Leah Remini Talks About How Church of Scientology Didn’t Want John Travolta in ‘Pulp Fiction’ Role

Leah Remini openly discusses how Church of Scientology officials allegedly advised John Travolta not to accept his Academy Award nominated role in Pulp Fiction during a recent episode of her A&E docuseries.

In one of the latest episodes of Leah Remini: Scientology and Aftermath, the former church member talks with Mike Rinder, also a former high-ranking member of the church about the advice he gave Travolta about playing the role of heroin addicted assassin Vincent Vega.

The talk about Travolta was part of a larger conversation the two engaged in about the role the church plays in the lives of some of its most famous members.

“I’ve got a story about this that I’m not sure I should really tell,” Rinder said.

“When Quentin Tarantino approached John Travolta for a role in Pulp Fiction, John asked me to review the script to tell him what I thought, and his role was a heroin-addict assassin, and I said, ‘Oh, John, I don’t think that you should do this.'”

Travolta went on to garner critical acclaim for the role that is largely credited with helping him to jumpstart his than stalled career.

Remini has been embroiled in an intense war of words with church officials ever since she left the church several years ago.

She recently learned during an appearance on the Conan” show that church officials had contacted the host prior to her scheduled visit to blast her for waging a campaign against the church they insist is driven by the lure of “money, fame and attention.”

While interviewing the actress, Conan reflected that in the 24 years that he’s been on the air he can’t recall a similar instance involving a scheduled guest.

Meanwhile, Remini made sure to point out that the attack against her came from leaders of a church, adding that she has no plans to stop speaking out against what she thinks the church stands for.

Several media outlets have reported the church has previously tried to have the series canceled, leading to Remini filing a defamation writ seeking $1.5 million in damages.

Remini followed the church for 34 years, leaving in 2013. During a recent appearance on the Larry King Show, she rejected claims by the church that her show is “scripted, rehearsed,” and filled with proven untruths.

“Then they should sue us,” she said.

“It’s as simple as that. They say this on every outlet they can. They have said that about every single person who’s spoken out, and not one lawsuit has been brought to anybody.”

Church of Scientology leaders have previously dealt with public detractors by threatening to take legal action, including in 2015 when the group published a five-page letter in the Hollywood Reporter ripping director Alex Gibney’s expository documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.

Since then, church leader David Miscavige threatened to sue his father, Ron, for publishing a tell-all memoir.

“What I’m not going to stand for is an organization with this kind of money to continue to do things like that and to bully people and to harass people and to defraud people out of their lives, their money, but more importantly their families,” added Remini, who has also written a book about her church experiences entitled Troublemaker.

The 62-year-old Travolta was also nominated for an Oscar for his role in Saturday Night Fever. He has starred in such films as Grease, Swordfish, Face Off, Wild Hogs, and Hair Spray.

He also starred in the long-running TV sitcom Welcome Back Kotter.

[Featured Image by Jesse rant/Getty Images]