Going Clear- Page 3

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/31/15 at 1:49pm

Davis is clearly someone Miscavige sees as a threat: young, handsome, wealthy, and good with the public. No wonder he's been banished from the upper echelon of the church, even though both him and his wife come from wealthy and prominent Scientology families. Although perhaps that's the reason why they're off living comparatively normal lives in Texas and not in the hole.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/31/15 at 11:50pm

Transgender warrior goddess performance artist Kate Bornstein tales to Tony Ortega about her anticipation waiting to see "Going Clear."

Kate Bornstein: I’m on the edge of my seat — as are so many ex-Scientologists — filled with great hope and anticipation that Going Clear is going to dramatically help bring down the walls between us and our loved ones, now separated by the policy of disconnection.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/1/15 at 9:18am

Fascinating, I was totally hooked, we have a Scientology church here in Manchester UK, I wouid love to know if anybody actually goes because I've never reakky seen anyone go in.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/1/15 at 9:58am

It's like the Wonka factory: Nobody ever goes in, and nobody ever comes out.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/13/15 at 10:31pm

The documentary's director Alex Gibney is scheduled to be on Seth Meyers's show tonight.  I'll be DVRing it to hear about the inevitable harassment he must be getting.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 7:27am

 

And speaking of, many plaudits to Mr. Gibney, who, in the past 10 years, has quietly become the most potent American documentarian of our life and times.

And, Namo, thank you for that Tony Ortega/Sylvia DeWall link.  How heartbreaking.

Updated On: 4/14/15 at 07:27 AM

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 4:53pm

I expected to see more than one face from "Californication" make an appearance. I have always associated that show's cast with being primarly ex-Scientologists.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 7:23pm

All I know of is Beghe.  

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 9:27pm

I always found it interesting, that after the tragic death of Travolta's son, when Travolta started pulling away from Scientology because of how they felt about intellectually challenged children, that was the exact same time all these Massage Therapist started coming out against him. Once he made nice with Scientology, it suddenly went away. hmmmmmm.

 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/15/15 at 12:55pm

Some people with money are starting a YouTube channel to tell the stories of kids who grew up in Scientology.  

From Cradle to Slave

[Kad]

Posted: 4/15/15 at 1:34pm

If homosexuality is all they have on Travolta, that's pathetic for him. He's had a wildly successful, iconic career- coming out as gay wouldn't erase or diminish that. He'd probably be embraced more. 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/15/15 at 1:49pm

That's Margaret Cho's line about him.  Just remember what Haggis said in the documentary… as far as you know when you're in, it's just bigotry if people are criticizing Scientology, which makes a lot of people circle the wagons and go into defensive mode.  Which is why JT said he wouldn't watch the doc, because it's coming from a negative place. This way, as far as he's aware, he's shutting out closed minded people who are attacking out of prejudice.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 4/21/15 at 7:15pm

Ugh. Anyone else been noticing the Scientology adds popping up on BWW?

They're here!!

[missthemountains]

Posted: 4/21/15 at 11:40pm

One of my favorite things, next to theatre, are good documentaries. I think it's such an incredible art form. "Going Clear" was an incredible expose on Scientology, completely captivating from start to finish--although like most of you, some of it was repetition from what I already knew. Sparky was fantastic--that part about her dying child made me shrudder. And what a power punch of an ending. The scariest part, I think, is that I think LRH was really crazy enough to believe the crap he thought up. Agreed that it is in a way very sad that John Travolta is trapped for life in the Church of Scientology, and how god damn manipulative they are. One of my family members works at a Ritz Carlton in Palm Springs, and Travolta has come in numerous times apparently aggressively hitting on the male workers, and has since been banned. I think his homosexuality is pretty known at this point. It's sad that is probably a lot of what is holding him back, and probably other crazy things he's said in auditing sessions. I also had no idea about Shelly Miscavich--that's wild. I think what fascinates me the most about it is that so much has been exposed about this awful, terrible "church" and yet there's no sign of a tax exemption re-examination, probably because so much money is being pumped to keep people quiet. I trust, in time, that will change so ToS can stop continuing to run the lives of so many people.

One time when I was in high school as a joke with two of my friends, I went to the Church of Scientology in New York City, and I remember being in a small room watching a documentary on Dianetics and then they tried to get me to sign up to be audited. I remember how persistent they were that I wrote down a bunch of fake information and tried to book it out of there as soon as possible.

Slightly unrelated, but did anyone see Alex Timber's "A Very Merry Unauthorized Scientology Pageant"? What did you think of it? I remember at around the same time as when I visited the CoS I was directing a play in which one of my cast members was actually in that, and I'm kicking myself now that I lost touch with her so I can ask her about it. Did anyone see it? I love the opening number.

 "Hey, It's A Happy Day" from "A Very Merry Unauthorized Christmas Pageant"

Updated On: 4/22/15 at 11:40 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/21/15 at 11:44pm

I saw a regional production and I really loved it.  It was the first critical piece about Scientology that their lawyers and private investigators never went after for some reason.

[missthemountains]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 12:54am

According to Wiki, they did--at least to some extent: 

"Early in the production of the musical, the president of the Church of Scientology in New York sent a letter to the producer pointing out the Church's history of litigation. This led Timbers and Jarrow to insert the word "Unauthorized" into the title, upon the advice of legal counsel. During the Los Angeles production, representatives of the Church of Scientology visited the production staff in the midst of rehearsals and handed out documentation of successful litigation against critics of Scientology. Parents of some of the Los Angeles cast members also received phone calls from Scientologists in the entertainment industry, asking them not to allow their children to perform in the musical."

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 1:11am

I don't buy for a moment that Travolta is gay.  He was infamous during the 1st national tour of Grease for laying just about every girl in the cast which lead to an intervention about respect for women.  Because of the rumors that have swirled around him, every gay hotel worker in the world will claim, "He wanted me!" because it makes for a good story amongst their like-minded pals.  As for Scientology, he has claimed that it changed his life for the better.  There is no reason he would stay for fear of being outed after already having been "outed" by every cheap rag in the universe from the National Inquirer to the Star, speculators on message boards and so on.  Woody Allen could be photographed in Central Park sucking d!ck and it wouldn't register because he's not a gay fantasy.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 1:24am

Yeah, so his boyfriend Paul Barressi just happened to show up in the locker room scene in "Perfect."

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 2:08am

^ Sure, he was so secure in his gay identity and so powerful that he got the studio to hire his boyfriend for the picture, then slid into the closet hoping no one would remember.  Say what?

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 3:23am

I always kiss my buddies on the mouth.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 3:39am

I have many straight male friends who kiss on the mouth including my brothers-in-laws and nephews.  It's not that unusal unless you live under a rock.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 8:58am

No, that's still pretty unusual. 

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:20am

Why are you trying to defend Travolta's closeted sexuality? What's the end game here?

[Kad]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:28am

To pull back the curtain on the gay fantasy. 

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 6:29pm

I'm not trying to defend anything, I just don't think it's true. But getting back to the subject, it's a compelling, eye-opening documentary.

Updated On: 4/22/15 at 06:29 PM