Mr. Wright insists that he did not set out to write an expos\u00c3\u00a9. \u201cWhy would I bother to do that?\u201d\u009d he said. \u201cScientology is probably the most stigmatized religion in America already. But I\u2019m fascinated by it and by what drives people to Scientology, especially given its image.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThere are many countries where you can only believe more or you can believe less. But in the United States we have this incredible smorgasbord, and it really interests me why people are drawn to one faith rather than another, especially to a system of belief that to an outsider seems absurd or dangerous.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Mr. Wright, whose previous book, \u201cThe Looming Tower:\u201d\u009d Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9\/11,\u201d\u009d won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007, is no stranger to writing about secretive organizations. In the case of Scientology, he said, he had been looking for what he calls a \u201cdonkey\u201d\u009d \u201d\u201d a character strong and sympathetic enough to carry a complicated story. \u201cI don\u2019t mean it in a disparaging way,\u201d\u009d he explained. \u201cA donkey is a very useful beast of burden.\u201d\u009d In 2010 he finally found one in Paul Haggis, the winner of back-to-back Oscars for \u201cMillion Dollar Baby,\u201d\u009d which he wrote, and \u201cCrash,\u201d\u009d which he wrote and directed, who defected from Scientology in 2009, after 34 years in the church, during which he rose to one of its highest ranks.<\/p>\n