Hollywood and Scientology have long been linked, with Tom Cruise the church’s most famous spokesperson: indeed, Scientology is said to have had a written program governing celebrity recruitment since at least 1955, when L. Ron Hubbard created ‘Project Celebrity’, offering rewards to Scientologists who recruited targeted celebrities.

It has also been widely reported that Los Angeles is awash with Scientology centres, all of which specifically target performers and offer acting classes (Jerry Seinfeld recommends the “communication” course) – which means that actors are often recruited into the ranks during the early flush of their careers.

One of the most enduring rumours about Scientology, though, came about after Lawrence Wright penned a tell-all book about the religious sect. In it, he claimed that Scientologist matchmakers summoned unwitting female stars to read for a non-existent part in the Mission: Impossible series.

According to Wright, the real goal of these “auditions”, though, was to find a wife for a then-single Cruise (they allegedly took place before his marriage to – and subsequent divorce from – Katie Holmes).

Scarlett Johansson rejects claims she auditioned to be Tom Cruise’s girlfriend