After an earlier call for a boy-cott of the Tom Cruise starrer Mission: Impossible by the Bavarian youth wing of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's ruling Christian Democrat Party, CDU, Scientology remained a hot item in German newspapers this week. This time, the 3 October release in Germany of Phenomenon, starring John Travolta, is in the line of fire.
German papers presume strong parallels between the ideas of the late founder of the Scientology movement L. Ron Hubbard and the story of Phenomenon. In Germany's biggest-selling weekly Bild am Sonntag , local politicians called for a ban of the film.
German trade insiders, who all refused to be named, observe the heated discussion with mixed emotions. One of them told Moving Pictures that as long as there is no clear evidence for the 'criminal methods' Scientology allegedly works with, it is legally wrong to fight them. Others said that both Cruise or Travolta's private life doesn't say anything about their acting qualities.
It is rumoured that Cruise's wife Nicole Kidman, with The Portrait of a Lady in Venice and on a promotional trip across Europe, had taken precautions to avoid contact with German Scientology opponents. This was never a subject in our preparations for Miss Kidman's tour, said a spokesman for PolyGram in Hamburg. The fact that Miss Kidman has all interviews taped is motivated by the unprofessional methods her husband had to face while promoting Mission: Impossible in Germany.
Cruise sued the magazine Bunte for US$40 million after being misquoted, but later dropped his claims out of sympathy after the tragic death of a Burda Publishing house board member.
The Bunte scandal has deeply affected the German media. A press agent told MPI: Unfortunately incidents such as [this] will force us in future to tape interviews. It is a method to protect anybody involved in the process: both the artist and the journalist. It has nothing to do with censorship or the violation of free media. Still, German journalists react strongly to this trust-is-fine-control-is-better idea and editors fear that before long, they will only be allowed to publish official press releases.
Kurt Müller
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