Then I got another batch of notes. I thought it was a joke. They changed the entire tone. I knew these notes would kill the movie. The notes wanted me to lose key scenes, add ridiculous scenes, take out some of the key characters. I asked Mike where they came from. He said, "From us." But when I pressed him, he said, "From John [Travolta]'s camp, but we agree with them."
I refused to incorporate the notes into the script and was fired.
I HAVE no idea why they wanted to go in this new direction, but here's what I heard from someone in John's camp: Out of all the books L. Ron wrote, this was the one the church founder wanted most to become a movie. He wrote extensive notes on how the movie should be made. Many people called it a Scientology movie. It wasn't when I wrote it, and I don't feel it was in the final product...
The only time I saw the movie was at the premiere, which was one too many times.
— Screenwriter JD Shapiro, on writing the script for Battlefield Earth