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Will Paul Anderson (The Better One) Find Religion At Universal??
Merrick here...
Paul Thomas Anderson is working on his next script - which Universal is waiting to receive before a final green light is given. The project stars Philip Seymour Hoffman
...as a founder of a new religious organization in the 1950s. The project is set up at Universal, which will make a decision about whether to greenlight the pic, with a $35 million budget, once Anderson delivers a finished script.Hoffman, who has played supporting roles in most of Anderson's past films, this time will be at the center, playing "the Master," as in "master of ceremonies," a charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952. The core is the relationship between the Master and Freddie, a twentysomething drifter who becomes the leader's lieutenant. As the faith begins to gain a fervent following, Freddie finds himself questioning the belief system he has embraced, and his mentor.
[EDIT]
The drama does not so much scrutinize self-started churches like Scientology or the Mormons, as much as it explores the need to believe in a higher power, the choice of which one to embrace and the point at which a belief system graduates into a religion.
...says THIS article in Variety.
This would probably make for a really, really interesting movie - and Philip Seymour Hoffman can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. But, it's so not my cup of tea. LEGION's mace wielding angels are more my speed.
More on Anderson's latest as more comes in...
--- Follow Merrick on Twitter! ---
[EDIT]
The drama does not so much scrutinize self-started churches like Scientology or the Mormons, as much as it explores the need to believe in a higher power, the choice of which one to embrace and the point at which a belief system graduates into a religion.
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why the revision, AICN?
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...on the real story of scientology, lawsuits and blacklists be damned. I was all excited that this was going to be that movie, but oh well...
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on the same subject?
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than the article Herc posted earlier today (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43263)? I know that you AICN jokers work remotely but there have been some great advances in technology over the past decade that allows business to meet and touch base virtually so they can get their shit together! Kidding - but not really.
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whats with the double post, epic website fail there guys
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At least read the other posts on the site before you post stories. Hercules posted this earlier this morning/late last night, about three posts down the page. I harbor a lot of jealousy towards you guys, I dream of being paid to write about movies for a living, and when you guys screw things up this bad, it just rubs salt in.
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Merrick is a Scientologist. Clearly.
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Will this still be a go? I don't see Universal, under Comcast, going with many dramas.
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then see which one gets the most TB posts in the next 24 hoursIs this like a game, is Harry pitting us against eachother for his own personal gain?
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for the true article will bring you life, the false will take it from you.
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I LOL'd about three or four times at these posts. Well done, fellas.
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I think I'll stay in the earlier TB, unless I get bored over there - who am I kidding; I'll be checking both today. Schnoogins.
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I predict Universal will shy away from commiting to such project. Once again, I remind you all of what happened to Orson Welles and his Citizen Kane, slightly "based" on William Randolph Hearst.
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Dec 03, 2009 11:23:59 AM CST
Those Scientology fucks have too much power in Hollywood
by cronenbergresearcher
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Pulp sci-fi writer/pedophile sailor/con man invents religion and gets rich. But you'll never see it.
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There Will Be Blood...amazing film from start to finish.
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Hoffman as a creppy cult leader. Sign me up baby!
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are their even crazier detractors. Seriously. Have you seen these nut jobs?
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...but I can't help but tell the story of a friend of mine who went to a local "branch" or whatever you call it of Scientology here in Atlanta about 5 years ago to check it out. He was seriously soul-searching back then and came back telling me that they wanted him to sign a contract that surrendered his services to them for one million years. He got up and walked right out on the spot. Don't know if that's all completely true, but that particular friend has never lied to me that I know of. Weird if it's true. Anyways...
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How dare you be a mistake-makin' human being? Shame on you, now you must suffer the consequences of a million people pointing it out like they're so perfect...
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ah Merrick, always late to the party.
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Cult: n; A small, unpopular religion.
Religion: n; A large, popular cult.
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Usually AICN posts articles that OTHER sites posted first!
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Read their site anymore.
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but I'll be very happy to watch him try
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Paul Thomas Anderson directing an L. Ron Hubbard-ish examination of humanity's dependence on nonexistent "larger forces" in the universe? Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman?
I love it.
Can't wait. -
This project sounds awesome.
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Maybe try a new topic? Though if it's a shot at Scientology I'd love to see it.
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Remember what happened to the last people to speak out against science religion... http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/01/suicides200801
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So it won't be a critical examination of one of humanity's most bizarre recent travesties. Hunh.
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they control the horizontal and the verticle... D:
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"RESPECT the Cock!" Part 2: There Will be Blood... IN SPACE.
Yeah, I'll see it. -
Find out more here: http://tinyurl.com/2gcjz2
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"legion redband trailer"
I think it looks pretty badass.
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The dynamic between Daniel and Eli in that movie is SO fucking good.
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Founded Mormonism after an Angel showed him a set of golden plates. He started it..himself. Self-started.
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"The Profit," 2001. Wiki: The Profit is a feature film written and directed by Peter N. Alexander. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2001. Distribution of the film was prohibited by an American court order which was a result of a lawsuit brought by the Church of Scientology, although the filmmaker says that the film is not about Scientology. As a result, The Disinformation Book Of Lists and The Times have characterized The Profit as a banned film in the United States.
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"Representatives from the Foundation for Religious Tolerance of Florida — a Scientology front group — came to the shooting sites of the film and handed out fliers which demeaned the film's financial backers. They also followed crew members home in order to "press them for information about the content of the film." In addition to the protests, promotional videos shipped to Cannes, France were reported to have disappeared, and Alexander believed that an individual disguised as himself came to pick up the videos." Wiki again
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It's a PTA movie? I'm there.
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Mwah ha ha! I want Dianetics:The Movie. That would rule. Or not.
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I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). The assertion that we are a self-started religion is a correct one, but warrants short explanation.
We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ was lost and the doctrine corrupted after the deaths of the original apostles. According to our theology, the church was restored by a modern prophet (Joseph Smith) who was called by Christ to do so. We don't hold ourselves to be a branch-off of any other religion, but a restoration of what was lost. In the sense that we are not a Protestant group seeking to reform another faith, the LDS church was, in this sense, self-started.
I believe bubstersaddles was affirming his belief in the divine origin of the church, but even if one accepts that Joseph Smith was inspired, like John the Baptist, to prepare the way before the coming of Christ, it doesn't negate the fact that he did, tangibly and historically, start the church. Self-started.
That was long-winded, but hopefully helpful. Not trying to preach, just clarify. -
Dec 03, 2009 3:43:04 PM CST
saying "the better one" implies that the other one is good
by lavatory love machine
you should call him "the good one", or "not the hack"
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Went to an art, music and wine fair one day and spotted a scientology booth with the E-meters and the whole shabang..I chatted up this cute girl and she wanted to test me on the e-meter..
Well I was tripping my balls off on some very clean acid and decided what the fuck it would be fun.. Well after about fifteen minutes of questions and checking my readings they called over a couple of the higher ups as they really thought they had a case of someone who was clear...I went along with this for awhile until I got bored and laughed it off..
I was clear all right..clear to the walls buzzed...I have had a few friends into this and after a while they realized what a sham it was...I would like to see P.S.H. in the role of a Hubbard like individual though I think he could nail that...oh yeah.. Zenu lives -
And let this just be a biography/documentary..
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Your "founder" went digging one day and found gold tablets in a field that God told him to do... Ummmm riiighhhhttt.
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Lived in L.A. a while and occasionally hung out at the Celebrity Center in H'wood, they occasionally had filmmakers' panels with speakers such as Juliette Lewis, Giovanni Ribisi and so forth talking about getting work as an actor or writer or whatever. At the panels, Scio 'volunteers' (really coerced into working here to pay off their course fees) will try to get you to take an introductory course like Communication (?) or something like that, say a $30 course you take out of a book. No biggy. I took one or two courses, next thing you know I was invited into the "Registrar's" office to talk about signing up for the next step in my "curriculum" ... which happened to be a $1200 Purification Rundown, a two-week diet/exercise regime you have to take before you can even begin on any of the higher-level stuff. This "Registrar" had a convenient credit card reading machine in her office and suggested that I simply put the charge on a credit card because it was SO important to get started RIGHT NOW ... etc. Sorry, no sale.
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This story's been up all day and yet not a single editor has taken it down yet. What, is it casual friday at AICN? Christmas break come early? Its funny, usually double-posts disappear within the half-hour.
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Begging your pardon but why only single them out? Aren't all religions "Self-started" at some point? Isn't this film basically a commentary on ALL religion, since all religions basically started with an individual? Whether its Jesus, Mohammed, Sidhartha, or Hubbard, they're all the same Merrick. Care to rephrase that?
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A convicted forger of religious artifacts claims to have 'plates of gold' given to him by an Angel. Claims he speaks to Christ and he is the prophet and everyone must obey him or be damned. He and his forbears then proceed to fuck every woman in sight, whether they were married already or not. Religion is created to give men power and access to sex with woman AND children. The history of Mormonism is the history of polygamy, rape for children, and slavery for women.
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Gee dude sounds like you're describing christianity in general except christianity at large also has a long history of murder, torture, and senseless wars.
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Dec 03, 2009 5:27:53 PM CST
PTA should do the Church of the Fonz or the Leader cult..
by kravmaguffin
Na na na na na na na na Leader!
-Beanu (Xenu's flatulant brother)
ijs -
i woke up imprisoned under a volcano and greta van susteren was there and she said she was going to find out the truth about how i got there by using her glyxomyzilator device. i knew i could trust greta because greta is a reliable news source.
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Xenu and volcanoes and other assorted nonsense. But then again, a huge portion of the American population, including many of the people who mock scientology and mormonism, also believe in talking snakes, burning, talking bushes, virgin births, miraculous reincarnations, worldwide floods and two kinds of every animal on the planet fitting on one boat, A human giant. . .yeah, all that is completely rational.
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Come on, you wimp indies...get HBO to finance an examination of the madrassas in Pakistan. Won't hold my breath, no doubt your balls dropped off after what happened to Theo Van Gogh.
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he would be hilarious and scray at the same time
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I don't give a shit what anyone says
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No doubt this will be awesome. I hope Johnny Greenwood is on board again to score the movie. His work on There Will Be Blood was fucking radical.
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That's a good topic for a movie right there, though as a movement it substituted the need for a transcendental God with the 'cult of the individual.'
http://tinyurl.com/yg6l8gu
Speaking of which, I recommend 'Safe' by Todd Haynes. -
That would imply that Paul WS Anderson is a "good" director and Paul T Anderson is better. You should have written "Will Paul Anderson (the GOOD one) find religion at Universal?"Although, you probably should have read Herc's article first, too, but what do I know? :)
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the director of shit movies.
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please explain. anyone debunking a murderous, money grubbing group of liars the destroy people's lives one by one would have to be WAY out there to be worse than the group their detracting.
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You didn't read my explanation did you? HMMMMMM???
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...even though I, sadly, get told I look like him about 75 times a year. No pun intended, but so long as the film doesn't get "preachy" I'm very much looking forward to it. As exploring "the need to believe in a higher power" is the only thing I find interesting about religion (it goes all the way back to caveman ingesting hallucinogens, donning animal heads and pelts) it sounds like something I could get behind. But if it takes a side, or tries to give a right or wrong pov, eh, not so much.
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So lets just settle on saying that Mormonism and the "Church" of Scientology are NOT the same, in any way! No matter what your opinion of Mormonism or religion in general, I'd advise you take a look at how much the Latter Day Saints do for their members vs how much Scientology takes before comparing the two.
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I just read the title.
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This movie will show the real origin of scientology, including the Satanism and drug use.
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LDS members I've met are honestly a lot like South Park's depiction: the nicest people in the world. Whether I think they're wrong or not is irrelavent; they will still be the most helpful, kind people you'll ever meet. Scientology appears to be a great deal more self-interested and, in a way, creepy. Don't get me wrong, I think both sides were started by a selfish guy who thought he could make a buck preying on people's beliefs (they both did). I guess Scientology and LDS both have creepy, scary leadership and members who are genuinely trying to better themselves, it just seems LDS seeks to do more outreach. These are all my opinions and worth, approximately, nothing on the black market.
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I'm sure there are nice Scientologists out there, I just haven't personally run into any. And since we're in a post-modern world, experience is truth, so therefore, I'm correct. :-P
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I consider myself an atheist theologian philosopher. Yeah, that's some stuck up nonsense, but it's the only way I can explain to my friends and family why I spend all my free time that doesn't involve comic books or movies studying the religions of the world (and there histories), none of which I believe in. So what I would add to your statement is this: what religion does not require, request or hint very strongly that you give alms, donations, tithes, etc.? That would be none. However, if you belong to the Mormon church, when you are unable to pay your bills, they do it. You have no food, they give you food (that they produce yourself with your tithe). Homeless, they provide shelter. I understand some other individual churches may do this. Some on a very large scale. But I am speaking religion wide. They do a great deal for their members.
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...about people trying to leave the Church of Scientology? I understand it's partially sensationalism, but it's also based on fact. It was actually quite frightening.
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Was that the video about the woman that was on the now defunct Scientomogy.com?
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Yeah, that's the one. I thought I remembered watching it online but I wasn't sure. So it's gone, then?
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Produce "themselves", not "yourself". Gaaaar the typos are bad tonight. lol
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The last few times I checked Scientomogy.com there was an error message, so I guess they got to that guy too. It's ashame because the video you mentioned was very good, and they also had the full episode of Trapped in the Closet.Operation Clambake is a good anti_scientology site, but I'm not sure if they have the vids that Scientomogy had.
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http://tinyurl.com/bht65u It's episode 911 in case the above link takes you somewhere else on the site.
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Merrick may not read AICN and come to the game late, but Herc should be writing for tabloids in all fairness.
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Certainly none of concepts created by us. Man made indeed..
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It's good to have different and varying styles and point of views here. In fact, the only writing I have a difficulty stomaching some times is Harry's. But only some times big guy. Most of the time your ridiculous hyperbolic excitement is very entertaining. Even if it does revolve around your friends films. :p
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Saw this religious debate coming a mile away with the mention of Scientologists and Mormons. The movie sounds interesting but not my cup of tea.
As to Scientology, my understanding of it was that the religion involves channeling your energies through items / artifacts purchased from their store and that even Hubbard admitted he created the religion as a practical joke. His followers just didn't believe him. Already there's, what, a Jedi religion going on? People will always invent stuff, and there will be people that will follow it.
And for the record, I think Mormons have the best "science-fiction" compatible doctrine out there. There's some neat stuff in there. -
You mean THE GOOD ONE. Since when i'm supposed to mistake the WS version as anything even resembling good? Fucker still owns me for Soldier.
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Xenu and golden plate are nonsense. But walking on water and virgin births totally make sense!
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Not sure context of your remark about about church leadership, but I'd challenge you to compare and contrast sermons given by any recent prophets of the LDS religeon vs. popular contemporary christian evangelists. You'll find a BIG difference. Personally I find most christian leaders creepy when they preach, but LDS leaders avoid sensationalism and spiritual fluff and instead give some very positive and substantial social and moral messages in their talks.
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Dec 04, 2009 7:24:22 PM CST
Paul Anderson has been getting better with time.
by rene_belloq_12inch_figure
I think this will be great.
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yes, nice, upstanding people with a great message! I love how they also virtually single-handedly made sure that the bigots won the prop 8 battle in California! go mormonism!
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Google it...
Fuck them!! -
To the above poster who said his friend was offered a MILLION year contract to join the Scientologists (he must have been offered a chance to join "Seaorg" their "Navy based out of Clearwater FL"- look it up on wiki)- that is incorrect- it is actually a BILLION year contract- see the new book "My Billion Year Contract: Memoir of a Former Scientologist by Nancy Many." she managed to escape Xenu's clutches
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Anyone else think it's funny that people think of Xenu when they think of Scientology? AFAIK, Xenu is basically their devil, or at least their evil cackling Ming the Merciless.
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The Science Of Matter Over Mind.©
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You meant to say THE ONLY GOOD ONE, yes?
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