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His critiques would then be typed up and sent to the Scientology representative who was
always at Travolta’s side. When the movie was completed, Miscavige called Travolta to
congratulate him, saying that LRH would be proud. He predicted it was going to be a
blockbuster.
McKinstry had been working for a year promoting the movie edition of the book. He
traveled across the country with Travolta to push the book in bookstores, malls, and
Walmarts. About 750,000 copies were sold. Like many others who have spent time with
Travolta, McKinstry came to like him immensely. The actor was devoting a substantial
amount of his own time and energy to making the book a success. But when the movie
came out, it was a critical and box-oce catastrophe. Even at the premiere, Sea Org
members had to be bused in to Mann’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard to ll
the empty seats for as many as three shows a day. For some of them, it was the rst
movie they had seen in years. “ ‘Battleeld Earth’ may well turn out to be the worst
movie of this century,” the New York Times critic observed, in what proved to be a
typical review. There were false accusations that the lm contained subliminal messages
promoting Scientology. Travolta’s career went into a lengthy dark period. Cruise later
complained to Miscavige, saying that the movie was terrible for the church’s public
image. 5 Miscavige responded that it would never have been made if he’d had anything
to do with it.
McKinstry was dismayed when he went to a screening of the movie and watched
people walking out or booing. His wife could see that he was upset and asked what was
wrong. “Why didn’t anyone watch this movie before it was released?” he said. She
reported to the church what he had said, and he was ordered to RPF.
SHORTLY BEFORE HE RECEIVED Scientology’s top award, Cruise ended his three-year
relationship with Penélope Cruz. Shelly Miscavige had been supervising her auditing
and helping her through the Purication Rundown. But, like Nicole, Penélope was
suspect in the eyes of the church’s leader. She was an independent-minded person and
continued to meditate and identify herself as a Buddhist.
Cruise traveled with a Scientology delegation to open a magnicent new church in
Madrid, where he read his speech to the crowd in halting Spanish. Before the opening,
however, he was sitting with his sister Lee Anne, who had become his publicist. Mike
Rinder, who was in the room, remembers that Cruise heatedly complained to his sister
that no one had been able to nd him a new girlfriend. Miscavige walked in, Rinder
says, and Cruise made the same complaint to him. 6
Miscavige took the hint. “I want you to look for the prettiest women in the church,”
Tom De Vocht remembers Miscavige saying. “Get their names and phone numbers.”
Miscavige then assigned Greg Wilhere and Tommy Davis to audition all the young
actresses who were in Scientology—about a hundred, according to Marc Headley, who
observed some of the videos. Shelly Miscavige, the leader’s wife, oversaw the project
personally. Wilhere and Davis immediately went to work. The women weren’t told why
they were being interviewed, but they were asked about their opinions of Cruise and