Tom's cruising Europe for Scientology

"Vanilla Sky" boy goes to bat for Hubbardites; Sarah Michelle Gellar on "big silicone breasts." Plus: Will Paul and Heather make like Madonna and Guy?

By Amy Reiter

Jan 31, 2002 | Just because Tom Cruise has never foisted the likes of "Battlefield Earth" on us doesn't mean he's not doing his best to spread the word of L. Ron Hubbard.

Why, just the other day, in fact, Cruise took the opportunity to turn a "Vanilla Sky" PR stop in Germany into a Scientology stumpfest.

According to the BBC, Cruise arranged a little pre-premiere tjte-`-tjte with Germany's U.S. ambassador Dan Coats to ask his help in persuading Germany to reconsider its stance on the Church of Scientology. (The German government put the religion under "official scrutiny" back in 1997, concluding that it's more about milking money from its members than enhancing their souls.)

Cruise's meeting with the ambassador is said to have lasted about an hour, after which the actor lingered, chatting and signing autographs for embassy staffers.

Ich bin a bit touched by the gesture. You?

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He makes an excellent point

"I have been compared [to Woody Allen] -- but if I looked like Tom Cruise, I wouldn't be."

-- Filmmaker Todd Solondz on the director he's most often compared to, in Time Out New York.

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Look who's kicking unenhanced booty

One small step for Sarah Michelle Gellar, one giant leap for small-breasted womankind?

The "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star was recently voted "top action heroine" in a poll conducted by Britain's Sky magazine. But the joy she took at beating out the likes of Angelina Jolie and "Xena" star Lucy Lawless for the action honors was not for herself alone but rather on behalf of flattish women everywhere.

"It's important to me to know you don't have to have big silicone breasts falling out and a thigh-high skirt," Gellar told the magazine. "To me, being sexy is about being confident."

Clearly, the woman's no boob.

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Castles in the sand?

Whoever started the rumor that Paul McCartney and Heather Mills are planning to make like Madonna and Guy Ritchie and hitch it at Skibo Castle has been branded a big fat liar.

Mills says she and her betrothed have absolutely no intention of doing any such thing.

"We are not getting married in Skibo Castle," she recently told "Entertainment Tonight." "If you always listen to rumors, you've got a lot to learn."

And while Mills says she "won't talk about our personal life because I'm afraid I'm going to jinx it," she will say that her future husband is "very generous and giving" and "very romantic."

But, apparently, no kilt wearer.

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