Tom Cruise: All the World's a Stage

by Iain Johnstone

  Cruise's sister, Lee Anne Devette, agreed in public with Kingsley. “It was an amicable separation and the two remain friends. He still cares a great deal for Pat. Clearly, it was time for a change. It was a decision he came to."

  As for Cruise's role in Scientology, she said: "In earlier years, he didn't talk about Scientology, and everybody said he was keeping it a big mystery. Now, he talks about it and it's wrong. It's damned if you do, damned if you don't."

  Under his new PR management he didn’t just talk about it, it was made an almost absolute requirement of anybody coming to interview him that they should spend the best part of a day at the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles.

  This was not mandatory: several French journalists refused to go and I interviewed him and I didn’t go, either.

  Lee Anne said she thought it would help people to understand him better. But it was not without controversy. One of the first journalists to talk to Tom on ‘War of the Worlds’ was from Der Spiegel – the leading magazine in Germany, a huge market in terms of non-domestic box-office. The reporter had been ‘amazed’ to see the Scientology tents on the set.

  ‘What were you amazed about?’ Cruise countered.

  ‘Why do you go so extremely public about your personal convictions?’

  “I believe in freedom of speech,” Cruise replied. “I felt honored to have volunteer Scientology ministers on the set. They were helping the crew. When I'm working on a movie, I do anything I can to help the people I'm spending time with. I believe in communication.

  “The tent of a sect at someone's working place still seems somewhat strange to us,” the reporter persisted and asked Steven if he hadn’t thought it unusual.

  Most people in the Paramount marketing department certainly thought it was unusual. It had fallen to Spielberg to put Tom’s request not only to Paramount but also to Universal where they shot the film’s interiors. Few people in Hollywood say no to Steven Spielberg so the tent was duly erected. He hardly wanted to alienate his star but he remained guarded about how personally enthusiastic he was.

  “I saw it as an information tent. No one was compelled to frequent it, but it was available for anybody who had an open mind and was curious about someone else's belief system.”

  But the post-Kingsley Tom was determined to stick up for his decision. “The volunteer Scientology ministers were there to help the sick and injured. People on the set appreciated that. I have absolutely nothing against talking about my beliefs. But I do so much more. We live in a world where people are on drugs forever. Where even get children drugged. Where crimes against humanity are so extreme that most people turn away in horror and dismay. Those are the things that I care about. I don't care what someone believes. I don't care what nationality they are. But if someone wants to get off drugs, I can help them. If someone wants to learn how to read, I can help them. If someone doesn't want to be a criminal anymore, I can give them tools that can better their life. You have no idea how many people want to know what Scientology is. I'm a helper. For instance, I myself have helped hundreds of people get off drugs. In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It's called Narconon.”

  The German stood his ground. “That's not correct. Yours is never mentioned among the recognized detox programs. Independent experts warn against it because it is rooted in pseudo science.”

  But Cruise was not prepared to concede this. “You don't understand what I am saying. It's a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period.”

  Even the reminder that Scientology had been under federal surveillance in Germany did not concern him. It was not considered a religion there, but rather an exploitative cult with totalitarian tendencies.

  Tom struck back at this. “The surveillance is nothing like as strict anymore. And you know why? Because the intelligence authorities never found anything. Because there was nothing to find. We've won over 50 court cases in Germany. And it's not true that everyone in Germany supports that line against us. Whenever I go to Germany, I have incredible experiences. I always meet very generous and extraordinary people. A minority wants to hate - okay.

  Reminding the star that when ‘Mission: Impossible’ came out in 1996, German politicians called for a boycott of his movies, Cruise’s interlocutor boldly inquired: “Are you worried that your support for Scientology could hurt your career?”

  At that moment, Tom was not in the business of selling cinema tickets but of standing up for his beliefs: “Not at all. I've always been very outspoken. I've been a Scientologist for 20 years. If someone is so intolerant that he doesn't want to see a Scientologist in a movie, then he shouldn't go to the movie theater. I don't care. Here in the United States, Scientology is a religion. If some of the politicians in your country don't agree with that, I couldn't care less.”

  ‘I couldn’t care less’ - rarely heard words for a star selling a movie although, in truth, Cruise did promote the merits of ‘War of the Worlds’. However a new asperity had entered his style, never more so than in his encounter with Australia’s leading television interviewer, Peter Overton of ‘60 Minutes.’ It had been recorded before joyous Tom had bared his emotions to the world on Oprah.

  The Australian programme promotions made a virtue of promised controversy and pursued high ratings in trailers of what was in store for the viewers.

  Overton obliged the Cruise camp by attending the Scientology session but it hardly converted him. In his introduction to the interview, taped after the event, he warned is audience: “I discovered there's another side to Tom Cruise — that when he's angry, the cool man of Hollywood can become downright icy.”

  Their chat started out chummily enough with both men giving the impression that they were good buddies.

  TOM CRUISE: How are you? Hey, how you been?

  PETER OVERTON: Nice to see you.

  CRUISE: Good to see you.

  OVERTON: Long time.

  TOM CRUISE: I know.

  But it would not be long before the bonhomie turned slightly rancid as Overton complained about his four and a half hours at the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles. He asked the star if he agreed there was perception out there that it gets a bad press — cult-like secrecy, controlling — and Tom almost had to defend it

  OVERTON: Do you feel discriminated against when people say this is what Scientology is, that you're a bunch of lunatic fringe or whatever?

  CRUISE: Peter?

  OVERTON: Tom?

  CRUISE: No-one's ever said that to me.

  OVERTON: No, I mean that perception out there.

  CRUISE: But that's not the perception out there. That is absolutely — maybe from your perspective.

  OVERTON: This isn't my personal opinion, I'm just saying, how do you feel about that when people...

  TOM CRUISE: Well, how would you feel?

  PETER OVERTON: If it was my faith, I'd feel really...

  TOM CRUISE: Not even your own faith — I find that appalling when people who don't know what they're talking about say things like that.

  Journalists don’t come any tougher than they do in Australia so after Peter Overton had steered the interview into the less intimidating topic of ‘War of the Worlds’ he stepped into the ring again with another controversial subject, namely one of Australia’s favourite daughters.

  Pat Kingsley had abruptly announced on February 5th 200 that Tom and Nicole were separating. The news evidently came as something as a surprise to Mrs Cruise and her husband’s only explanation to the world had been: “She knows why.”

  As a topic it was, if anything, more incendiary than Scientology.

  OVERTON: When you were married, it was like you were an adopted part of Australia. Do you still have a connection to Australia?

  CRUISE: Yeah. My children are Australian. Absolutely. Absolutely. I have a lot of friends in Australia. I love Australia.

  OVERTON: Was Nicole the love of your life
?

  TOM CRUISE: What do you mean, Peter?

  PETER OVERTON: You were married for 10 years.

  TOM CRUISE: Listen, we raised children, I ... you know ... I mean, how do you answer that question? She's someone that I ... I plan on getting married again.

  PETER OVERTON: You do?

  TOM CRUISE: Absolutely, yeah.

  PETER OVERTON: And having kids?

  TOM CRUISE: Absolutely.

  PETER OVERTON: But Nicole was a major part of your life and a love of your life at the time?

  TOM CRUISE: I loved Nic very much, there's no question.

  PETER OVERTON: Would you like Nicole to remarry?

  TOM CRUISE: Yes. I want Nicole to be happy. That's what I want.

  PETER OVERTON: And do you have a relationship where you talk — a parenting relationship — and talk professionally about each other's...

  TOM CRUISE: Listen, here's the thing, Peter. You're stepping over a line now. You're stepping over a line, you know you are.

  PETER OVERTON: I suppose they're questions that people want to know.

  TOM CRUISE: Peter, you want to know. Take responsibility for what you want to know. Don't say what other people… This is a conversation that I'm having with you right now. So I'm just telling you right now, okay, just put your manners back in.

  To tell Australia’s leading interviewer to “put his manner back in” was less than likely to endear the film star to the watching audience. But one of the tenets of Scientology is to control not just yourself but your environment as well and this line of questioning was not an environment where Cruise wanted to be. Besides, a certain recklessness was beginning to attend his public utterances. He no longer had to pander to the press; he was the number one star in the world with the billions to match.

  These interviews were taped pre-Katie and certainly the brittle, slightly crusty Cruise was a creature of the past from the moment he announced his new-found love.

  Ten days after the Australian interview aired, Tom took off for Paris to promote ‘War of the Worlds.’ Spielberg needed to further finesse the film and was unable to go but eleven-year-old Dakota Fanning, the precocious actress who plays Tom’s daughter in the film, was well up to handling the press.

  The press conference in a gilded ballroom in Paris, a place more suited to signing international treaties than movie junkets, was well attended by national papers and radio and television stations.

  And, like Oprah, they got more than they had bargained for.

  Katie Holmes was spotted in the audience, sitting beside Tom’s sister and publicist, Lee Anne DeVette. Somebody asked Tom if he was going to marry Katie.

  Yes, was the answer. He had proposed to her in the early hours of that morning at the end of a candlelit dinner at the Michelin-starred Jules Verne Restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. “I haven’t slept at all.” No, he did not get down on one knee but he would like to return to the Eiffel Tower, a place neither nor Katie had ever visited before, to get married, surrounded by his and Katie’s families. Katie said nothing. But her beaming smile said it all – that and the substantial gleaming diamond on her finger.

  The actual French premiere of ‘War of the Worlds’ was not in Paris but in Marseilles two hundred miles to the south on the Riviera coast. Cruise, whose appetite for speed by car, bike or plane, was well chronicled was allowed to take the controls of France’s pride and joy, the high speed TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse) which could travel at speeds of up to 225 miles per hour. The photographs of him in a peaked train driver’s hat gave maximum publicity both to the man and the machine.

  Attention now focused on the next wife of the world’s favourite film star. She certainly reciprocated the outgoing ardour of her fiancé. “I’m so happy. Tom is fuss-worthy, for sure. He’s the most artistic man I’ve met. He’s a joy. He makes me laugh like I’ve never laughed. It’s good to be me right now. Everything is just amazing. It’s lovely to meet people right now, because this is the best I have ever been. You just burst and glow all the time. I strongly recommend it. He’s an amazing man and I’m a very lucky woman.”

  The relationship had her parents’ approval. “They’re thrilled. They’re just happy for me. For us. It’s really lovely.”

  Some people had questioned the sixteen year age gap between her and Tom and the fact that he was twice divorced. But not her father, Martin, 60. “From all we have read about Tom,” he is reported to have said, “he’s a humanitarian and a real class act. I’ve seen a lot of unconventional relationships flourish, from my perspective as an attorney the age gap is not a factor.”

  Nor was it a problem her mother, Kathleen, 58, nor her siblings, Tamara, 37, Holly, 35, Martin Jr,, 34 or Nancy, 30.

  This strong Catholic family grew up in a spacious mansion with a swimming pool in a fashionable part of Toledo. From their white picket fence to collecting Barbie dolls to cheer-leading, Katie was brought up as an all-American girl. She even gained a place at Columbia University to study medicine but all that was swept away by Dawson’s Creek.

  That was shot in Wilmington, North Carolina where Katie acquired a house and a boyfriend, Joshua Jackson, another member of the close-knit cast.

  When she moved to an apartment in New York and took up with the phone-sex star of ‘American Pie’, Chris Klein, Joshua observed ruefully of her: “She’s very clean-cut. The only thing that’s changed over the years is that maybe she’s been to a bar now.

  Indeed she had, her favourite being in the Hotel Gansevoort on 9th Avenue. Other favoured haunts were Billy’s Bakery, Left Bank Books and Chanel, DKNY and Prada.

  Katie is always at pains to point out what an unstarry life she leads, well away from the red carpets of Los Angeles. She returns to Toledo half a dozen times a year, where her family and friends keep her grounded. “My mom says I have to keep my apartment and car clean. I’m not dirty but I can be a little messy, a little disorganized.” She will sleep on the sofa of her childhood chum, Meghann Birie. “She makes me get out of the car to scrape ice from the windshield. The ‘Do you know who I am?’ stuff doesn’t fly with her. I’ve tried it,” she recalls with a laugh.

  But, as she cut through France on the speeding TGV, Katie Holmes was fully aware that her life was about to undergo a seismic change.

  The caravan moved on to London where set decorators had artfully turned Leicester Square into a dystopian wasteland, devastated by aliens. Upturned cars lay burning, smoke and water emanated for the remains of buildings and even ragged, wounded actors dragged themselves along the upturned street. Dakota Fanning told us she had never been to London before and was looking forward to seeing the sights. I wonder if anyone informed her that Leicester Square didn’t usually look like this.

  Tom, always a star who enjoyed being a star, had taken to working the crowds at London premieres, a favourite trick being to borrow the mobile phone of some fan and talk to her mother at home. “Yes, you really are speaking to Tom Cruise.”

  Unfortunately this used to hold him up for more than an hour and those inside waiting for the film became restless, if not tetchy. So someone in UIP had come up with a cunning plan: Tom would nip into the cinema, introduce the movie and then go to meet and greet the thousands.

  Those of us who were privileged to be inside and had walked through the remains of Leicester Square, had first been searched most rigorously and, had to show our passports, something that was no longer an absolute when crossing borders in the European Community.