Books vs. Movies
In this podcast we set out to answer the age old question: is the book really always better than the movie?
Books vs. Movies
Ep. 46 Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright vs. Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief (2015)
Lawrence Wright's "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief" pulls back the curtain on Scientology's most guarded secrets, revealing a world where science fiction becomes religious doctrine and Hollywood celebrities become powerful pawns in a global organization.
The journey begins with Lafayette Ronald Hubbard—a charismatic science fiction writer whose creation of Dianetics evolved into a belief system involving alien spirits called Thetans and promises of supernatural abilities through "going clear." What makes this investigation so compelling is the meticulous research behind every shocking revelation. Wright's book and its documentary adaptation don't just make allegations; they substantiate them through extensive interviews with former high-ranking members who witnessed the inner workings firsthand.
Most fascinating is Scientology's calculated infiltration of Hollywood. The documentary exposes how the church allegedly manipulated Tom Cruise's relationships, including orchestrating his breakup with Nicole Kidman and later "auditioning" potential partners without their knowledge. These celebrity connections provided the organization with both legitimacy and protection, even as troubling allegations of abuse mounted under David Miscavige's leadership.
The most disturbing aspects involve the "Sea Org," where members sign billion-year contracts and reportedly face harsh punishment for questioning authority. Former members describe a sophisticated system of control where deeply personal information gathered during "auditing" sessions becomes potential blackmail material against those who might leave. This creates a true "prison of belief" where psychological chains prove stronger than physical ones.
Whether you choose the comprehensive book or its condensed documentary version, you'll find yourself unable to look away from this fascinating exploration of how seemingly intelligent people can become entrapped in a web of belief that defies conventional understanding. After experiencing either, you'll never view Scientology—or organized belief systems in general—quite the same way again.
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Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set out to answer the age-old question is the book really always better than the movie? I'm Yuvia, an actress and book lover based out of New York City, and today I will be discussing Going Clear Scientology Hollywood and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright and its 2015 adaptation Going Clear Scientology and the Prison of Belief. All right, hi everyone, I have a bit of a doozy for you. So this one's going to be kind of like Our Towns, in which I'm comparing a nonfiction book to its adaptation, which is technically a documentary. So there's a lot of the same information. So it's kind of like how do I compare and contrast the two? So very much, there isn't really much to contrast. Like, the information you find in the documentary is the information you find in the book. It kind of just depends on what you are interested in and how deep you want to delve into the topic. And boy oh boy was this. Wow, I am in just disbelief after reading this book. It was absolutely fascinating. The documentary is just as fascinating. Highly recommend both. But wow, this was this. Yeah, there was. I just everything I learned about Scientology. I'm just like it's just one of those things. It's just one of those things that's like I, yeah, it's wild, it's so wild, this religion is so wild, and let's just get into it Going clear.
Speaker 1:Scientology, hollywood and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright was first published in 2013. This was also a Goodreads Choice Award nominee in 2013 for Reader's Favorite Nonfiction, and I can see why this is absolutely fascinating. All right, so this book is split into three parts Scientology, hollywood and the Prison of Belief and kind of. The Scientology section is really focused on L Ron Hubbard and kind of how he came to create this religion. And then Hollywood focuses on how it kind of took over Hollywood and how it managed to suck in so many celebrities. And then the Prison of Belief focuses mainly on Scientology how it is now under L Ron Hubbard's successor, david Miscavige, and just all the task he has of preserving the church in the face of ongoing scandals and continual legal assaults. So, yeah, we learn about Scientology's cosmology, about the auditing process, about the bridge to total freedom. We see how the church brought in celebrities such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, who are probably some of the more famous faces of Scientology. There were people interviewed that have been disconnected from friends and family by the church after they decided to break away, and there are a lot of firsthand stories in the book that detail the violence that has permeated the church. The 2015 documentary Going Clear Scientology and the Prison of Belief, directed by Alex Gibney, is a documentary that looks at the inner workings of the Church of Scientology.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's wild, and I'm still kind of just in disbelief about a lot of the things that I learned while reading this book. And I don't even know where to begin. I guess I will begin by telling you about L Ron Hubbard's name. So, obviously, l Ron Hubbard is, it's his name, it's his real name but, like, obviously that's shortened His birth name is Lafayette Ronald Hubbard. So I don't know about you, but that name sounds like it's asking to start a religion of some sort. It is my belief I'm not saying that this is reality, but it is my belief that this religion is a cult. So if anyone is going to start a cult, it's going to be someone called Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, just saying but yeah, so we learn a lot about L Ron Hubbard, how he came. He started off as a science fiction writer and from there he created the religion of Scientology and we learned.
Speaker 1:As I said, this book is divided into three parts. The first part really focuses on L Ron Hubbard's origins and the origins of scientology and, yeah, like the. So he basically states that we are all phaetons, which is like a human, we're like we're aliens living inside human bodies, and to reach the highest level is when we die. We are turned back into those aliens, like we have gone clear. That is the meaning of going clear. Going clear is when you like essentially free your mind and your body of everything and you're able to illuminate your life and see your all your past lives, everything. So auditing, the thing that I mentioned is essentially you're hooked up to an e-meter and then the e-meter reads it, and when you first start off the auditing process, the e-meter is going like crazy because it's catching up on everything, and so you're basically taught that there might be something in your past life that is so essentially, this is the belief of Dianetics.
Speaker 1:Dianetics is the ability to heal yourself of any ailment, any conditions. So if you are sick, you don't need medicine. If you break a bone, if you have cancer, you can heal yourself of cancer. And if you're not healing, that is because you are not opening yourself to going clear. So how do you go clear? You are hooked up to the e-reader machine and then let's say that you broke your arm and it's not healing. That's because something, there's something in your past life that is preventing your arm from currently healing. So something, there's a past life somewhere. Maybe I'm explaining like this. It's a very difficult concept to explain, but it's not a difficult concept to understand. So I apologize if I'm explaining this horribly, but essentially, like so many people start remembering their past lives and they see like, oh yeah, this happened to me and that is what's preventing me. And like I broke my arm in the same way and now my past life isn't allowing my current life to heal itself because of the hurt caused in my past life. So I choose to let my past life go and it's like, miraculously, my arm is healed. So that's the basic premise of it.
Speaker 1:It's, yeah, it's fascinating, but there was a lot of things in the Sea Org, which is, I guess, that's what I mean originally. It got that name because they literally lived on sea or on a big ship Certain members of Scientology that were handpicked by L Ron Hubbard, and I guess they kept that name because, as far as I know, they're not. There's no one living at sea anymore, but anyway, yeah, so he, while he's like living out there, like his health is seriously deteriorating, he's going blind, there's all these things, and people that were on the ship were kind of questioning, like, why is he not using Dianetics to heal himself? But it's L Ron Hubbard, he's the head of the church, so they don't want to question him too hard, and it's just one of those things that, like, had they questioned him a little bit more, maybe this Scientology wouldn't have been able to get as big as it did. Because they were.
Speaker 1:There was a lot of people that, like, were questioning what he was saying and his teachings, but they weren't pushing too much against it. Like there was also he was also saying like, oh, I have the ability to fly over New York, but I'm not gonna do that because it's gonna freak people out too much and and so, like a lot of his followers were like, well, why don't you just not, just not to his face? But they were thinking like, well, why doesn't he just do it? Because if he does it, a lot of people will be turned to Scientology, because it's like, look at what Scientology can do and I have a little bit of doubts myself. So like seeing that will like clear my doubts.
Speaker 1:But again, no one ever questioned him on this, no one ever pushed him on this, and like the people closest to him that heard him say these things, even though they were doubting, like they kept these feelings to themselves and didn't share it with anyone. So it's just one of those things that I wonder, like had someone had the courage to like call him out on it, would Scientology still exist today? But I don't know, maybe it would, because it's one of those things that by the time they started living at sea, the Church of the Scientology Celebrity Center was already started in Hollywood. So who knows, maybe just having that such a big distance from the people at sea and people on land at the Celebrity Center would have been enough to keep it going. I don't know, that's just one of those things that I question.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's just there was like there's just so much abuse in the church and it's one of those things that there's a lot of like contradicting reports and a lot of Scientologists today obviously say like this never happened. There's a lot of like contradicting. Like someone who was in Scientology will say something and then people in still in the religion today will say, well, that person's lying, you shouldn't believe anything they say. And there's also like the literature I guess I'm just going to call it the equivalent of the Bible to Christianity of Scientology is there's kind of like conflicting reports about whether or not it exists. There's people within the religion that say that it does and they've seen it, and then there's people that say it doesn't. And there's just like a lot of secrets in Scientology that they like to keep to themselves and they kind of dispute everything that's kind of presented to them.
Speaker 1:So yeah, but there's like again like a lot of abuse. Like there was instances in which if a child misbehaved, that was like a big no-no, obviously, like that means they weren't being trained to start going clear, I guess at such a young age, and so they would be locked up in this really dark cell in the ship and they would start, they would cry because it's like this dark, enclosed space, and they would just cry and yell and I mean I don't know how the parents could just allow that to happen. I don't know that there's anything that any religion that could convince me that treating my child that way is the right thing to do. But that's just me. I don't know that I could do it. I'd be like, if you're going to treat my child that way, I'm out. But that's just to me. But yeah, just like really wild stories.
Speaker 1:And then we get into the Hollywood section and we kind of learn how Scientology was able to attract a lot of young celebrities and keep them there. And there's obviously, like the face of Scientology now, the celebrity face of Scientology now is Tom Cruise, and it's one of those things that it is alleged that the Church of Scientology is. What came between him and Nicole Kidman. Like Tom Cruise met Nicole Kidman and although he continued to practice Scientology while he was with her, he was kind of disassociating from it a little bit. And so Nicole was, the church was desperate to keep Tom Cruise, to keep this big name celebrity under their church, and so they Nicole Kidman was declared an SP, which stands for suppressive person, and essentially a suppressive person is someone who's preventing you from reaching the highest level of Scientology, which is like I don't know, I guess, going clear.
Speaker 1:You can call it. It's kind of like enlightenment, like once you reach this level of enlightenment, you know, you know all about the history of the Thetans and how to get back to it once you die, and, yeah, and how to get back to like the Earth ship or whatever, like the mothership, I should say, whatever, whatever they believe that was. I still don't really understand it myself, but it's something like the whole what happens after you die. And once you've gotten clear and you know what happens after you die, which is like you're not resurrected, you're just you go back to your alien life form is what I understood. But so, yeah, so a suppressive person is someone who's preventing you from reaching the highest level and a lot of the times, especially if the suppressive person is not a practicing Scientologist, you are expected to cut them out of your life and a lot of people do so.
Speaker 1:Many people have cut SPs out of their life because that SP is ruining their relationship with a religion and with their own personal self is how they see it. So she was declared an SP and at first Tom Cruise is kind of like, resistant to the idea, and then one day they offer like again, desperate to keep him. They call him in for a really special auditing session. He goes to this auditing session. He's gone for a few days. After that auditing session he comes back and completely blindsides Nicole Kidman and is like we're getting a divorce and this really caught her off guard. And so, yeah, I mean they went through the divorce and I mean it's probably good that Nicole Kidman got out of that relationship, just saying but yeah, yeah, she, yeah, so she was. He completely blindsided her after this auditing session and he learned some things about himself and his marriage. That was just like I need to end this right here for him and they wanted someone who was gonna look good and like look good by his side and just like, essentially, they arranged his, his next few partners for him. So it's like, does he really so? It's one of those things that's like, did he really love? Like Katie Holmes, for example, like I have? I'm sure she loved him, but like he was, like he was, she was arranged for him essentially.
Speaker 1:So after his divorce, the Church of Scientology interviewed, like obviously they wanted another Scientologist to be Tom Cruise's partner, and they went through like a variety of hot single women that were actresses and Scientologists and they narrowed it down to an actress called so yes, the actress who was chosen to be his new partner her name was and so okay, sorry, he was. He divorced Nicole Kidman and then he dated Penelope Cruz and then, after his breakup with Penelope Cruz that's when he was he divorced Nicole Kidman and then he dated Penelope Cruz and then, after his breakup with Penelope Cruz, that's when he was like I need a new, I want a new partner, I need a new partner, find me a new partner. And that's when Scientology held a series of interviews and auditions, kind of to choose his next partner, and they chose a woman by the name of Nazanin Boniari and she was like she met, like she was dating someone else, and then they're like you need to break up with him because you're gonna date someone else. And so she did, and she found out that that someone else's Tom Cruise, and within like three weeks, I think, she was already like moved in and living with him as his live-in partner. But there came a point in which she embarrassed Tom Cruise quote unquote and actually embarrassed quote, unquote Tom Cruise by insulting David Miscavige who at this point had taken like L Ron Humbrid had died. David Miscavige took over as the head of Scientology and she insulted him, according to Tom Cruise, which left him embarrassed and so he broke up with her and then, after he broke up with her again, he was like I need a new partner. And that is when they expanded their search for Tom Cruise's new partner outside of Scientology and they auditioned several actresses by telling them that they were going to, that they were auditioning for a movie project to be in like. But this was a ruse. They were not auditioning for a movie project, they were auditioning for Tom to be Tom Cruise's partner. They did not know this, but anyway, so that's when Katie Holmes was chosen to be his wife.
Speaker 1:Maybe he did love her. I don't know. I don't know his true feelings towards her. I'm just saying it's a little suspicious and my opinion I'm not sure that he did love her. I'm like really scared to talk about Scientology after reading this book y'all. So you know, just excuse me, but yes, I do want to say everything I say is my opinion, based on what I saw in this documentary and this and reading in the book. But yes, so yeah, but that I mean that just seems really like suspicious to me, that it's like I don't know that I can believe that he loved me. I'm sure he grew to love her at one point. But, like initially it's like you don't, like this was someone chosen by the church for you, like this isn't someone that you like. I'm sure he had to give like his final approval, like after meeting her officially and everything, but it's still like I don't know, I don't know, it's a, it's a little suspicious. And then the final chapter really just focuses on the prison of belief and the amount of people that.
Speaker 1:So Paul Haggis he is a writer and director. He is most famous or most well-known, probably for directing the Best Picture winner Crash in 2005. And yeah, so he talked about how he left the church. He has two daughters and both of them are part of the LGBTQ community and the Church of Scientology is very anti-LGBTQ and it was one of those things where they kept saying things that would make his daughters feel bad about themselves. And Paul Haggis was like this isn't right, like my daughters shouldn't be treated this way because of who they love. And so that's when he exited the church and he was harassed. Anyone who leaves the church is harassed for a really long time by members. Like there'll be instances in which someone leaves the church and then they look outside the next day and there's like a horde of Scientology members there to harass them or try to get them to come back, try to get them to sign NDAs, all these things. So yeah, it's, and there's just different talks of how people left the church and they had really good, they had like family members that were still in the church or really really good friends that were still part of the church that once they left, like those people cut them out of their lives and so they kind of felt abandoned, especially because these are like friends that they love, like family and like actual family members that are just cutting them out because they're no longer in the religion. So the Going Clear documentary is very, very similar to the book.
Speaker 1:The film is also split into three parts and it features interviews from former Scientologists, including Paul Haggis, which I mentioned already, mark Rathbun, who was Scientology's former second-in-command, so he was pretty high up there Mark Rinder, jason Beckey, sylvia Spanky, taylor Tom DeVocht, sarah Goldberg and Hannah Altrincham Whitfield. And the film is also split into three parts. So it's a little bit different than the book in that the first in the book it's, as I said, scientology all about Scientology's backstory, hollywood, which is all about the growth of Scientology in Hollywood, and then the Prison of Belief, which is kind of Scientology current Scientology well, current as of 2013. So it's a little. I don't think that much has changed in Scientology within those years. I could be wrong, but from what I've heard or from what I've noticed, it's pretty much the same thing. But from what I've heard or from what I've noticed, it's pretty much the same thing.
Speaker 1:But in the film, the first section focuses on the former Scientologist that I named and they talk about how they joined Scientology. The second section is the history of Scientology and L Ron Hubbard, and then the final part focuses on the allegations of abuse and misconduct by its leadership, particularly David Miscavige. David Miscavige has been accused of intimidating, beating, imprisoning and exploiting all the people that are below him. And yeah, it's so. There is a lot of abuse within the church. I think what really frustrates me is how involved the church is in terms like how far they go to protect their members, even when their members don't deserve to be protected, and I'm mainly referring to Danny Masterson, who finally received justice.
Speaker 1:He is going to spend I don't know how many years in jail for sexually assaulting women in the early 2000s, but he again. He sexually assaulted, I believe three women in the early 2000s and all of them were intimidated by the Church of Scientology to keep quiet and not come forth with these allegations. And then, once these allegations did come forth, they were intimidated, they were harassed. All these things just to in defense of Danny Masterson, which is what took so long for him to finally make it to the justice system. And I'm just glad that and it's one of those things that I know that there was a lot of, unfortunately, with parasocial relationships, we feel like we really know these celebrities and we don't, and we want to think the best of them and think that they're not capable of committing these horrible things. But I'm not going to get into all these things that I believe.
Speaker 1:But in this case you have to remember that in the best of times, sexual assault cases are hard to bring to justice. It's one of those things that the sooner you report it, the sooner you do, the sooner you report it, the sooner you do, the sooner you report it, the sooner you can get, the sooner you report it, the more likely you are to have evidence still on you, and that evidence is what brings justice to a lot of these people. So, even though some people have gotten away with these crimes, it doesn't mean that they didn't commit it. It just means that there is no longer enough evidence in order to bring them to justice. Like what really convinces me I mean, I already believed the victims anyway but what really convinced me that Danny Masterson did it and that, like, screw the Scientologist's protection against him, screw all the people that wrote, like, letters in support of this man? He committed these crimes because in order for him to have faced justice all these years later, there had to have been some sort of major evidence that allowed him to face justice. And this happened more than 20 years ago, or I guess it happened about 20 years by the time it went to trial and everything. After 20 years, there was still enough evidence for them to be able to try him. Like that's yeah, that's saying something. So just want to throw that out there. It is my opinion that he committed these crimes and yeah, so I'm just going to say screw the Church of Scientology just for that and all the other people that they have protected and managed to protect.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's a very, very wild ride and the film. So again, during these auditing sessions, you are not only being exposed to your past lives, you're also revealing a lot of things about yourself. So this is a lot of personal information that the church manages to get out of you through a variety of different tactics, and what that means is that they now have a lot of stuff they can use against you in the form of blackmail. And the documentary alleges that John Travolta has been forced to stay in Scientology in fear that secrets from his personal life will be exposed. And again, these are secrets from his personal life that he has given, whether willingly or unwillingly, during these auditing sessions. And that's how a lot of people stay in the church because they're scared to leave it for fear of these secrets getting out. And it doesn't necessarily mean that these secrets are like, really, really bad, but maybe the person just might not want this. So, whether that be, they've had an affair and they don't want to get divorced or anything really really worse than that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, this was a wild, wild ride and I recommend both. The documentary is two hours long, so it's kind of lengthy, but there's a lot of fascinating information in there. But kind of like the Our Towns documentary, this is more of like the Cliff Notes version. If you want a lot more detail, a lot more scandalous, a lot more jaw-dropping information, I would go with the book. So, that being said, I rated the book four stars and I rated the documentary four stars. But I do have a winner and the winner is the book.
Speaker 1:I do highly highly recommend the book. It is just, it is so fascinating. I did not want to put this book down and just everything that I learned. I'm just, I just, I'm just. I can't believe that this exists. And yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've never been interested in joining the Church of Scientology, but I've always been curious about going in there and finding out and seeing what they would tell me. But I've always been scared that once I go in there I'm going to be kidnapped because we still don't know what happened. So David Miscavige again, the current head of Scientology his wife has been missing for several years now and no one has any idea where she is. Some church members, again, who are currently in the church, say that she's fine and that she's. They named the location, but I don't remember the location. But we got to take their word for it and I'm just saying I'm not sure that I do so. That is, ultimately, I'm like scared to step foot because I'm like I don't know, maybe I'll get kidnapped or something. So not that the church kidnaps people, but you know, just, I'm not going to risk anything by going in there.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, check out the documentary if you want, if you're curious about Scientology and learning about it from ex-members. This also came out before the book was published, before Leah Remini started being really outspoken against the church. I don't remember exactly what year she left the church, but she's been very outspoken since and yeah. So if you are not a reader, check out the documentary because it is fascinating. But if you do want a more in-depth look and, like I said, it's just so fascinating to read this and learn all these things then definitely check out the book, highly recommend it. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Books vs Movies. If you are liking this series, please leave it a rating and a review, tell all your friends about it and help me expand the family. Next time I will be discussing the Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and its 1999 adaptation, the Haunting. See you next time.