Thursday, March 28, 2024

Scientology Goes Hollywood: Ex Celeb Wrangler, Tom Cruise BFF, Now Right Hand for Major Film Financier

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This is weird and scary. On the morning that Scientology is unveiling a huge new Hollywood facility with a big unveiling, there’s news that one of their main disciples has infiltrated mainstream movie making.

Tommy Davis is actress Anne Archer’s son was Tom Cruise’s best pal, and the celebrity wrangler for Scientology. He was thick as thieves with Scientology cult leader David Miscavige, and spoke for the group everywhere. Davis was glued to Cruise’s side. He’s featured in the award winning documentary “Going Clear.” His long history with Cruise and Miscavige is detailed in Leah Remini’s recent book. He was chief PR, spin doctor, and devoted to both men. (Davis was a big part of Cruise’s fake girlfriend relationship with actress Nazanin Boniadi.)

The news now is shocking: that Davis is working for Hollywood movie financier James Packer, whose company Rat-Pac (with director Brett Ratner) underwrites rafts of films for studios like Warner Bros. Packer, an Australian billionaire, is “engaged” to singer Mariah Carey, whom he met through Ratner. The report first surfaced thanks to the intrepid Tony Ortega’s website.

Packer is said to have dropped out of Scientology years ago, much to the dismay of Miscavige. Packer’s deep pockets were what Miscavige needed. And Packer certainly knows Davis’s history and ties to Miscavige and Cruise. There are photos on the web of Packer, Cruise and Holmes sailing around together on Packer’s boat in Australia.

But now there’s a fear that Davis has inveigled himself into Packer’s good graces to lure him back into Scientology. Davis otherwise has no experience making films or developing them, and has no higher education. His employment background is working for Scientology, briefly working in real estate.

Davis, sources say, has told people that he’s “renounced” Scientology. Yet he remains close friends with Michael Doven, another close Cruise crony at the cult, who was outed for having spied on Cruise for Miscavige. Doven now calls himself a movie producer, and is indeed credited with a bunch of new B films on the Internet Movie Database. Prior to getting movie producer credits on Cruise films, Doven was a photographer.

Davis was rumored to be on the outs with Miscavige after the group’s leader (whose own father just published a book about him) reportedly held him responsible provoking Lawrence Wright to turn “Going Clear” from a magazine article to bestselling book to award winning documentary. Davis married Jessica Feshbach, whose family has donated millions to the cult. (Feshbach was Katie Holmes’s minder when she was first sucked into the cult by Tom Cruise.) They had a brief exile in Texas, but now they’re back in Hollywood.

Davis’s renunciation has been met with much incredulity, by the way. Both Davis’s and his wife’s families are very entrenched in Scientology. They are in the Hollywood vanguard. It’s nearly impossible to leave Scientology– as we’ve heard in countless accounts- and remain in contact with friends or family who stay behind. Davis was Velcro’d to Cruise for years, by the way. I still can’t forget their appearance in 2004 at the “Collateral” premiere in Harlem. They were like doppelgangers.

All of this is made a little more curious because RatPac last year merged with Dune Entertainment. Dune is owned by Seth Mnuchin, recently appointed by Donald Trump as his finance director for his presidential campaign. Trump and Scientology now are separated by one degree.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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