Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography
Andrew Morton has always prided himself on getting the inside scoop on his subjects. His books on Princess Diana and Monica Lewinsky were all done with either direct participation or at least some soft of access to the people he writes about. This time, he’s not only writing an unauthorized book about one of Hollywood’s biggest starts, but one who is notorious for letting little information about himself available to the public: Tom Cruise.
It is the lack of background on Cruise that is the most glowing problem about this book. Most of the people Morton speaks to either knew the actor a long time ago, unnamed “sources” that are close to every story but won’t go on record, or anti-Scientology crusaders who’s main gig is trying to shut down the religion. The later we get into Tom Cruise’s career, the less stories about him we get. There is very little insight into his work with Steven Spielberg, except for when the actor’s Scientology rages and crazed devotion to new bride Katie Holmes threatened to derail the War Of The Worlds publicity train. Although, I must admit, the section which details the making of Eyes Wide Shut is an excellent insight into moviemaking, but it’s Stanley Kubrick’s odd behavior, and not details of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman’s involvement on the film that make it compelling reading.
But the Tom Cruise of 2007 is no longer someone who gets attention for the dedication to his craft. Mostly due to his own doing, his dedication to his new found religion, as well as its head David Miscavige, has become the stuff tabloids, as well as Tom Cruise, are made of. Morton spends a major amount of time discrediting Scientology, as well as questioning Cruise’s fanaticism for its teaching. Sometimes this book seemed more like an investigation into Scientology, with Tom Cruise’s life story as a quaint aside. While Morton’s charges against Scientology and its members are well-researched, he probably should have written an entirely different book and left the celebrity journalism to someone else.
When Morton does get around to Tom Cruise’s personal life, there are some hits and misses. The section that deals with his divorce from Kidman is more of an insight into Nicole Kidman’s life than it is Tom’s. But when Morton describes the processes of how Cruise attempted to replace Kidman with various women, including Penelope Cruz, before settling on Katie Holmes is interesting. But when Suri, Katie and Tom’s daughter is born, the book veers into every crazy Internet theory about the child, from birth defects to Suri being conceived with Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard’s sperm before stating than none of them are true. If they’re not true, why put them in?
In all, Tom Cruise is much like the actor it focuses on. There are bursts of creativity, intelligence and even anger. But when the subject of Scientology comes up, it goes off the tracks a bit, just like Tom. I’m not in anyway defending Scientology, but there are celebrity bios and there are anti-cult screeds. I think Andrew Morton could have done a great job with either, but when mixed together, something isn’t quite right.
