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Alex Gibney claims to be a documentarian…

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But Alex Gibney’s idea of a documentary

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on the Church of Scientology?

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Start with a book written by his buddy
Lawrence Wright.

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Disregard that the book was filled with
unsubstantiated innuendo,

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unsupported rumors,
and allegations so outrageous

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a federal judge dismissed them as baseless.

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Ignore the fact that the main source for the
book was this man Marty Rathbun —

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leader of a tiny failed cult
whose members had all been

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expelled from the Church
for discreditable activities.

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Then spend two years in secret
turning that book into a film…

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and never once present
any allegations to the Church.

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And to ensure that the media
would consider it tweet-worthy,

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give it a Hollywood touch;
try to find some big names,

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and what Alex Gibney came up with was...

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Paul Haggis.

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But Paul Haggis isn't the king
of the silver screen

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that Alex Gibney would have you believe,

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just ask his sister,
and long-time writing partner Kathy.

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He was a charming little boy and as he
grew up he was a charming teenager

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and he used that charm
in order to con people.

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Paul is a born con artist.
That’s what he is.

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All con artists are charming.

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That’s how they get people to believe them.

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Paul was never a Scientologist.

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Not from the beginning.
He was never a Scientologist.

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Paul hung around
the outskirts of Scientology –

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the fringe of Scientology.

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He used our church.
He has used our humanitarian efforts

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in order to glorify himself
in order to build his career.

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Understand that when Paul
came to Hollywood, he had nothing.

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Paul got his first jobs
through Scientologists.

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Paul came and hung out
at our Celebrity Centre

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where there were writers
who were already working.

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A very dear friend of mine
gave Paul his first job.

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I was there, I heard the conversations
at the time of Paul,

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you know, very cleverly
wheedling his way into a job

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so that he could
get onto a prime time show.

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And then once Paul
got onto that prime time show,

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he managed to find a clever way
to dump that writer

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and move onto another
television series and get a solo credit.

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That’s how Paul got his first solo credits.

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He got them off of the backs of writers and

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other celebrities at Celebrity Center.

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Paul’s career was starting on the downslide.

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Paul had two movies that did well,
back-to-back, accidentally.

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But after those two films were made,

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he couldn’t follow it up
with anything on his own

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that was successful.

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Everything he did after that,
on his own, failed.

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And has continued to fail.

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He is a desperate man right now,

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because his last film was
declared by the UK papers

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as one of the worst films of the year.

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So Paul’s career was on the downslide

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when Lawrence Wright
came into the picture.

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I asked my husband to go
have a word with Paul

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and find out if he was talking
about our family to the press

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and if he was talking about
Scientology to the press.

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And when he did, Paul started
to tell this whole tale

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about how Lawrence Wright
came to his house

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and asked him for an interview,

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and he thought that Lawrence
wanted to interview him

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because he wanted to do a
profile on him for the New Yorker,

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but Lawrence Wright instead said that he
wanted to talk about Scientology.

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And Paul said, “Well, why do you
want to talk about Scientology.

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I didn’t realize that
that’s what you wanted.”

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And he said, “Well, why else
would we be interested in you?”

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So then Paul looked
at my husband and said,

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“So I had no choice if
I wanted a profile in the New Yorker.”

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That right there, I think,

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hopefully, will give people an idea

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of the kind of individual
we are talking about.

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Wright's article was soon turned into a
rambling 365-page diatribe

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against the Church of Scientology.

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The same book Alex Gibney put to film,

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without checking a word of its accuracy.

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I went through this book

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and I can speak to about 25 points
in the first chapter alone

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as being pure fiction.

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Lawrence Wright talks about
Paul having to

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‘walk down this lonely road’ in order to,
you know, to go to school and,

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as if he was in the middle of nowhere
in this dust-bowl town.

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Paul never walked anywhere in his life.
I can promise you.

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My mother who doted on him, drove him
everywhere in her Mercedes Benz.

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So Paul was not this pathetic creature

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that Lawrence Wright
tries to paint him to be

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in the beginning of the book.

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So you cannot in all honesty

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present this film as a documentary

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based on so many blatant lies.

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This is a tale of two writers –
of avarice and ambition...

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to forward their own careers,
to forward their own ambitions.

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There’s a worldwide interest in Scientology.

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There’s very little interest in Paul Haggis.

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But if you manage to combine
his name with Scientology,

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all of a sudden you have
the attention of the press.

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I had a conversation with
one of his former teachers.

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And she enquired after the family
and after Paul and myself

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and were we still close and I said,
“No we are not close anymore,”

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and I explained to her why
and the kind of lies

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that he was telling about our Church...

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and she said to me,

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“Well, you know that
he is a chronic liar don’t you?”

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And of course I knew,
but this is a Nun who knew

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many years ago when he
was probably 7 years old,

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8 years old at the time.

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Paul has destroyed our family.

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He destroyed our family many years ago.

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Because he used every opportunity he could

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to malign the reputations of people
who were getting in his way.

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As Paul’s career became
more and more important to him,

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he was willing to sacrifice
each and every one of us –

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and did – in order to line his own pockets.

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I have been standing up
against Paul for two decades.

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He can’t do this and he has
to know that it is not okay

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to destroy the reputations
of good and decent people

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on the altar of his ambitions.

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That's Paul Haggis, Hollywood hypocrite.

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A man who destroys families…

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a common theme
among Alex Gibney's sources.

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Remember this guy –
the leader of that tiny failed cult?

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Shut the fuck up.

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He put a fist in his wife’s face
right before he abandoned her.

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Now he tears other families apart.

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You’ll also meet those
this man calls his "posse":

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His minion, Mike Rinder –

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this guy deserted his children

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broke into his elderly
ailing mother’s apartment

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and ruthlessly beat up his estranged wife.

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He breaks up other people’s families, too.

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Then there’s the thief who stole
from his wife’s grandmother –

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on his wedding day no less –

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he walked out on his wife, as well.

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And another Alex Gibney source,

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the drama queen who began a secret affair
with one of her business clients,

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destroyed her marriage

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and turned her two children
against her husband.

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You’ll also meet the lady with a dark past

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who conspired to murder her own father.

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and the expelled home wrecker
who abandoned her husband,

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daughter and daughter’s baby child

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to join her drug-abusing son in attempting
to destroy their former religion.

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But Alex Gibney isn’t revealing who
his prize “sources” really are.

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And for obvious reasons.

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I think we got the story that we wanted.

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It’s not the truth. It’s Alex Gibney. On HBO.