Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography pdfdrive com

CHAPTER 13
While Katie and baby Suri were quietly bonding in the Rocky Mountains under
the watchful gaze of Scientology staff members, Tom was making as much noise
as he could promoting Mission: Impossible III. In April 2006, less than a week
after Suri was born, he flew to Rome for the film’s premiere, and for the next
few weeks toured the planet attempting to re-create the movie’s breathless
excitement. For the New York premiere in May, he traveled around Manhattan
by motorbike, speedboat, sports car, subway, taxi, and helicopter before arriving
at the movie theater. When he promoted the film in Japan, he hired a bullet train
for himself and 150 of his fans.
Although the movie, directed by J. J. Abrams, the creative force behind the
TV series Lost and Alias, had its fair share of leaping from skyscrapers,
exploding bridges, and edge-of-the-seat, life-and-death drama, the star of the
show, at least as far as the media was concerned, was sleeping in a crib in the
Cruises’ mountain retreat in Telluride, Colorado. Nothing was too much trouble
for mother and daughter, Tom reportedly dispatching his Gulfstream jet to
California for crates of diet cherry soda and special organic food. When Katie
appeared at the Hollywood premiere in May, the eyes of the world were on the
young mother.
While Tom talked gaily of having ten children and getting Katie back in shape
for their wedding, professional Katie watchers concluded that she appeared
“tired and miserable.” Then she was whisked back to Colorado for what Tom
called “b and b.” She did the breast-feeding and he did the burping—and
changed the diapers. If they fed Suri on Hubbard’s barley baby formula—a
recipe he claimed he recalled from Roman soldiers two thousand years ago—
they kept it secret. Mother and daughter spent the summer out of the limelight,
surrounded by his and her family, who entertained themselves with golf, gliding,
and barbecues. While Tom took Isabella and Connor on the homemade
motocross course, Katie diligently made a quilt that incorporated family photos
in the patchwork.
The couple’s seclusion and the fact that it took a further three months for Suri
to make her public debut—naturally on the cover of Vanity Fair, photographs
courtesy of celebrity snapper Annie Leibovitz—caused all kinds of wild
speculation that her parents were afraid to show her off because she had a birth
defect. When the world finally got a glimpse, it was clear that she bore no

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resemblance to L. Ron Hubbard. With a head of thick black hair and big, wide
brown eyes, she was the image of both parents. The shoot itself took five days,
rather more than the thirty minutes it took Leibovitz to photograph the Queen of
England.
In June, as a telling counterpoint to the media madness engulfing Tom, Katie,
and baby Suri, Nicole Kidman married country singer Keith Urban in a
traditional white wedding in a Catholic church in the suburbs of Sydney,
Australia. “For Nicole this is a spiritual homecoming, to the church and her
faith,” observed Father Paul Coleman, who married the couple. The
conventional ceremony drew a line in the spiritual sand, the actress clearly and
completely distancing herself from her former dalliance with Scientology.
While the rest of the world cooed over baby Suri, in Hollywood all eyes were
on Tom’s latest movie offspring, Mission: Impossible III. Even though Tom’s
bold decision to let TV director J. J. Abrams helm the movie had paid off with
generally favorable reviews, the crucial U.S. opening weekend took in only $48
million, compared to $58 million for M:I and II. While the movie, which cost
$200 million to make, went on to earn nearly $400 million worldwide and half
as much again from DVD sales, the consensus in Hollywood, particularly at his
parent company, Paramount, was that Tom’s proselytizing on behalf of
Scientology had cost up to $100 million in profits. This was a high crime in
Hollywood, where you can worship any God you like, so long as it is Mammon.
Tom was now on trial in the court of his peers. Witnesses for the prosecution
cited the fact that, according to a Gallup/USA Today poll in May 2006, just over
a third of the public had a favorable opinion of the star, a sharp drop from nearly
60 percent a year earlier. More than half now viewed him unfavorably,
compared with under a third in 2005. Most significantly, the onetime World’s
Sexiest Man had lost considerable ground among his female fan base, primarily
because of his attack on Brooke Shields. By the end of August, when Tom
visited Shields’s Hollywood home and made his peace with her over tomato and
basil omelets, it was way too late.
As leading marketing guru Paul Dergarabedian observed, “It’s hard to ever
know why a film fails to live up to expectations, but in this case you can’t fault
the marketing campaign. The reasons lie elsewhere.” In his defense, producer
Garth Drabinsky, who gave Tom a starring role in his early movie Losin’ It,
lauded his achievement in making the Mission: Impossible series so
commercially and artistically successful. As he said, “The MI trilogy is a
staggering accomplishment as an actor and producer. It took a Herculean effort
to do this and you cannot make light of it. He works his ass off on the movie set,

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and as a producer he will continue to produce great work.”
The fact that Forbes magazine named Tom the world’s top celebrity in June
2006 cut little ice with the suits at Paramount. When his contract came up for
renewal at the end of July, he was found guilty of committing a mortal sin: Tom
simply cost too much. Even though he had earned the studio over a billion
dollars during his fourteen-year association with them, during contract
negotiations Paramount executives tried to reduce his production company
overheads from $10 to $2 million a year. Tom and his production partner, Paula
Wagner, balked. At the time, they were looking for another studio to call home,
but not one had invited them in. As negotiations continued, it was reported that,
when leaving his office one night, Paramount Studio boss Brad Grey was
approached by a dozen or so Scientologists who attempted to put pressure on
him to give Cruise a good deal. Grey, apparently, stood his ground and refused
to bend to coercion.
When the sentence was finally pronounced, it was Tom’s Scientology faith
rather than his up-front costs that took the rap. Sumner Redstone, the
octogenarian chairman of Paramount’s parent company Viacom, made the
announcement in an interview with The Wall Street Journal: “As much as we
like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal,” Redstone said.
“His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.” In a stinging barb,
he added: “It’s nothing to do with his acting ability, he’s a terrific actor. But we
don’t think someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company
revenue should be on the lot.”
He later told Vanity Fair that Cruise had become a “hate figure” for women
over his criticism of Brooke Shields. “He didn’t just turn one off, he turned off
all women and a lot of men.” There was talk that Steven Spielberg, who was
effectively employed by Paramount, stood by as Cruise was taken down, Tom’s
behavior during the War of the Worlds tour apparently still rankling. Soon,
however, fingers were pointing at Redstone’s wife, Paula Fortunato, who was
“incensed” by Tom’s criticism of Brooke Shields, telling friends, “I never want
to see another Tom Cruise movie.” A Viacom spokesman conceded that
Fortunato “disagreed” with Tom’s views, but insisted that she saw all his
movies.
Tom’s camp hit back quickly, his partner, Paula Wagner, maintaining that she
and Tom had been the ones to terminate contract talks in favor of independent
financing. According to Wagner, Redstone was “just trying to save face.” Tom’s
lawyer Bert Fields was furious: “That a mogul like Sumner Redstone could
make a statement so vicious, so pompous, so petulant . . . it tells you more about

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Sumner Redstone and Viacom than about Tom Cruise.”
Over the next few weeks, Wagner and Cruise scrambled to finance their own
production company. Eventually Tom’s good friend Kevin Huvane interested a
group of investors, including Mark Shapiro, who runs Six Flags amusement
parks; Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins; and real estate
magnate Dwight Schar. As one agency executive told the Los Angeles Times, “It
all feels very knee jerk. This feels very Plan C, maybe even Plan D. When you
lose your studio deal and you get into business with amusement parks, that’s a
problem.”
Historically, though, splits between studios and stars go all the way back to
1919, when silent movie stars Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas
Fairbanks set up their own studio, “United Artists,” so that they could keep a
bigger share of the profits. In October, in a fitting historical coincidence, Cruise
and Wagner were approached by MGM and given the chance to take over the
ailing United Artists studio. Wagner became the CEO and Tom executive
producer, the duo cracking open a $550 bottle of vintage champagne at Mastro’s
in Beverly Hills to celebrate. Their aim was to “revive” the company to its glory
days, with United Artists producing about four films a year.
Film star, father, movie mogul; Tom capped a tumultuous year by becoming a
husband for the third time in his life. On November 12, 2006, he and Katie tied
the knot legally at a small, private, civil ceremony in Los Angeles. Six days later
they married again in a fairy-tale castle in Italy in front of family and Hollywood
celebrities while the media, ever the bridesmaid, waited outside. Even though the
local Catholic parish priest refused to give his own blessing, the Scientology
ceremony at the fifteenth-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano near Rome
made headlines around the world as a host of celebrities, many of them members
of Scientology, swelled the congregation. Guests included singers J-Lo and Marc
Anthony, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy, Jenna
Elfman, Victoria Beckham, and even Brooke Shields, who said, “I’m thrilled for
them.”
Notable absentees included Oprah Winfrey, who had publicly questioned
Tom’s couch-jumping antics, as well as fellow Scientologists John Travolta and
Kirstie Alley, who also did not attend a party in Los Angeles subsequently
hosted by Paula Wagner. Naturally, Nicole Kidman was not invited, but she sent
a four-thousand-dollar vase as a wedding present—presumably, suggested one
wag, because it saved her the expense of throwing it. There were few of Katie’s
friends from her days in Toledo or Dawson’s Creek, but plenty of Scientologists,
like her Scientology handler Jessica Feshbach Rodriguez, to take their place.
David Miscavige was best man and Katie’s sister Nancy Blaylock was the

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matron of honor.
After a “simple yet eloquent” twenty-minute Scientology ceremony, which
included bizarre vows about Katie needing pots, combs, and a cat as well as a
reminder that young men can’t be expected to remember their promises, the
couple exchanged rings and rounded off the proceedings with what was by now
trademark behavior—a lengthy public kiss. Most guests agreed that, apart from
the ceremony, the most moving moment was when the blind Italian opera singer
Andrea Bocelli serenaded the assembled throng, although as a practicing
Catholic he declined to attend the Scientology ceremony itself. “This was,”
declared gravel-voiced David Miscavige as he toasted the couple, “a marriage of
true minds.” Katie’s father, Marty Holmes, put aside any misgivings to declare
that his new son-in-law was “the right guy” for his precious daughter.
Later, the newlyweds flew to the Maldives for a scuba-diving honeymoon on
board the luxurious yacht of Tom’s friend and Scientology convert Jamie
Packer. They were apparently not alone—David and Shelly Miscavige were seen
boarding the private jet at Rome’s Ciampino Airport for the eight-hour flight to
Male, the islands’ capital. Unfortunately, bad weather spoiled the holiday and
the couple flew home early. While the church subsequently denied that the
Miscaviges went on the honeymoon, it was not long before Tom and his best
friend were reunited.
Tom and Katie spent their first New Year’s Eve as a married couple with two
thousand other Scientologists at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles,
applauding enthusiastically as David Miscavige spoke luridly about the “global
obliteration” of psychiatry, using “smart bombs” and grenades to exterminate the
profession. Once again, comparisons to Nazi rallies sprung to some onlookers’
minds.
As he outlined the organization’s plans for world domination and what he
called “planetary clearing,” it was clear how critical Tom and Katie were to the
strategy. After reeling off statistics about the miles of newsprint and hours of
television devoted to Scientology, Miscavige heralded what the media had
dubbed “the wedding of the century” as a chance to introduce the planet to the
concepts and values of Scientology. It confirmed the suspicions of those
wedding guests who felt the occasion was as much a marketing opportunity for
Scientology as a union between two people. Of course, the event was both.
David Miscavige, who once confessed to an associate that if he weren’t a
Scientologist he would be selling laser art at the side of the road, had succeeded
brilliantly in selling his faith through the medium of his best friend. From the
Scientology tent on the War of the Worlds set and the attacks on Brooke Shields,
to the silent birth of Suri and the spectacle of Tom and Katie’s wedding,

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Scientology had piggybacked on the actor’s celebrity, with Tom prepared to
sacrifice his credibility and his popularity for his faith.
Miscavige had a further challenge for his worldwide ambassador. While it
wasn’t Mission: Impossible, it was certainly Mission: Difficult to join with John
Travolta in spearheading the expansion of Scientology into Britain and the rest
of Europe. In contrast to its tax-exempt status in the U.S., Scientology had been
investigated in France, Spain, and Belgium, banned for a time in Britain, and,
because of the country’s own totalitarian history, treated with grave suspicion in
Germany. During 2006, Tom had provided behind-the-scenes technical and
financial assistance when Scientology bought a building in the City of London
for $31 million from a Saudi Arabian property company. “It’s like the tipping
point, with this base we’ll be recruiting the people who control the planet,”
observed one excited Scientologist at the grand opening of the London
headquarters in October 2006. Apart from local worthies, however, the celebrity
turnout at the opening was negligible. Part of Tom’s mission was to change that.
David and Victoria Beckham were obvious candidates, the most high-profile
celebrities in Britain, with an avid following in Europe and the Far East. The
actor first met England’s former soccer captain David Beckham in 2003 after
watching him play for his team, Real Madrid, during a visit to the Spanish
capital. Apart from a love of sports and fast cars, the son of a gas fitter from
London’s poor East End and the Hollywood star would seem to have little in
common, but their friendship flourished. Interestingly, both men had met their
wives by watching them on the big screen: Tom had spotted Nicole Kidman
when she starred in Dead Calm, while David fell for singer Victoria, also known
as Posh Spice, when she appeared in a Spice Girls video. “Posh and Becks,”
whose worldwide popularity made them grade-A Scientology celebrity material,
became a permanent fixture in Tom’s Rolodex.
More than that, he introduced them to his friend Scientology leader David
Miscavige as early as 2004. Just six weeks after Tom and Miscavige opened a
new Scientology center in Madrid, Miscavige flew back to Spain to spend time
with Posh and Becks and their family. While he knows little about soccer, at the
end of October Miscavige gamely sat through a match, watching David’s team,
Real Madrid, at the Bernabéu stadium in the Spanish capital. He joined David,
who was not playing, his mother, Sandra, his wife, Victoria, and their two boys,
Romeo and Brooklyn, as well as Tom in a box at the venue. It is a sign of the
couple’s importance to the organization that Miscavige was prepared to fly
halfway around the world to see them.
As with Penélope Cruz and Sofía Vergara before them, Tom gave the

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Beckhams introductory information on his faith. In October 2005, Victoria was
seen reading a book, Assists for Illnesses and Injuries, by L. Ron Hubbard. It
was thought that she was reading the self-help guide because her son Romeo
suffered from epilepsy, the attacks triggered by photographers’ flashlights. There
was one problem, though: If the Beckhams did join, Romeo would have to stop
taking any prescribed drugs for the condition. This could have dire
consequences, as Tory Christman, a former Scientologist, discovered. When she
first joined, Christman followed the dictates of her new faith by refusing to take
prescription medicine for her epilepsy, which led to numerous life-threatening
seizures.
That was a consideration for the future. For now, David Beckham was being
courted not only by Scientology but also by another American conglomerate,
Anschutz Entertainment Group, who wanted to lure him to Hollywood to play
major league soccer for the Los Angeles Galaxy. When Anschutz finally got
their man in the fall of 2006, David telephoned “his wise friend” Tom Cruise for
advice, the actor encouraging him to head out west.
While Tom was guiding David’s career, Katie was acting on Victoria’s
fashion tips. In October 2006 the duo went on a girls-only trip to Paris during
Fashion Week, appearing in similar or complementing outfits, often chosen by
Victoria, who had published a best-selling book of fashion advice, That Extra