Scientology bigs allegedly tried to restrict the airspace above the 2006 Los Angeles premiere of “Mission: Impossible III” to prevent a college prankster from flying “insulting” airplane banners aimed at Tom Cruise and his controversial religion.
Documents passed down from a reportedly former top Scientology executive to the Daily Mail include a letter from the church’s “Watchdog Committee” from its “Office of Special Affairs,” ordering someone named “Linda” and the church’s “Director/Commanding Officer in the Office of Special Affairs, International Division” to “find out everything you can about them and let me know at once.”
The documents, published Thursday, claim that Stephen “Josh” Schofield, a then-21-year-old University of Central Florida student, raised about $3,500 on the online forum offtopic.com to “sabotage” the movie’s May 4, 2006, premiere at Grauman’s (now TCL) Chinese Theatre.
Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise at the 2006 “Mission: Impossible III” screening in LA. FilmMagic
Schofield had hired two airplanes to fly over the theater with banners reading: “The baby belongs to Xenu” — referring to Cruise and his then-partner Katie Holmes’ newborn daughter Suri — and “Hail Xenu (Heart) OT [Off Topic].”
Xenu refers to the “galactic overlord” in Scientology’s mythology.
Scientology’s chief spokesperson Karin Pouw told the Daily Mail that she had no knowledge of the incident and could not locate any documents.
But when contacted by The Post on Thursday, Schofield claimed that the weather ultimately stopped them from pulling off the prank.
“The air company basically told me there was heavy fog in the area that day, so the planes couldn’t take off,” Schofield told The Post. “They refunded the money and then I refunded the money to the people that donated it.”
He also said that the prank was “not meant to be malicious in any way, it was just something we thought would be funny,” as Scientology was often in the news at that time.
Schofield further claimed to The Post that he has never been contacted by anyone from the Church of Scientology.
The Post has reached out to reps for the church, Arnold Aerial Advertising and the Federal Aviation Administration for comment.
Another document obtained by the publication, allegedly written by Scientologist Kiersten Caetano on April 27, 2006, outlines the extraordinary efforts to “ensure that this flyover is killed.”
Cruise has been a Scientologist since 1986. Getty Images for Paramount Pictures
It includes statements that officials from the FAA and Los Angeles Police Department, the plane’s pilots and the California-based airplane company, Arnold Aerial Advertising, would all be “briefed” on the situation.
“The FAA contact said they don’t restrict that airspace for any reason and wouldn’t unless there was a credible threat,” the letter reads.
When contacted by The Post on Thursday, a spokesperson for the LAPD said: “We have not heard of what you’re asking. Airspace restrictions would be handled by the FAA.”
“Mission: Impossible III” premiered in 2006. ©Paramount
The Church of Scientology in LA pictured in 2020. GC Images
Cruise at the “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” premiere in New York on July 10. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
Now-retired pilot Mario Lopez also told the Daily Mail that the weather was the reason the planes never went up, but added that he received lots of calls in the days leading up to the prank, which he now believes were Scientologists trying to foil the prankster’s plans.
“It was really funny because generally, we don’t fly during the week. This happened on a Thursday night.
“I kept getting calls asking if I was busy on a Thursday night,” he continued. “I found that odd, like somebody was searching for something.”
Impossible’ premiere: report
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