Paul Haggis, Chill EB, and more Scientology fun in an all-video post!

With his new film, Third Person, opening on Friday night, Paul Haggis is on a media blitz, and he’s being asked, naturally, about his defection from Scientology.

He provided a particularly interesting answer during an interview at HuffPost Live yesterday, which we’ve posted below. Haggis had predicted, in a Rock Center segment more than a year ago, that he might be smeared by Scientology. That hasn’t happened, but Haggis mentioned that it’s been happening to other people he knows — and he uses Jason Beghe as an example.

Haggis mentions that Beghe faced Scientology’s legal onslaught, and faced bankruptcy. At the time it was happening, Beghe wanted no publicity about it. (We did write about the conclusion of that episode.) He survived the attempt to silence and destroy him, and today Jason is the lead of his own series, Chicago PD. Here’s the clip of Haggis talking about Scientology harassment…

 

 

Last year, we were fortunate to be invited by Haggis to be part of a very small group to see the first, rough cut of Third Person at his post-production offices in Manhattan. He later had the group of us to his Soho apartment to discuss the film. That was some night for your proprietor. The complex film weaves a remarkable tale involving three different couples in Rome, New York, and Paris. Don’t go if you’re looking for some kind of message about Scientology — there isn’t one. But do see it if you enjoy literate filmmaking with rich characters.

OK, now on to the silly stuff. For some reason, Scientologists are getting less vigilant about keeping their hermetically-sealed world closed off from the rest of us. Mike Rinder, the former Scientology spokesman, pointed out that some interesting photos of Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon and others were sitting in plain view online. And now, a tipster let us know that some church videos were available, if you just knew where to look.

First up, the Dallas Ideal Org is hiring! And wouldn’t you love to work in an empty building that looks as exciting as a funeral home?

 

 
Hey, it’s our old friend Chill EB! The Bay Area rapper, who became Scientology’s in-house Hip Hop phenom, gives a shout-out here to the folks in Perth, Australia, who need a little confidence boost to help them squeeze more money out of their members…

 

 
These new changes in the Golden Age of Technology Phase II are incredible! And if we keep saying they’re incredible, maybe someone will believe us!

 

 
And finally, the church that guards its trademarks and copyrights like a sacrament seems to love violating the copyrights of others! Ha!

 

 
Thanks once again to our great tipsters. And good luck on your new film, Paul!

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 19, 2014 at 07:00

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