by the Church of Scientology towards people and groups it perceives as its enemies. Founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard established the policy in the 1950s in response to criticism both from within and outside his organization. Individuals or groups who are "fair game" are judged to be a threat to the Church and, according to the policy, can be punished and harassed using any and all means possible. In 1968, Hubbard officially canceled use of the term "fair game" because of negative public relations it caused, although the Church's aggressive response to criticism continued.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of Scientology</span> American organization and business

The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religious movement. The movement has been the subject of a number of controversies, and the Church of Scientology has been described by government inquiries, international parliamentary bodies, scholars, law lords, and numerous superior court judgements as both a dangerous cult and a manipulative profit-making business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Rathbun</span> American Scientology whistleblower

Mark C. "Marty" Rathbun is a former senior executive of the Church of Scientology who last held the post of Inspector General of the Religious Technology Center (RTC), the organization that is responsible for the protection and enforcement of all Dianetics and Scientology copyrights and trademarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Rinder</span> Former Scientologist, critic

Michael John Rinder is an Australian-American former senior executive of the Church of Scientology International (CSI) and the Sea Organization based in the United States. From 1982 to 2007, Rinder served on the board of directors of CSI and also held the post of executive director of its Office of Special Affairs, overseeing the corporate, legal and public relations matters of Scientology at the international level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Scientology</span>

This is a Timeline of Scientology and its forerunner Dianetics, particularly its foundation and development by author L. Ron Hubbard as well as general publications, articles, books and other milestones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Minton</span> Critic of Scientology

Robert Schenk Minton was a millionaire who helped finance lawsuits against the Church of Scientology.

Jenna Miscavige Hill is an American former Scientologist. After leaving the Church of Scientology in 2005, she has become an outspoken critic of the organization. She had been a third-generation Scientologist, the granddaughter of Ron Miscavige Sr., the daughter of Elizabeth "Bitty" Miscavige and Ron Miscavige Jr. and the niece of current Scientology leader David Miscavige. Her book Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape, recounting her experience growing up and living within the Scientology movement, was published by HarperCollins in 2013. She now runs a website which she co-founded with other ex-Scientologists which provides support and discussion for people either in the church or who have left.

<i>Blown for Good</i> 2009 book by Marc Headley

Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology is a 2009 memoir written by former Scientologist Marc Headley about his 15 years working for the Church of Scientology, starting at age 16. The book vividly describes his scary escape from a California compound in 2005, followed by his wife's escape, the prison-like security of the compound which housed the organization's international management, and the physical and mental abuse of the staff members within.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scientology officials</span> Staff hierarchy, practices, personnel of Scientology network

The Church of Scientology network operates as a multinational conglomerate of companies with personnel, executives, organizational charts, chains of command, policies and orders.

Religious Technology Center is the most powerful executive organization within the Scientology empire, and its current chairman, David Miscavige, is widely recognized as the effective head of the church.

Pat Broeker is a former high-ranking member of the Church of Scientology who, along with his wife Annie Broeker, was one of the few people in direct contact with L. Ron Hubbard in his final years. He and his wife, and driver Steve "Sarge" Pfauth, left with Hubbard from his home in Hemet, California in 1980 and travelled around California in a motorhome until buying and settling at a ranch in San Luis Obispo County in 1983. The Broekers and Pfauth stayed with Hubbard until his death in January 1986. Due to ongoing investigations by the FBI and IRS following the arrests of high-ranking Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard over Operation Snow White, the location of the ranch was kept secret and visits from Church management were forbidden while Hubbard was alive.

<i>Going Clear</i> (book) 2013 non-fiction book about Scientology written by Lawrence Wright

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief is a 2013 non-fiction book about Scientology written by Lawrence Wright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hole (Scientology)</span> Scientology prison

"The Hole" is the name of a detention building—also known as the SP Hall, the SP Hole, the A to E Room, or the CMO Int trailers—operated by the Church of Scientology on Gold Base, a private compound near the town of Hemet in Riverside County, California. Dozens of its senior executives have been confined within the building for months or years. It consists of a set of double-wide trailers within a Scientology compound, joined together to form a suite of offices which were formerly used by the Church's international management team. According to former members of Scientology and media reports, from 2004, the Church's leader David Miscavige sent dozens of senior Scientology executives to the Hole. The Tampa Bay Times described it in a January 2013 article as:

a place of confinement and humiliation where Scientology's management culture—always demanding—grew extreme. Inside, a who's who of Scientology leadership went at each other with brutal tongue lashings, and even hands and fists. They intimidated each other into crawling on their knees and standing in trash cans and confessing to things they hadn't done. They lived in degrading conditions, eating and sleeping in cramped spaces designed for office use.

<i>Going Clear</i> (film) 2015 film by Alex Gibney

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is a 2015 documentary film about Scientology. Directed by Alex Gibney and produced by HBO, it is based on Lawrence Wright's book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief (2013). The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. It received widespread praise from critics and was nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning three, including Best Documentary. It also received a 2015 Peabody Award and won the award for Best Documentary Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America.

We Stand Tall is a 1990 music video produced by the Church of Scientology. It features many individuals, including current Scientology leader, David Miscavige. Many of the participants have either come to publicly criticize the practices of the Church or have disappeared.

<i>Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me</i> Book by Ron Miscavige and Dan Koon

Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me is a book by Ron Miscavige and Dan Koon published in 2016 in the United States and United Kingdom. It presents the personal account of Ron Miscavige's almost five decades in the Church of Scientology, the rise of his son David Miscavige to the church's top leadership role, his decision to leave the church, his escape in 2012, and the aftermath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tax status of Scientology in the United States</span>

The tax status of the Church of Scientology in the United States has been the subject of decades of controversy and litigation. Although the Church of Scientology was initially partially exempted by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from paying federal income tax, its two principal entities in the United States lost this exemption in 1957 and 1968. This action was taken because of concerns that church funds were being used for the private gain of its founder L. Ron Hubbard or due to an international psychiatric conspiracy against Scientology.

References

  1. 1 2 "My Scientology Movie (15)". British Board of Film Classification . 13 September 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "My Scientology Movie (2017) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "My Scientology Movie (2017)". The Numbers. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "My Scientology Movie". Altitude Film Distribution Ltd. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "My Scientology Movie (2017)". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  6. 1 2 Patterson, John (30 September 2016). "My Scientology Movie: Louis Theroux's exposé is the most damning yet". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Theroux, Louis (14 October 2015). "My Scientology Movie by Louis Theroux: 'I felt like I'd been blooded'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Robey, Tim (14 October 2015). "My Scientology Movie review: 'gloriously funny'". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  9. 1 2 Lodge, Guy (14 October 2015). "London Film Review: 'My Scientology Movie'". Variety. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "British Council Film: My Scientology Movie". 2 October 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  11. 1 2 Halligan, Fionnuala (16 October 2015). "'My Scientology Movie': Review". Screen Daily. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  12. ↑ Grater, Tom (1 September 2015). "Louis Theroux Scientology doc to premiere at LFF". Screen Daily. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  13. ↑ Hines, Nico (14 October 2015). "Ex-Scientologists: David Miscavige Is a 'Terrorist'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  14. ↑ "'My Scientology Movie' Is An Absurdly Funny Take On The Scientology Documentary". The Huffington Post. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  15. ↑ Ide, Wendy (9 October 2016). "My Scientology Movie review – amusing but lightweight". The Observer . London. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  16. ↑ "Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie - Film Music - Soundtrack - WTR". Wavetheoryrecords.com. 23 September 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  17. ↑ "Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.