Church of Scientology launches attack on Alex Gibney’s new documentary Going Clear

Under fire ... Alex Gibney is behind a new documentary about the Scientology movement. Source: Supplied

THE Church of Scientology is launching a “Cruise” missile attack on a revealing new documentary about the controversial religion, The New York Post reports.

The attack, which will include newspaper ads slated to run in the US on Friday, will claim Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney didn’t give Scientology executives a fair shot to respond to certain of his claims, sources said.

The documentary, Going Clear, based on the 2013 book of the same name, claims the church uses its Hollywood members — like Tom Cruise and John Travolta — to advance its goals.

The book uses interviews with former church members, including Crash screenwriter Paul Haggis, to slam the church headed by David Miscavige.

The documentary will debut at Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The festival kicks off January 22 and Going Clear is slated to be screened on January 25.

High-profile ... Tom Cruise is said to have become involved with Scientology in the 1990s, through his wife Mimi Rogers. Picture: WireImage Source: Supplied

Friends in high places ... “Going Clear” claims the Church of Scientology uses celebrities like John Travolta to further its goals. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

But Gibney’s film is biased and one-sided, the Scientology attack will claim.

The church will use a recent story in Rolling Stone about a campus rape — which didn’t include responses from the accused rapists, who, it turned out, weren’t near the scene of the alleged attack — to tar Gibney’s HBO-backed film.

“Twelve times Alex Gibney and HBO have refused the church’s requests for questions, assertions and statements about Scientology that will be included in the film so that it can comment on the ‘facts,’ ” the newspaper ad claims.

The church is also expected to attack the Gibney film because it was based on Lawrence Wright’s book, a National Book Award finalist, which it claims used sources that have been discredited.

Wright’s book is described by The New York Review of Books as a “horror story” and a “tribute to fact checkers.”

Scientology executives disagree. In one of the church’s most coordinated and focused attacks in recent years, the attack campaign claims, “Mr. Gibney’s film has been in the works in secret for two years. He and HBO never bothered to tell the Church it was even being made until recently.”

Fighting back

Gibney fired back after hearing of the church’s expected attack, telling The Post in a statement, “I requested interviews with various people — including current church members and officials — who could shed light on specific incidents discussed in the film. All those asked either declined, did not respond, or set unreasonable conditions.”

The pay TV network also returned fire.

“HBO has an extensive history of producing award-winning documentary films,” it said in a statement.

“It is customary in the documentary filmmaking process to request on-camera interviews from individuals that participated in events discussed in the film. This film identifies those that were approached.”

HBO, which will air the film March 16, has been prepping for a fight for months. In November, it had 160 lawyers looking at the film, The Hollywood Reporter said at the time.

This story originally appeared onNYPost.com.

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