The Huffington Post reports that Will Smith "has joined the ranks of Hollywood power players actively recruiting for the Church of Scientology." Apparently the actor gave crew members who worked with him on his recent project "Hancock" (a comedy which is scheduled for release in July 2008) a gift card for a Scientology personality test. The wrap gift was particularly bizarre given that these initial tests, which serve as a recruiting mechanism for the church, are free anyway.
Smith, who is a close pal of Scientologist Tom Cruise (whom biographer Andrew Morton claims is effectively the church's second in command), has not admitted that he's a member of the church, but did make some complimentary remarks about the religion in an interview with Mens' Vogue last November. "In all of the experiences I've had with Tom and Scientology, like 98 percent of the principles are identical to the principles of the Bible," Smith told writer Hudson Morgan. "The Bible talks about your spirit being immortal, that you were created for existence beyond your physical body. Well, that's no different from Scientology! I don't think that because the word someone uses for spirit is thetan that the definition becomes any different." Yeah, right Will.
Scientology’s policy of targeting stars dates back to the mid fifties (see previous story). To help them achieve their celebrity stalking goals they opened a Celebrity Center in Hollywood on Franklin Avenue. The grand Norman revival style building was originally built as a long-term residential hotel for actors, and once served as home to the likes of Errol Flynn, Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was bought by the church in 1973 for $1 million. New Yorker reporter Dana Goodyear recently ventured inside the church's Celebrity Center. In Goodyear's fascinating feature, Hilary Royce, Scientology's community liaison, explains, "The celebrity is a special public...We've got to help them."
We can only conclude that fawning over celebrities with a special Celebrity Center is one of the other 2% of ideals that Smith doesn't consider “identical to the principles of the Bible,” since we're pretty sure Jesus didn't have a special VIP section at the Sermon on the Mount. But hey, we weren't there, so we could be wrong, perhaps J.C. wasn’t all that egalitarian after all.
The book "Tom Cruise" begins with the words: ''If truth be told, Tom Cruise Mapother IV has always been something of a ladies' man'' (should any biographer open with ''if truth be told''?) and ends with this thunderclap: ''Perhaps the most complex character he has ever played is Tom Cruise himself.'' Between those sentences resides a 323-page air sandwich. ... Morton's on-the-record sources — grade-school ''friends,'' former neighbors, disgruntled ex-Scientologists — are many rings away from his chosen bull's-eye. The lack of fresh material is manifest in desperate stretching (Cruise went to high school in Glen Ridge, N.J., and a decade later, there was a rape case involving...Glen Ridge high schoolers!), family arcana (Cruise's grandfather's cousin's academic works fill 8.3 cubic feet in a library — noted!), and the uncategorizably bizarre (after reading that Church leader David Miscavige is ''two years older if two inches shorter'' than Cruise, I felt two seconds older if two IQ points dumber).
Thanks to EW for saving me 26 bucks...!
Source: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20170021,00.html
Scientology RETARDS. I will never buy Usher, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Will Smith, his silly wife Woo or anyone in these CULTS music films EVER/AGAIN. REMEMBER THE DEAD NON-CELEBRITIES WHO WERE SUCKERED INTO THIS XENU BS!