Above is the trailer for Tom Cruise’s next film, Valkyrie, which details the heroic actions of Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg, a German assassin who plots to kill Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler. As history will tell us, Col. Stauffenberg was unsuccessful in his attempts, but in Germany he is considered a mythic and iconic hero emerging from a time which has marred the country’s psyche even to this day.

Problem is, Tom Cruise’s portrayal as a hero fighting a corrupt, evil and authoritarian government is a little more than disingenuous. In fact, the entire film’s production sparked a renewed hostility towards Cruise and the faith which he actively promotes, Scientology, within Germany, where the film was shot.

As Scientology attempts to quell the tide of negative sentiment being expressed around the world, Germany stands as a leader among Western nations in its effort to ban the entire organization from operating within German borders. The CoS has already been stripped of its status as a religion, and is being confronted with an active and hostile attitude by the government of Germany.

A BBC report from last December, gives further details on the German initiatives to ban the entire CoS operation:

Germany’s federal and state interior ministers have declared the Church of Scientology unconstitutional, clearing the way for a possible ban.

The ministers have asked Germany’s domestic intelligence agency to examine whether the Church’s legal status as an association could be challenged.

Scientology is not recognised as a religion in Germany.

A Church of Scientology statement said the ministers were “completely out of step with the rest of the world”.

The attempted ban is “a blatant attempt at justifying the on-going and never-ending discrimination against the Church of Scientology and its members in Germany,” said the Church in a statement.

Critics accuse the organisation of cult-type practices and exploiting followers for financial gain.

But Scientologists reject this and say that they promote a religion based on the understanding of the human spirit.

Back here in the states, Tom Cruise seems to be licking his wounds and hopefully rethinking his strategy of active stumping for the Church of Scientology, as it has had a dramatically negative effect on on his star power.

According to a report at FoxNews.com, Cruise has even taken to “groveling in public” with his ex-boss Paramount CEO Sumner Redstone. The two parted ways back in 2006 after Paramount refused to re-sign Cruise at the end of his contract. Redstone had some pretty strong words for Cruise and left no room for ambiguity as to their parting ways:

“As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal,” Redstone was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal. “His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.”

But that’s not all Redstone said, the NYP offered deeper, more eviscerating insight into Cruise’s “firing.”

“He was embarrassing the studio. And he was costing us a lot of money,” the outspoken Viacom chief tells the December issue of Vanity Fair.

Confirming a Page Six exclusive, Redstone admits it was his wife, Paula, who first soured on Cruise, which resulted in his decision not to renew Paramount’s megabucks deal with Cruise’s production company.

“Paula, like women everywhere, had come to hate him. The truth of the matter is, I did listen to her . . .” Redstone says. “His behavior was entirely unacceptable to Paula and to the rest of the world. He just didn’t turn one [woman] off. He turned off all women, and a lot of men.”

Redstone estimates that Cruise’s antics - acting wacky, ripping into psychiatry, firing his professional publicist - were the key elements in the star’s downfall: “When did I decide [to fire him]? I don’t know. When he was on the ‘Today’ show? When he was jumping on a couch at ‘Oprah’? He changed his handler, you know, to his sister [LeAnne Devette] - not a good idea.”

Redstone estimates that Cruise’s bizarre behavior cost Paramount “$100 million, $150 million on ‘Mission: Impossible III.’ It was the best picture of the three, and it did the worst.” He isn’t sorry he embarrassed Cruise publicly: “The explosion was good. It sent a message to the rest of the world that the time of the big star getting all this money is over. And it is! I would like to think that what I did, or what we did, has had a salutary effect on the rest of the industry.”

So why Tom’s renewed efforts to make nice with a man who said so many…um…unflattering things about him? FoxNews offers some interesting possibilities for the “reconnect:”

“The videos [infamous Mission Impossible/KSW pulled from YouTube] prompted dozens of parodies all over the Internet, all mocking Cruise. It’s not clear if he could be accepted again as an action hero, someone the audience is willing to root for, after being the butt of so many jokes.

The fact that Cruise groveled in public with Redstone would indicate that the actor knows just how bad “Valkyrie” is and that he’s trying to shore up his future before the eye patch hits the fan this fall. Certainly, a signed $20 million contract from Paramount would be insurance against this unavoidable disaster destroying his career.

It also begs the question about Cruise’s career agenda as it stands now. Beyond “Valkyrie,” he’s filmed a cameo in Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder” wearing a fat suit. A preview of the film received a tepid response at aintitcoolnews.com — it’s a movie within a movie, always a bad concept as inside jokes go for the general audience.

He’s also attached to a comedy called “Men” to be directed by the less-than-elegant Todd Phillips (“Old School,” “Starsky and Hutch”). With yet another ill-conceived Ben Stiller project festering — “The Hardy Men” — it’s clear someone has decided this is Tom Cruise’s future. It’s paralyzing to think someone may have plotted this for him.

And it’s not like Cruise will find a lot of support at Paramount for his insta-return. Sources say that while the new folks running the studio would like to revive “Mission: Impossible,” they’ve been thinking more of a new young star, or an “M:I” team the way it was originally portrayed in the TV series.

“Would I like to do Mission: Impossible”? asked one Paramount exec rhetorically. “Yes, but not starring Tom Cruise.”

It’s hard to know if Tom Cruise has burned through his goodwill with the public. At the end of the day, Cruise is a really talented actor, who is versatile and passionate. He also is associated with a faith most consider a cult run by corrupt and greedy individuals, who Cruise just so happens to be BFF with. It’s not so much that Cruise isn’t appealing to women, he isn’t appealing to free-thinking individuals. As religiously influenced as we are here in the U.S., we are also fiercely independent when it comes to having the right to decide which faith best suits us. Using one’s celebrity status to promote their faith offends not only our most basic instincts, it’s a violation of who we are as a culture.

Scientology and Cruise really overestimated their appeal. It’s not that people are against Tom Cruise, they’re against the cheerful fascism of his belief system. Let’s face it, fascism isn’t cheerful.

In this segment, the third in the series, Andrew answers a difficult hypothetical question: If one of Tom Cruise’s children were to defect from the Church of Scientology, would HE disconnect from them? Andrew’s answer is measured, but concise.

This was a very important question I felt, as this is a very real issue for members of Scientology every day. The Church has an active disconnect policy which requires them to officially declare they have disconnected from a person who has left the faith, be it a wife, mother, father, or child — whomever. To me, above all other abuses, this policy is the most reprehensible and cruel.

Part 2 in the series of Glosslip’s interview with Andrew Morton we discuss the disintegration of Tom Cruise’s marriage to Nicole Kidman and what influence Scientology has had on Nicole’s disconnection and separation from her children, Isabella, age 16 and Connor, age 13.

Andrew discussed PTSSP Rundown, a course teen Scientologists are given to during their adolescence which in cases of divorce or separation from parents can in effect cause “disconnect” to take place. Andrew suggests what will happen with Nicole’s children, and what we’ve already witnessed happening to their relationship when Tom left Nicole and she parted ways with Scientology.

Above is the first part in a series of videos from an interview I did with famed celeb biographer Andrew Morton in New York this week. Discussed in this segment are Tom Cruise’s couch abuse, why Tom settled on Katie Holmes and Tom’s faith in the Church of Scientology.

Please join Glosslip Radio as we co-host with BlogTalkRadio.com CEO, Alan Levy in an interview with NYT’s best-selling author, Andrew Morton, to discuss his latest book, Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography.

Click here to listen to show.

Show begins at 4:00PM EST

Andrew Morton is arguably the most well-known celeb biographer in the world. Having covered such high profile subjects as Princess Diana, Madonna, David and Victoria Beckham, and political consort Monica Lewinsky, tackling the world’s most famous Hollywood actor, Tom Cruise, was simply a matter of time for Morton.

Glosslip had a chance to sit down with Andrew while we were visiting in New York for the premiere of Ian Halperin’s new documentary, “His Highness Hollywood.” We will be revealing part of that video interview today.

From our perspective, the interview is explosive and Morton is amazingly astute, tuned in to his subject, and every bit as erudite on Scientology, the faith driving Tom Cruise, as he is on the man himself.

Please tune in for today’s much-anticipated interview, where Alan Levy, founder and CEO of BlogTalkRadio and Glosslip team up to go inside the life of Tom Cruise, the Church of Scientology and talk to the man who sparked the current firestorm of anti-Scientology protests around the globe.

Andrew’s book is where it began two months ago, and despite having his book banned in the UK and Morton himself threatened with lawsuits based on numerous claims in the book, he has some very specific ideas on what should happen going forward as groups like Anonymous, and those brave souls who’ve been fighting the Church for years team up to expose the abuses of the Church of Scientology.

It’s a cultural phenomena that ANYONE would want to be associated with the beleaguered and embattled Tom Cruise. The once “top gun” of Hollywood has fallen so far off the mark of his former star power, not even a mystical display of super-powers could bring him back. Tom Cruise is tainted goods.

According to new reports, Will Smith is once again denying he is a Scientologist, and has responded to an article in Radar magazine stating otherwise.

Smith tells Rush & Molloy, “You don’t have to be Jewish to be a friend of Steven Spielberg. You don’t have to be a Muslim to be a friend of Muhammad Ali. And you don’t have to be a Scientologist to be a friend of Tom Cruise.” So what is Smith, anyway? “I am a Christian. I am a student of all religions.”

I beg to differ with Will Smith’s claim that you don’t have to be a Scientologist to be Tom’s friend. In fact, I will go so far as to say that you DO have to be a Scientologist, or at least lend a friendly face and your official support to Scientology to be Tom’s friend. This is just how Tom Cruise rolls, “either you’re in or you’re out. Phewwww!!”

Tom Cruise’s entire existence on this planet not only revolves around Scientology, but is ultimately ruled by his faith. Tom is so utterly and completely consumed by Scientology he’s proven himself willing to trash his entire Hollywood career for it. In Tom Cruise’s world only one thing truly matters, the words of L. Ron Hubbard and his beloved and true love: Scientology.

But wait, there’s more…

This is about as creepy as it gets. If only it were true then I could finally sleep at night.

A group called “Anonymous” or “Legion” or “Weirdos Who Fight Other Weirdos” have laid down the gauntlet on the Church of Scientology. I wonder, can I just start calling them the Cult of Scientology? Or The Legion of Extraordinary Tom Cruise followers? Hmmm… let me work on that.

Dlisted posted this video from YouTube and I just wonder how long that will remain before COS comes a calling. People, things, and videos have a way of “disappearing” when L. Ron comes a knocking on your door.

If I disappear one day….well….I’m just saying.

While on the subject of Scientology, allow me to remind you I will have best-selling author Ian Halperin on Sunday’s Glosslip Radio show to discuss his new book Hollywood Undercover. We will be discussing Scientology at length. Ian had the unique experience of entering the inner sanctum of the Church while “posing as a gay man seeking to be cured of his gayness.” It promises to be a GREAT interview!

GLOSSLIP RADIO, SUNDAY, Jan 27, 10:00PM EST! Listen in, or the Church will get ya.

An article in the Daily Mail about Andrew Morton’s new book (remember him? he wrote the Princess Di biography a while back) reveals some either wildly crazy claims about Tom Cruise and his religion Scientology, or some scary truths.

You know what they say, truth is often stranger than fiction.

Some highlights from the book and the article state:

On Suri, Tom and Katie’s daughter:

Morton claims some “fanatical” Scientologists believed Suri Cruise was actually the result of a sperm donation by Scientology’s dead founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

In her more reflective moments, Katie might have felt as if she were in the middle of a real-life version of the horror movie Rosemary’s Baby, in which an unsuspecting young woman is impregnated with the Devil’s child.”

How the Church controls wayward deciples:

He quotes Hubbard’s son, Ronald De Wolf, who fell out with his father, giving a Playboy interview: “You have complete control of someone if you have every detail of his sex life and fantasy life on record. In Scientology the focus is on sex. Sex, sex, sex.

“The first thing we wanted to know about someone we were auditing was his sexual deviations. All you’ve got to do is find a person’s kinks, whatever they might be.

“Their dreams and their fantasies. Then you can fit a ring through their noses and take them anywhere. You promise to fulfil their fantasies or you threaten to expose them.”

On why Tom ultimately left second wife, Nicole Kidman:

Morton claims Scientologists were worried that Kidman might be a problem because her father was a psychologist - “which automatically made her a Potential Trouble Source” - and she had given an interview emphasising her roots as a Catholic.

On why Tom and fellow actress Penelope Cruz’s relationship failed:
Cruise’s attempts at new relationships, with actresses Penelope Cruz and Sofia Vergara, did not work out.

Morton claims Cruz’s father Eduardo “was concerned that his famous daughter could be drawn into what he considered a cult - and, like so many others, be lost to him and his family for ever.

“Eventually he emailed an organisation devoted to helping cult members and their families. It was only after a long exchange of correspondence that officials realised they were dealing with Penelope Cruz’s father.”

And of course, The Church’s secret ambition to take over Germany:

The author says Germany’s population of 80million made it a perfect “new market” for Scientology, although the church is not recognised officially as a religion there.

“David Miscavige (the head of the Church) and his lieutenants were in Scientology’s war room at Hemet, planning the invasion of Germany. From time to time they were joined in their desert bunker by Tom, who these days is the organisation’s second-in-command in all but name, involved in every aspect of planning and policy.”

This and all sorts of other strange and seemingly fictional accounts of creepiness the Church of Scientology may be responsible for. To read the entire article, go here.

I find ALL of this plausible, except the part about Suri. She is clearly both Tom and Katie’s daughter and possibly one of the cutest little tykes in Hollywood. I think it’s horrible they would make any kind of negative depiction towards a small child, but not surprising. We journalists are a vicious bunch.

Essentially, Scientology is a religion that was created on a lark by sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard. While all religions have a sense of mystical nonsense to them, few are as ridiculous sounding as The Church Of Scientology which purports to purge you of your earthly negativities by cleaning you of past life memories from aliens attacking earth some 45 million years ago, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Or something like that.

Sheesh, and people think Christianity’s weird?

Give it to Katie, she finished all of the 26.2 miles of the NYC Marathon today.  She came in 34,195th place, with a time of 5:29:58.  I wonder what color ribbon that is?

But you gotta give her credit for even going.  Props to everybody who even tried.  If that were me, I’d still be out there.

Unfortunately, Tom found her at the finish line.  We can only hope for next time!  I wonder what she was listening to in her headphones?  Probably an mp3 of Tom reading their contract prenup.

And isn’t Suri adorable?  I just want to gobble her up, she’s so cute.

You know, I rented Rain Man the other night just to remember back when Tom was only mildly up a tree.  Good times, man, good times.

I don’t care what anyone says, Suri is not only Tom’s biological kid, she’s the cutest little baby ever.  Not only that, I like how Tom and Katie dote on their biological kid as though they like her, unlike say, Angelina Jolie and bio daughter Shiloh.

You know poor Shiloh is already developing an inferiority complex.  Angie has “issues,” really severe issues.