this is not the hamster you're looking for (flightstothesea) wrote in

otf_wank,
@ 2007-06-26 12:47:00

because i had to post avclub wank sooner or later...
The Onion AV Club now allows comments on most of its articles, interviews, and reviews. You can see where this is going already.

Today's tasty bit of wank is about Tom Cruise and Scientology. Apparently, the German Army won't let Cruise's new movie film on a base there because he's a Scientologist. The German government classifies Scientology as a cult and um... well, I'm not sure how that figures into the movie, but the point is, there is lots of wank in the comments. Unfortunately, you can't link to individual comments, so you'll have to warm up your scroll finger.

Is Scientology a cult?

Are the Germans being ~~just like the Nazis~~ intolerant?

Wait, Beck is a Scientologist?

Posted here because it didn't seem fandom-y enough for Fandom Wank.

Really late edit: Germany clarifies its position on Cruise filming.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

major_fischer
2007-06-26 10:47 pm UTC (link)

Is anyone else a little sad that Cruise is involved in a movie I might want to see?

Anyway, something to remember about this is that there were so few instances of German resistence to the Nazis that the 20th of July plotters (and for that matter the White Rose) are national icons. I think they would be a little touchy about anyone with a sketchy reputation touching either subject. I imagin the Munich city hall wouldn't let a film about Sophie Scholl film if she was being played by Linsay Lohan.

I know I'd hope that the US Department of Defense wouldn't be that helpful in a film on say... George Washington that was funded by oh.. Hugo Chavez? As I recall Cruise and other outspoken scientologists have said some pretty inflamatory things about the German government that really aren't all that far from what Chavez says regularly about the US.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	hallidae 2007-06-27 05:09 am UTC (link)
	::raises hand:: Count me on the sad part, because the July 20 Plot is absolutely fascinating, especially when you consider all the really fucking important people whose lives were ruined by its failure and the possibility of what could have been if they'd succeeded. Cruise anywhere near that kinda makes me gag. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	athersgeo 2007-06-27 07:58 am UTC (link)
	Yep. I'm with you. Question: Who would you cast instead? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	winter 2007-06-27 11:22 am UTC (link)
	I'm tempted to say Liam Neeson, but resemblance-wise and concerning acting skills, Viggo Mortensen, perhaps? I think he could manage the tragic intensity there. (Not a German, but Poles read just as much about it - and I've been to a lot of the places involved, including the bombsite.) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	glossing2 2007-06-27 02:42 pm UTC (link)
	a film on say... George Washington that was funded by oh.. Hugo Chavez? raises hand I'd watch it! (Reply to this)(Parent)

queencallipygos
2007-06-27 04:53 pm UTC (link)

I know I'd hope that the US Department of Defense wouldn't be that helpful in a film on say... George Washington that was funded by oh.. Hugo Chavez?

That's a fair point, but I also know that I'd be VERY curious to see it; one of the most fascinating books I read within the past few years was "History Lessons," and was a retelling of the history of the United States told solely through excerpts from the high school textbooks used in other countries; so it was the Norwegian textbook's take on the Vikings, the British take on the Revolutionary War, the Mexican textbook's take on the Battle of Alamo, etc. Absolutely fascinating; and the North Korean take on the Korean War was a complete mindfuck.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

(Read comments) -