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My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux

Free to shine

Shiny & Free
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

Absolutely great interview. ^^^^

I think what I like so much about Louis is his matter-of-fact attitude, yet there are so many layers to what he says. He discusses his relationship with Marty and the overview of the movie itself.

Here's a comment from the Bunker:

Hamtaro • an hour ago

The Daily Mail has an interview with Louis Theroux about the movie. At one point, the interviewer says "...I'm not going to ruin the end...but there is a moment where Marty turns around and says 'they will rue the day they crossed me.' And he vows, almost swears, vengeance on camera...because I imagine you filmed this last year. And since then there doesn't seem to have been anything from Marty. He seems to have gone quiet since then."

At which point, totally deadpan, Louis says "Are they ruing the day? Well, maybe he's playing the long game."

This is why I love Louis Theroux. And why I can't wait to see the film.
If you want to watch the interview, here's the link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/vid...
http://tonyortega.org/2016/04/17/lo...n-our-social-media-review/#comment-2628883500
 

Little David

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

Louis Theroux's comments about Marty Rathbun were interesting. I wonder if Marty rues the day he agreed to help Louis Theroux with his movie.
 

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

The Youtube video was taken down. Here is the direct Daily Mail link to the video.
Louis Theroux talks to Daily Mail about My Scientology Movie Daily Mail Online.

[video=youtube;OZMJQWjlRzg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZMJQWjlRzg[/video]
The Youtube video was taken down. Here is the direct Daily Mail link to the video:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/ne...eroux-talks-Daily-Mail-Scientology-Movie.html
 
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CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
My Scientology Movie Review [Tribeca 2016]

My Scientology Movie Review [Tribeca 2016].

We Got This Covered: My Scientology Movie Review [Tribeca 2016]

http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/scientology-movie-review-tribeca-2016/

Reviewed by: Lauren Humphries-Brooks

* * * * * CONCLUSION * * * * *

Louis Theroux maintains his friendly, ingenuous persona, drawing out Rathbun with questions about faith, his reasons behind “blowing” from the Church, and his own culpability as a high Church official that used to threaten and beat up “SPs” viewed as undermining to the Church or Miscavige (usually seen as one and the same).

It is Theroux, in fact, who makes this film such a joy to watch. He approaches Scientology with genuine desire to understand it, a fact that allows the events to unfold independent of his influence. He’s a likable screen presence who asks deceptively friendly questions with humor and understanding that allow the subject – here usually Rathbun – to reveal more and more about themselves. He also maintains his cool even in the most intense moments, and backs off when things get too heated. The results are electrifying, especially in his rapport with Rathbun, who becomes a more complex and questionable figure than in his other public appearances.

My Scientology Movie seeks more to understand Scientology, its inner workings, and what its members are searching for than it does to “catch” Scientology out. Theroux’s gentle, non-judgmental style means that the subject more or less gets to speak for itself, whenever it cares to speak. And, that the Church of Scientology obviously views Theroux, Rathbun, and everyone involved in the production as dangerous and “suppressive” people who should be threatened and hounded, says a lot more about Scientology than anything else could.

My Scientology Movie Review
Fantastic

As fascinating and bizarre as Scientology itself, My Scientology Movie is unique among documentaries for its individual, humorous approach to a very strange subject.

* * * * * END CONCLUSION * * * * *
 
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Free to shine

Shiny & Free
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

Tony Ortega's on site review of the showing at Tribeca Film Festival.

http://tonyortega.org/2016/04/18/lo...vie-premieres-at-tribeca-our-on-scene-report/

And while it was great finally to meet Steve, and to tell Perez again how good his performance was (and to meet his mom!), we couldn’t help thinking that the person who really should have been there (as well as in London) was the star of the hour.

Where was Marty Rathbun?
 

Little David

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

Deleted, already posted above.
 

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

My Scientology Movie: How Louis Theroux documented the church (and it documented him).

Entertainment Weekly: My Scientology Movie: How Louis Theroux documented the church (and it documented him)

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/18/my-scientology-movie-louis-theroux-tribeca

* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

My Scientology Movie: How Louis Theroux documented the church (and it documented him)

The British journalist talks about his Tribeca-screening documentary

BY CLARK COLLIS@CLARKCOLLIS

Posted April 18 2016 — 3:00 PM EDT

TV journalist Louis Theroux is well known in the UK for embedding himself with controversial people and organizations, such as the Westboro Baptist Church, the focus of his 2007 film, The Most Hated Family in America. But Theroux was forced to change his modus operandi for My Scientology Movie after the titular church refused to grant what he regarded as a necessary amount of access.

Unable to spend time with members of the organization, Theroux instead staged reenactments of alleged Scientology training techniques and of an incident in which it is claimed the church’s leader, David Miscavige, lost his temper with subordinates. Theroux was assisted in his mission by church member-turned critic Marty Rathbun, actor Andrew Perez — who plays Miscavige in the film — and the movie’s director, John Dower.

Below, Theroux, Perez, and Dower talk about making My Scientology Movie and how they, in turn, found themselves being tracked by the organization they were attempting to document. The project is now screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I thought My Scientology Movie was informative, and funny, and disturbing. Having said which, I should point out that you make a number of allegations in the film whose veracity the church has denied.

Louis Theroux: Well, if you weren’t saying it, I think we would have to be saying it.

John Dower: We do it ourselves in the film.

[SNIP]

* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *
 

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

‘My Scientology Movie’ Is An Absurdly Funny Take On The Scientology Documentary.

Huffingtonpost Entertainment: ‘My Scientology Movie’ Is An Absurdly Funny Take On The Scientology Documentary

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/my-scientology-movie-louis-theroux_us_5713f6a9e4b0018f9cba5591

* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

‘My Scientology Movie’ Is An Absurdly Funny Take On The Scientology Documentary

Louis Theroux’s new doc is now screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.

04/18/2016 08:46 am ET | Updated 8 hours ago

Stephanie Marcus

Stephanie Marcus Twitter

Senior Entertainment Editor, Huffington Post

Louis Theroux is a man who is used to getting access. Over the years, the BBC journalist and documentary filmmaker has spent time with members of the Westboro Baptist Church, pedophiles in Coalinga State Hospital, inmates in San Quentin State Prison and neo-Nazis.

But the Church of Scientology does not allow access to journalists, no matter how nicely you ask or how many fringe groups you’ve managed to document in the past. But it can be relied on to provide a “kind of negative access” Theroux told The Huffington Post in a phone interview. That negative access — the tactics the Church of Scientology is known for deploying against those they see as their enemies — is the basis for his latest documentary, “My Scientology Movie,” now screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The doc includes names that should be familiar to those even slightly versed in the world of Scientology, including outspoken former high-ranking church officials Marty Rathbun and Marc Headley, but it differentiates itself from other films on the subject by being strangely comical. Because of the lack of direct access, some of the film relies on reenactments of horrific alleged events that are said to have taken place at the church’s international headquarters near Hemet, Calif., and casts young actors in the roles of church leader David Miscavige and Tom Cruise.

The film, which Theroux made with director John Dower, ended up being a documentary about what happens when you try to make a documentary about Scientology, which is what he anticipated.

“There was a bit we didn’t use in the film. We did a bit of filming in and around [Clearwater, Fla., where the church’s spiritual headquarters are located] in 2012 and I was followed by one of their private investigators on that occasion,”Theroux explained. “I also got a message from my email provider saying that someone in Clearwater had attempted to access my messages.”

Shot mostly in Los Angeles, Theroux said that he “wanted to give the Scientology people somewhere to come to in a sense.” That is exactly what they did — in fact, they do most of the heavy lifting in the film just by being themselves. By the time a woman and a camera man show up across the street from where Theroux and the crew were filming, he’s visibly excited.

* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *
 

Little David

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

From Business Insider:

snip:
But Theroux admits he may have gone too far in a key moment in the film. Following an encounter Rathburn has with alleged church members, Theroux and Rathburn discuss the incident, with Theroux reminding Rathburn that when he was in Scientology these were the kind of tactics he instructed people to use on ex-members. This sets Rathburn off, and he curses out Theroux.

scientology-xlarge.jpg
BBC Films(L-R) Marty Rathburn and Louis Theroux in "My Scientology Movie."

"I think I was probably over the line," Theroux said. "Every screening I've been in when that moment plays, it's tense and people think, 'I don't know what I feel about this.'"
But director John Dower believes it needed to be addressed.

"Louis needs to ask that question because Marty had consistently batted it away so many times before," he said. "It so happens that's the only time he could get an answer out of him."

http://www.businessinsider.com/louis-theroux-my-scientology-movie-interview-2016-4
 

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

RogerEbert.com - TRIBECA 2016: "MIDSUMMER IN NEWTOWN," "THE LAST LAUGH" & "MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE"

http://www.rogerebert.com/festivals...wtown-the-last-laugh-and-my-scientology-movie

* * * * * BEGIN LAST PARAGRAPH OF MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE REVIEW * * * * *

"My Scientology Movie" is, perhaps, evidence of just how damaged the cult's power has become. Theroux is harassed and followed throughout the filming, but the "adversaries" seem like paper dragons: petty, mean-spirited, impotent. It's important to remember that there are still people trapped in the cult, people who can't communicate with their family members, or aren't allowed freedom of movement. But a movie like this is a reminder of just how far we have come. A tyrannical cult can incorporate many things into its understanding of itself. Even having enemies, threatening law suits and constant criticism can be twisted into evidence that they are doing things right, that the world is evil and they alone provide light. But one thing that cults cannot abide, cannot incorporate, cannot allow, is humor. "My Scientology Movie," which is very, very funny, could not have been made 10 years ago. And in that respect, for Scientology, the jig is up.

* * * * * END LAST PARAGRAPH OF MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE REVIEW * * * * *
 

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

This man made a new movie exposing Scientology's inner workings and received physical threats.

Business Insider: This man made a new movie exposing Scientology's inner workings and received physical threats

http://www.businessinsider.com/louis-theroux-my-scientology-movie-interview-2016-4

By Jason Guerrasio, Business Insider

* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

In the movie, many title cards giving information about alleged incidents also include counter-statements from the church. But Theroux believes Scientology's side comes through in its actions during filming.

In a few instances, Theroux finds camera crews, allegedly Scientologists, filming him making the movie. (Scientology informed Theroux that it's making a film on him.) Rathburn also films alleged Scientology members harassing him.

"When they show up saying they are making their own film on me, or filming Marty, as a viewer you no longer have that thought, 'I wonder how Scientology would characterize this?' It strengthens the film," Theroux said.

But Theroux admits he may have gone too far in a key moment in the film. Following an encounter Rathburn has with alleged church members, Theroux and Rathburn discuss the incident, with Theroux reminding Rathburn that when he was in Scientology these were the kind of tactics he instructed people to use on ex-members. This sets Rathburn off, and he curses out Theroux.

"I think I was probably over the line," Theroux said. "Every screening I've been in when that moment plays, it's tense and people think, 'I don't know what I feel about this.'"

But director John Dower believes it needed to be addressed.

"Louis needs to ask that question because Marty had consistently batted it away so many times before," he said. "It so happens that's the only time he could get an answer out of him."

"My Scientology Movie" offers the impression that even if you decide to leave the church, members will never leave you alone — especially if you go public with what goes on inside it.

Since filming wrapped, those involved with the movie have thought the church was behind bizarre moments in their lives.

Dower knows his Instagram account was hacked by the church because, according to Dower, Scientology officials admitted to doing it in one of their cease-and-desist letters to the BBC regarding the film.

Then there are the threats toward Theroux.

The morning of this interview, Theroux was locked out of his email account due to, as he called it, "suspicious activity." He believes it might be Scientology-related. And a few months ago, the police came to his house telling him they'd been tipped that someone wanted to do bodily harm to him due to his Scientology movie.

"I asked the police where the threat came from and they said Scientology called them saying they had heard it," Theroux said. "I was like hold on, that doesn't sound right. They were the ones who made the call? Now I'm on a special list where if I call the police they are on the fast track to where I am. But my take is it sounded like Scientologists were just trying to wind me up by getting the police to come to my house."

Numerous attempts to contact Scientology to comment for this story were not successful.

* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *
 

Jump

Operating teatime
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

That one with the police turning up at Theroux's house reminds me of when Scientology sent flowers to Tony's mother's house. Creepy, real creepy. Scientology creepy.
 

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Louis Theroux worried church would sue over Scientology doc

Louis Theroux worried church would sue over Scientology doc.

Page Six: Louis Theroux worried church would sue over Scientology doc

http://pagesix.com/2016/04/18/louis-theroux-worried-church-would-sue-over-scientology-doc/

* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

Louis Theroux — who stars in John Dower’s Tribeca doc, “My Scientology Movie” — says his “main anxiety” about appearing in the latest film on the controversial religion was about “something actionable [that] would lead to a lawsuit, and I would be paying excessive legal fees .?.?. They have very deep pockets .?.?. They are well-known for being litigious, and L. Ron Hubbard’s policy says it’s fair enough to use lawsuits to kind of wear people down.”

* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *
 

Karen#1

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

Quote:
Scientology, the jig is up,
"My Scientology Movie" is, perhaps, evidence of just how damaged the cult's power has become. Theroux is harassed and followed throughout the filming, but the "adversaries" seem like paper dragons: petty, mean-spirited, impotent. It's important to remember that there are still people trapped in the cult, people who can't communicate with their family members, or aren't allowed freedom of movement. But a movie like this is a reminder of just how far we have come. A tyrannical cult can incorporate many things into its understanding of itself. Even having enemies, threatening law suits and constant criticism can be twisted into evidence that they are doing things right, that the world is evil and they alone provide light. But one thing that cults cannot abide, cannot incorporate, cannot allow, is humor. "My Scientology Movie," which is very, very funny, could not have been made 10 years ago. And in that respect, for Scientology, the jig is up.
UNquote
Scroll down to 3rd review
http://www.rogerebert.com/festivals...wtown-the-last-laugh-and-my-scientology-movie
 

Little David

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

Quote:
Scientology, the jig is up,
"My Scientology Movie" is, perhaps, evidence of just how damaged the cult's power has become. Theroux is harassed and followed throughout the filming, but the "adversaries" seem like paper dragons: petty, mean-spirited, impotent. It's important to remember that there are still people trapped in the cult, people who can't communicate with their family members, or aren't allowed freedom of movement. But a movie like this is a reminder of just how far we have come. A tyrannical cult can incorporate many things into its understanding of itself. Even having enemies, threatening law suits and constant criticism can be twisted into evidence that they are doing things right, that the world is evil and they alone provide light. But one thing that cults cannot abide, cannot incorporate, cannot allow, is humor. "My Scientology Movie," which is very, very funny, could not have been made 10 years ago. And in that respect, for Scientology, the jig is up.
UNquote
Scroll down to 3rd review
http://www.rogerebert.com/festivals...wtown-the-last-laugh-and-my-scientology-movie

From the article:
In one fascinating scene, Rathbun walks off the set when Theroux proposes putting a huge portrait of L. Ron Hubbard on the wall to make the scene they are about to shoot seem more real. This is a line Rathbun refuses to cross, even in fun.

Rathbun was upset that Theroux wanted to use a huge portrait of L. Ron Hubbard? Why? He's smart enough to know that Theroux finds reality that is absurd, entertaining.

scientology-mar-7-1.jpg
 

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Louis Theroux Was Surveilled By the Church of Scientology, and Made a Movie About It

Louis Theroux Was Surveilled By the Church of Scientology, and He Made a Movie About It.

Gawker: Louis Theroux Was Surveilled By the Church of Scientology, and He Made a Movie About It

http://gawker.com/louis-theroux-was-surveilled-by-the-church-of-scientolo-1771659959

Brief excerpt. Much more at link.

* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

Here’s how Louis Theroux baited members of the Church of Scientology into following him: He started following them. The British journalist probably best known on these shores for his documentaries about the Westboro Baptist Church (The Most Hated Family in America, America’s Most Hated Family in Crisis) says he set out to discover a “different, more positive side” to Scientology when he embarked upon his project over 10 years ago. When it was clear that his access would be limited only to ex-Scientologists like Marty Rathburn, Theroux and director John Dower changed course to stage a series of reenactments a la Joshua Oppenheimer’s 2012 doc The Act of Killing. Using the accounts of ex-Scientologists and a cast of actors, Theroux and Dower recreated things like the alleged abuse by Scientology head David Miscavige toward members of his church in the compound at Gold Base known as “the Hole.”

While poking around outside said base in Gilman Hot Springs, California and other Scientology properties, Theroux and his crew attracted the attention of Scientologists, who alongside hired “journalists” and private investigators, started showing up where he was making his Scientology reenactments to turn their cameras on him. That was all according to plan, Theroux told me this weekend in an interview. “My dream was that they’d come after me,” he said.

The Kaufmanesque absurdity is captured in My Scientology Movie, which is currently screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. I talked to Theroux, Dower, and Andrew Perez, who plays Miscavige in the film’s reenactments. A condensed and edited transcript of our conversation is below.

Gawker: How does the finished product of this movie compare to your conception of it?

Louis Theroux: It’s very close to what I would have dreamed of making. As much as I say my dream was to get inside the church, there was a part of me that understood that was never going to happen. It’s in the DNA of Scientology that they don’t trust journalists. L. Ron Hubbard wrote that journalists are—and I may be wrong—something like 1.1 on the tone scale, which if you’re a Scientologist, that’s the same as what they call “perverts,” which I think means gay. In other words, if you’re a journalist you’re by definition a deviant. So you’re not going to invite a deviant to come and see everything you do from the inside. Once that’s given, you have you accept you’re going to take an unconventional narrative approach. It was more than 10 years ago that I made my first approach. In the intervening years, we evolved this idea of using actors. To me, that flipped the whole thing around in a wonderful way. It’s become something that gets you inside but in an unconventional way. And my dream was that they’d come after me. That was my fear: Maybe they don’t do that.

On one hand, the church seems conniving and savvy, but they played right into your hands, giving you “negative access,” as you called it in The Guardian, by showing up to watch you thus allowing themselves to be captured on camera.

Theroux: They can’t do otherwise because it’s part of their dogma. They are required to aggressively confront “suppressive” activity. Even if someone said, “You know what? We kind of look weird and it doesn’t do anything for our public image when we turn up at airports and confront ex-members out of the blue randomly and hurl weird abuse.” But they would think, “It doesn’t really matter if it looks weird—that’s what we do.” It’s like saying it looks weird when [Muslims] pray on a rug and put their foreheads down and point to Mecca. It’s just how they worship, so it doesn’t really matter if it looks weird.*

*Note: Theroux sent in a note of clarification: “I didn’t mean to suggest it’s weird that Muslims pray on a rug btw - just that it’s intrinsic to the religion.”

* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *
 

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
A Scientology movie only Louis Theroux could make

A Scientology movie only Louis Theroux could make.

MacClean's: A Scientology movie only Louis Theroux could make

http://www.macleans.ca/culture/movies/a-scientology-movie-only-louis-theroux-could-make/


* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

A Scientology movie only Louis Theroux could make

Louis Theroux—who has made a career trying to understand subcultures in his oddball way—is the perfect man to tackle Scientology

John Semley

April 20, 2016

There’s a shot that pops up again and again in attempts to document the Church of Scientology: two people holding cameras, filming each other, caught in a reconnaissance stalemate. It’s a cinematographic mise en abyme. The surveillance and counter-surveillance recurs in an infinite loop, feeding a sinister sense of paranoia. It’s in countless YouTube videos. It’s in news coverage of the infamous cult/Church/Hollywood pyramid scheme. And it’s there, repeatedly, in My Scientology Movie, the latest documentary starring British broadcaster Louis Theroux, which makes its Canadian bow at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto this month.

“What’s that thing in movies when nobody wants to put their gun down?” Theroux asks, over the phone from London. “A Mexican standoff! It’s like a Mexican standoff with cameras. When someone’s being rude and hostile, there’s a natural tendency to want to be rude and hostile back. I wanted to short-circuit that adversarial relationship.”

* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *
 

tetloj

Silver Meritorious Patron
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

This is a really good article on Louis in the Sydney Morning Herald, with a short video. If you've ever wondered about how he views his own work, check it out.
I hope I can get to see him when he gets here!

I'm booked in for his Perth visit!
 

Knows

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: My Scientology Movie written by Louis Theroux to show at Tribeca Film Festival

But one thing that cults cannot abide, cannot incorporate, cannot allow, is humor. "My Scientology Movie," which is very, very funny, could not have been made 10 years ago. And in that respect, for Scientology, the jig is up.:happydance::happydance::happydance::happydance::happydance::happydance::yes::clap::clap:
 
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