AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

NY Times

HISTORY will judge whether Jerry O’Connell will be best remembered as the cornfed football prospect in “Jerry Maguire,” the awkward chubby kid in “Stand by Me,” or as the husband of Rebecca Romijn. But for a few glorious days last month, Mr. O’Connell, 33, was seared into the minds of thousands of Internet surfers as a cocky, cackling replica of Tom Cruise, in a parody of a Scientology recruitment video.

Sidelined for several weeks by the Writers Guild of America strike, Mr. O’Connell, who currently appears in the ABC sitcom “Carpoolers,” was recently inspired by a widely disseminated clip of Mr. Cruise evangelizing on behalf of his church. On a whim Mr. O’Connell called a “Carpoolers” co-star, Jerry Minor, and within hours they were filming their own version of the video, in which Mr. O’Connell wears a familiar black turtleneck and spouts twisted takeoffs of Mr. Cruise’s homilies. (“It is a privilege to be an actor because you know that you really are no help to anyone.”)…read more….