While last year’s Going Clear was a widely-discussed, biting look into the controversial religion of Scientology, this year ushers in maverick documentarian John Dower‘s own look into the shrouded world of the church. His film, titled very simply My Scientology Movie, has now been treated with a trailer. Filmed in a more classically cinematic way than many documentaries, the almost anti-cinéma vérité stylings gives the film a shared look to many modern comedies rather than its own true peers in the non-fiction realm.
We said in our review: “My Scientology Movie is exactly what it promises to be: a personal journalistic rattrap that’s not quite as comprehensive as Gibney’s film. Directed by John Dower (who remains off camera), the film melds performative elements to create a kind of unintentional buddy comedy. As the opening credits suggest, the film was developed on social media as a simple inquiry that snowballed into a work of gonzo journalism, resulting in what could be considered an unintentional behind-the-scenes version of Gibney’s documentary. While Gibney inserts himself into his stories as a narrator, he retains distance required to maintain the authoritative tone of his work. Theroux is a citizen journalist who will go to great lengths for his inquiry; this presents friction later in the relationship in ways that I didn’t quite expect. A powerfully subversive picture, My Scientology Movie pushes back against the church’s attempt to control the narrative.”
See the trailer below.
Louis Theroux hits the big screen in his first feature documentary, LOUIS THEROUX: MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE, created in collaboration with director John Dower and two-time Academy Award® winning producer Simon Chinn (Searching for Sugar Man, Man on Wire).
Following a long fascination with the religion, and with a lot of experience dealing with eccentric human behaviour, incomparable British broadcaster Louis Theroux won’t take no for an answer when his request to enter the Church of Scientology’s Los Angeles headquarters is turned down. Theroux’s insatiable curiosity motivates him to understand what life inside the Church is really like, and with the aid of former second-in-command at the Church, Mark ‘Marty’ Rathbun, he uses actors to replay incidents people claim they experienced with high profile members such as Tom Cruise and leader David Miscavige.
Suffused with a good dose of humour and moments worthy of a Hollywood script, LOUIS THEROUX: MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE proves that what people do in the name of religion can be truly stranger than fiction.
My Scientology Movie opens on October 7th in the U.K. and arrives in January in the United States.