After two decades of being defended and feared by its movie star members, the Church of Scientology now appears to be in retreat, with Hollywood no longer wary of exposing and questioning the movement’s practices.

The HBO Scientology documentary “Going Clear,” by director Alex Gibney, exposed the organization’s dubious claims, outlandish origin texts and alleged abuse of its followers despite dozens of legal challenges from Scientology, whose most famous members are Tom Cruise and John Travolta. The show attracted 1.7 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched documentaries ever to air on the network.

“It was still aired, got good press, got a viewership that was astronomical even with the threats, even with Scientology’s team of attorneys,” said therapist and cult expert Rachel Bernstein, who is working on a book about children raised in cults.

Also Read: 17 Entertainers Who Dabbled in or Abandoned Scientology (Photos)

Meanwhile Jason Katims, creator of “Parenthood” and “Friday Night Lights,” has received a series order from Hulu for a show about a family struggling with a “controversial” faith movement, what many understood as a thinly veiled reference to Scientology.

That comes just three years after Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard was depicted unfavorably in Paul Thomas Anderson’s dramatic feature, “The Master,” with Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing the bombastic, charismatic leader – who some saw as a charlatan. That same year Lawrence Wright’s investigative book exposed many of the practices explored in Gibney’s film, “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief.”



“We are a Church. Any influence we may have is in terms of the lives we save from scourges like drug addiction and the people we help worldwide. We are defined not by who are members are, but by what each one does each day to make for a better world. That is and has always been our only mission,” a representative for the Church of Scientology told TheWrap in a statement.

“We are helping people in greater numbers and in more parts of the world than at any time before. As to what the Church stands for and is accomplishing in the world, I invite you and your readers to see www.scientology.org. Our response to Alex Gibney’s one-sided Rolling Stone/UVA Redux is on our website at www.freedommag.org/hbo.”

Also Read: John Travolta Defends ‘Beautiful’ Scientology Against HBO Documentary ‘Going Clear’

In the past, Scientology was protected by its deep ties to the Hollywood community. Since its inception, one of the church’s biggest strengths was its ability to leverage the celebrity of its famous members while silencing its critics, controlling its congregants and bury criticism under legal challenges.

But now many of Scientology’s most famous Hollywood members are among its most outspoken critics, including director Paul Haggis and “Chicago PD” actor Jason Beghe, both of whom feature prominently in Gibney’s documentary and who confess their deep regret for decades of membership. Mia Farrow was among those who called on people to sign a petition to rescind the church’s tax-exempt status in the wake of the documentary.

“They know they have a PR nightmare right now,” Bernstein pointed out. “They’re not going to take the risks that have seemed heartless and harassing. They’ll have to become more economical about their harassment.”

“Scientology has a likeability problem,” said a veteran Hollywood publicist, who has former and current clients in the church, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “No one likes them because of this reputation for intimidation and aggressiveness, and no organization — particularly religions — wants to be that polarizing or splayed out.” (Scientology still intimidates enough in Hollywood to dissuade publicists from going on the record.)

The publicist said that murky politics and even outright wrongdoing is nothing uncommon in organized religion, but usually exclusively in its upper echelons. In Scientology, he said most of his own clients don’t take the organization and its byzantine hierarchy that seriously.

“My clients who are and were involved are usually getting something out of it, jobs or recognition,” the insider said of church members who have worked with him over the years.