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Hey, Sydney, we hear 2,300 of you crammed into the premiere of Going Clear back in June — that’s more than the number of people who admitted to being Scientologists in your country’s last census! Continue reading Countdown to Friday: ‘Scientology’s Dirty Tricks’ on the menu in Sydney
 Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and for more than a year on Saturdays he helped us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet. He was kind enough to send us a new post.
It was great to see you again in London, Jon. And thanks again for sending along a new piece. We talked a little about this subject at the Old Mitre Pub the other day, but we’re glad to see you go into it at length… Continue reading When Scientology makes you a villain, you understand that it rules its members by fear
With a little more than a week before Belgium puts Scientology on trial, our man in Paris, Jonny Jacobsen, gives us an update about a scouting trip he took to get the lay of the land… Continue reading Scientology on trial in Belgium: An update from our man in Europe
Louis Theroux at the London premiere of ‘My Scientology Movie’ (Still from interview by Scarlet Howes.)
A couple of years ago, BBC presenter Louis Theroux made an appeal on Twitter for Scientologists to reach out to him for the new film he was making about the church. We couldn’t help rolling our eyes at the time, wondering if Theroux knew what he was getting himself into. But his method was sound. He wanted to come at the story with an entirely fresh start. He asked Scientology for access, and he genuinely wanted to hear from Scientologists about their organization. Continue reading Louis Theroux’s ‘My Scientology Movie’: A hilarious take on an unfunny bunch
More than three years ago, we first heard from producer Simon Chinn that he planned to make a feature film about Scientology that would star Louis Theroux. Since then, the BBC-backed producer hired a director named John Dower, won an Oscar (for Searching for Sugar Man), and tonight will finally reveal what he and Dower and Theroux have been up to. Continue reading ‘MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE’: Louis Theroux’s doc premieres tonight at the London Film Festival
 We’re on the move again, and this time it’s a return to London. It was just two months ago that we were here for a talk at Conway Hall with BBC reporter John Sweeney and our publisher, Humfrey Hunter.
Tomorrow, we will be on hand as the BBC-backed “My Scientology Film” with Louis Theroux debuts at the London Film Festival. But today, well, we’re in for a treat. Thanks to the hard work of the Bunker’s own i-Betty, we’ll finally get to meet one of our journalistic idols, Bare-Faced Messiah author Russell Miller. We hear he’ll be holding court along with the Underground Bunker’s great friend, historian Jon Atack. Even better, Karen de la Carriere will be joining us after flying over from Los Angeles. Continue reading Back in London for the next Scientology summit, featuring Russell Miller!
So much has happened since we returned from the last leg of our book tour that we’ve hardly had a chance to look back on the really remarkable things that took place during our trip to places like Minneapolis and Vancouver, BC. Continue reading That time Scientology’s Sea Org grunts donned cut-offs and bikinis to fake out L. Ron Hubbard
Yesterday, former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder posted a statement about Scientology’s homophobia which not only collected founder L. Ron Hubbard’s statements about homosexuality’s “perversion” but also explained, from his personal experience, how Rinder observed the organization’s baked-in hate for gays and lesbians.
Continue reading L. Ron Hubbard’s regressive homophobia: Can Scientology’s celebrities handle the truth?
 About a month ago, our Florida correspondent “L. Wrong” spotted an interesting sight. Outside of the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation in Orlando, a “For Rent” sign had sprung up.
We’re actually surprised that more Scientology outlets haven’t gone belly-up, considering the sharp drop in activity at them around the world. But here was some visual evidence that the Orlando outlet had fallen on some hard times. Continue reading Another minor omen of the coming Scientology apocalypse appears in Florida
[The Helnweins. L to R: Cyril, Renate, Wolfgang Amadeus, Ali Elvis (sitting), Gottfried, and Mercedes. Photo for the New York Times by Kenneth O Halloran.]
In 2009, Cathriona White emigrated from Ireland to Los Angeles. We’ve reported that once she was there, a group of young Scientologists welcomed her into the fold and encouraged her to begin courses at the Hollywood Celebrity Centre. But from the beginning, our sources were telling us that it wasn’t an accident that Cat fell in with the Hollywood group. Something had happened in Ireland that convinced her to go, and helped her gain entrée to the California clique. Continue reading The Scientology-Ireland connection that propelled Cathriona White to Hollywood
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