Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He's written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology's harassment of Paulette Cooper titled 'The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.' He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world from an undisclosed location in an underground bunker he shares with four cats and one of them wrinkly Shar Pei dogs. Despite his super-secret security protections, you can still reach him pretty easily by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you'd like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.) [Header image courtesy John Rickard]
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Valerie Haney: Here’s why the press should be asking Tom Cruise about Shelly Miscavige

[Valerie Haney and Tom Cruise]

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One hasn’t done quite the business that its creators were hoping, but still, with $91 million in domestic sales and $168 million overseas for a total of $259 million as of yesterday, it was well along to making up for its whopping $290 []

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PODCAST: Mark Ebner dishes on Tom Cruise whisperer and ‘M:I7’ director Chris McQuarrie

We didn’t really need an excuse to bring Mark Ebner back to the podcast, but what the hell, we figured Tom Cruise coming out with another movie was reason enough to call our old pal for his []

PODCAST: Film critic Luke Y. Thompson on Tom Cruise as action star and Scientologist dope

Luke Y. Thompson (AV Club) once again knocked us out with a great film review at the Underground Bunker, this time for the premiere of Tom Cruise’s new actioner, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part []

Our mission, that we chose to accept: Watching Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt become a cult leader

Once again Luke Y. Thompson (AV Club) has given us an exclusive film review you’ll find only here at the Bunker. Our association with Luke goes back more than 20 years, to a now defunct publication, New Times Los Angeles, where he was one of the very few reviewers in the country who actually liked []

PODCAST: Karen Pressley on Scientology’s radicalizing of Tom Cruise

[Karen Pressley on ‘Aftermath’]

Karen Pressley spent almost 20 years in Scientology, and then turned her experience into a terrific book, Escaping Scientology: My Journey with the Cult of Celebrity Spirituality, Greed & []

Richard Belzer, and that time he got us in to see Tom Cruise roast Matt Lauer

[Belzer, center, with Jeff Ross, left, and Jim Carrey honoring Jerry Lewis on his 90th at the Friar’s Club in 2016]

 We were very sad to hear about Richard Belzer’s passing. It was reported that he died in France this week at the age of 78 after some years there dealing with illness.

His last words were []

Valerie Haney: Scientology changed the rules after I nominated Elisabeth Moss, Tom Cruise

[How did Valerie nominating Tom violate Scientology’s rules?]

[See our report from the court hearing here. Judge Killefer has decided to give Valerie one more chance to submit a ‘reasonable’ nomination.]

Today, Valerie Haney and the Church of Scientology will once again be sparring in a Los Angeles courtroom over something the court is supposed to have []

We asked a film critic: What are the odds Tom Cruise gets a statue at the Oscars this year?

 Last May we commissioned our old friend Luke Y. Thompson (AV Club) to review Top Gun: Maverick for the Underground Bunker, and we still think it’s the best written about that movie. This time, we asked him what the odds are that Scientology watchers will have to witness Tom Cruise taking home an Oscar now []

Why the Golden Globes is joking about Tom Cruise, Shelly Miscavige, and Scientology

[Jerrod Carmichael made a funny]

 Thank you to everyone who messaged or tweeted us last night about host Jerrod Carmichael’s joke about Tom Cruise, Shelly Miscavige, and Scientology on the Golden Globes []

Scientology scolds Valerie Haney for nominating Tom Cruise to be an arbitrator

[Valerie Haney and Tom Cruise]

In August Valerie Haney told the Church of Scientology that if she could not have Elisabeth Moss as an arbitrator in her dispute with the church, then she was nominating Tom Cruise, with Shelly Miscavige as a []