Church of Scientology 'set up' Cruise's marriage to Holmes

London, Mar 10 : 'Top Gun' actor Tom cruise has been hit by another controversy in concern with his religion after a former Scientologist has claimed that his marriage to Katie Holmes was set up after his split from Penelope Cruz in 2004. It is claimed that it was the Church of Scientology who set up the alliance after a chain of fake casting calls for actresses including Jennifer Garner and Jessica Alba did not reap fruitful results in finding a suitable wife for the 45-year-old Hollywood heart-throb.

Ex-Scientologist Marc Headley, who used to produce promotional films for the controversial religion, has made the claims.

He said that it was Scientology leader David Miscavige, who allegedly planned an audition process for prospective wives disguised as a casting call for a new movie starring Cruise.

"After that (splitting from Cruz), he started complaining to his best buddy David about his luck with girls. So Miscavige assigned a high-ranking official with the order: 'Find a wife for Tom Cruise.' The official put out a casting call to female actresses, including Scientologists, saying, 'There's an upcoming Tom Cruise movie you might get a part in. Come for an audition,'" The Sun quoted him, as telling the News of the World.

He added: "But in the end no movie was made. They had to be single, they had to be pretty and in their 20s. First they rounded up Scientologist actresses like Erica Christensen, Erica Howard and Sofia Milos. But they were all rejected."

Headley did not name the official but said that he later tried to draw in Jennifer Garner, seeing her as the one who fit the bill the best. However, she had then recently started dating Ben Affleck.

Headley said: "Then... they went for Jennifer Garner, Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Alba, in that order. They came up with the same plan. Jennifer and Jessica didn't bite but Scarlett took the bait and came in for an audition. When she arrived at the audition address and found out it was the Scientology Center in Hollywood she freaked out and didn't do a tape...

But then they found Holmes, who was spotted gushing about Cruise and was called to LA to meet the actor.

"So they worked the audition tape on Katie, got her to L.A. and introduced her to Tom. The moment he meets her, he's enthralled with her and he told Miscavige later, 'I knew immediately she was the one.'"

ANI