Tom Cruise and Away" (1992), both of which co-starred then-wife Nicole Kidman as his love interest. In 1994, Cruise starred along with Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater in Neil Jordan's "Interview with the Vampire", a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice's best-selling novel. The film was well received, although Rice was initially quite outspoken in her criticism of Cruise having been cast in the film, as Julian Sands was her first choice. Upon seeing the film however, she paid $7,740 for a two-page ad in "Daily Variety" praising his performance and apologizing for her previous doubts about
Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography he met Holmes, and Vergara felt "she had been deliberately targeted not only as a possible bride for Tom, but as a high-profile Scientology recruit who would be an alluring figurehead for a future recruitment drive in Latin America." Morton asserts in the book that Cruise is the "de facto second-in-charge" in the Church of Scientology. When asked by the "Associated Press" what evidence he had about this, Morton stated "Scientology would be a shadow of what it is today if it had not been for the involvement of Tom Cruise. He has been the poster boy. More than that,