Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography pdfdrive com

parts in several films, notably appearing opposite Michael Douglas in the 2000
movie Wonder Boys, about a college girl who is infatuated with her professor. It
was a real thrill for Katie, the starstruck young woman even enjoying an on-
screen kiss with the Hollywood legend. “Katie was so excited but very nervous,”
recalls a Dawson’s Creek friend. “She was blessed by the fact that they could see
she was young and inexperienced and took her under their wing.”
As her career was moving onward and upward, so was her love life. Friends
introduced her to actor Chris Klein, riding high with the hugely successful teen
comedy American Pie. With appearances on TV’s Saturday Night Live as well
as several movies, including Phone Booth with Colin Farrell, under her belt,
Katie was ready to talk about her life and career for an hour-long TV special
with host Jules Asner.

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In fall 2002 her family spent days with Asner’s film crew, allowing them total
access to their rambling, clapboard home in Toledo. In a fascinating
documentary, first screened in October 2002, the young actress came across as a
wry, confident, strong-willed, occasionally stubborn girl with a wide streak of
sparky, self-deprecating humor. It was clear, too, that her adoring family had
supported, nurtured, and advised her every step of the way. She was a bright,
much-loved, well-understood jewel in a solidly conventional Catholic family.
When they all attended midnight Mass at their church, Christ the King, on
Christmas Eve 2003, just after Katie’s twenty-fifth birthday, they had special
reason to give thanks. That night Katie’s longtime boyfriend, Chris Klein, had
asked her to marry him—after first nervously asking her father for his official
blessing. As proof of his serious intent, Klein had spent a reported $500,000 on a
wedding ring—the kind of money that could have bought a substantial five-
bedroom house in Toledo. The excited couple planned to marry in Los Angeles
during the fall of the following year.
In the meantime, she had work to do. Katie spent months in London, where
she had been given the chance to star in a Hollywood blockbuster, playing the
love interest, Rachel Dawes, opposite Christian Bale in Batman Begins. She also
attended film premieres—including the one for Tom Cruise’s action thriller
Collateral—and was a guest at numerous fashionable parties, rubbing shoulders
with the likes of model Elle Macpherson, actress Sienna Miller, and actor Jude
Law. She had clearly left behind her tomboy Joey Potter image, emerging as a
beautiful and talented star.
When she returned to Hollywood in September 2004, the strain in her
relationship with her fiancé became apparent. Although she was a rising name,
Chris was struggling to find work, having turned down the chance to appear in
the final American Pie film. A public argument in a restaurant in October
confirmed media rumors of a rift.
While the wedding was postponed until after Christmas, the couple spent the
festive season together skiing in Aspen, Colorado, a place that Chris said “held a
lot of good memories.” But their holiday “honeymoon” did not last long. Katie
was working on a starring role in the comedy Thank You for Smoking. She was
unimpressed when Klein was caught driving drunk outside San Diego in
February and given 150 hours of community service and an eighteen-hundred-
dollar fine. It was the final straw for Katie, the couple officially calling off their
engagement in March. By then they were not speaking. Chris was enigmatic
about the reason for their parting. “We grew up. The fantasy was over and reality
set in.”

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The reality was that her star was rising. That is what probably appealed to
Tom. When his office called Katie’s manager, they said the meeting would be
about work and should take place as soon as possible. They said Tom had been
interviewing actresses for weeks in search of a leading lady to play Ethan Hunt’s
fiancée in Mission: Impossible III. It was Katie’s big chance, but she seemed to
be one of many, and it did not take long for rumors to start circulating that there
was more to this auditioning process than met the eye. It was the choice of
candidates that gave rise to this story.
It was said that the list included Jessica Alba, who had split from her fiancé
the previous year, as well as Kate Bosworth—she, too, had split from her
boyfriend, actor Orlando Bloom, back in February. Next was Scarlett Johansson;
she was single but had expressed a keen interest in older men. The word among
gossip columnists was that Cruise might be looking for more than just a leading
lady for a film: There was a gap in his own life that needed filling.
Katie Holmes was on the same list as the rest of them. While she may have
been excited, Cruise had cast his celebrity net wide. She did fit the bill, but so
did many others. What really mattered was whether she passed the test. As soon
as Carrabino called Katie about the meeting, she flew to L.A. from New York,
where she had been living. That was around April 11, 2005—less than three
weeks after Tom’s frantic pursuit of Sofía Vergara. Katie would not be seen
again by friends or family for over two weeks. She seemed to have disappeared.
The time she spent with Cruise that fortnight was all-transforming. It was the
period that separated her from the rest of the women who had tried out for the
role.
As with the first meeting between Tom and Nicole Kidman, the connection
was immediate and powerful. “It was instant,” she told talk-show host Jay Leno.
He took her on her first motorcycle ride, to the beach at Santa Monica. “It was
amazing and fast,” she recalled later. “I was in love from the moment that I
shook his hand for the first time.” As Katie was not cast for Mission: Impossible
III, it was clear that she had made a different kind of connection. Soon after their
meeting, a limousine filled with chocolates and flowers arrived at Katie’s place.
In a generous gesture, he apparently had her own car cleaned and repainted.
Courtship was something Cruise had mastered—it was only weeks since he had
been doing the same thing for Sofía. Just for good measure, he also presented
Katie with a copy of a Scientology handbook.
Their first proper date was a sushi dinner held in one of his parked private jets
at Santa Monica airport. It was a taste of things to come—not just because of the
luxury, but because they were not alone. Cruise’s close circle of Scientology
friends joined them throughout the dinner. It is impossible to know exactly who

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attended—but it is likely the guests included church leader David Miscavige and
the tall, watchful figure of Katie’s designated new best friend—Jessica Feshbach
Rodriguez. Katie would be seeing more of these people than she could possibly
have imagined.
It seems that she passed her social audition. Tom was eager to introduce the
young actress to his children, Isabella and Connor, who had been playing with
Vergara’s son, Manolo, a few weeks before. Katie flew back to New York with a
sparkle in her eye. A few days later, in a Starbucks on Waverly Place, not far
from her SoHo apartment, she was overheard gushing to a friend about her new
love. “He introduced me to his kids!” she whispered. “And he’s taking me to
Rome on a private jet this weekend.”
Tom picked Katie up in New York on April 23 and flew her to Italy to stay in
the $3,500-per-night suite in the Hotel Hassler in Rome. He had arranged for the
double bed to be scattered with red rose petals, and took her to the same
restaurant where he and Penélope Cruz had dined just over a year before. They
were spotted by the paparazzi, and this became their first appearance as a couple
who were head-over-heels in love. It was a picture that would become very
familiar in the following months. Back in the U.S., Sofía Vergara saw the
images of Tom and his latest love on television. Only then did she fully
recognize her own narrow escape. A friend said, “Sofía privately pitied the poor
girl. Katie is a much weaker, more innocent person than Sofía.”
If Sofía felt sorry for the girl who had taken her place, Katie’s family and
friends in Toledo could be excused for being in shock. It had been only six
weeks since she had split with her fiancé, Chris Klein. Now she was dating a
twice-married man sixteen years her senior. As they watched the footage of
Katie walking the red carpet with Tom at the David di Donatello Awards on
April 29, they must have noticed other changes in their normally vivacious
daughter. While she smiled, kissed her new love, and posed for photos, Katie
was uncharacteristically silent—and stooping. It set the pattern for future public
appearances; Tom occasionally giving an impromptu interview to tell the world
how “amazing” and “beautiful” Katie was, and how much in love they were. All
the while Katie would smile but say absolutely nothing.
Spontaneity was alien to Tom Cruise. He knew about control and command,
about calculating and calibrating the odds. There was no risk in his business. As
one friend, choosing his words carefully, told me: “He is meticulous and