'It was a universe actually very similar to ours but very overcrowded, and Xenu had to 'depopulate' the universe, so he brought in a number of people, ostensibly for tax audits, and froze them.' 'And in there, he talks about Xenu, the galactic overlord who at one point had ruled the universe,' Wright says. Ron Hubbard, the science-fiction writer who founded the church. And he told Wright about a disturbing experience: He was admitted to a special, tightly secured room to read top-secret pages by L. He contributed to it, publicly defended it - and was finally allowed to read some of its deepest secrets. Eventually he went on to win Oscars for Crash and Million Dollar Baby. Haggis moved to Hollywood, where the church's deep penetration of the movie industry helped his career as a screenwriter. 'And inside, there was a stamp saying 'Church of Scientology,' and Paul was intrigued, and he said, 'Take me there.' ' Haggis soon became a member of the Church of Scientology - and he's a central character in Wright's new book, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief. 'And he handed the book to Paul, and he said, 'You've got a mind - this is the owner's manual,' ' journalist Lawrence Wright tells NPR's Steve Inskeep. In the 1970s, a young man named Paul Haggis was walking down a street in Ontario, Canada.

Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Going Clear Subtitle Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief Author Lawrence Wright

Going clear book