Seth Rogen recalls bizarre time Tom Cruise tried to recruit him into Scientology

Seth Rogen has been remembering the time Hollywood star Tom Cruise tried to recruit him into the Church of Scientology.

That Tom Cruise is big on the whole Scientology thing is pretty much common knowledge at this point, but in addition to being the poster boy for the religion, he's also apparently tried to recruit other Hollywood stars into the fold.

One of these stars was Seth Rogen, who told the story of his close brush with Scientology in an interview with Howard Stern.

There are a few Hollywood stars who have got into Scientology over the course of their lives, while others who have quit have heavily criticised the religion and slammed it for being a cult which perpetuates 'abuse, heartbreak and harassment'.

Given the controversy around it Rogen sounds like he dodged a bullet by not getting the sales pitch from Cruise, though not for lack of trying on the Top Gun star's part.

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The actor and comedian recounted the time he was meeting Cruise alongside Judd Apatow when the Mission Impossible star decided to kick off the Scientology sales pitch.

He said: "[Tom] said 'If you let me just tell you what it was really about, if you let me give you just 20 minutes to tell you what it was about you would say no f**king way, no f**king way'.

"I remember being like, the wording is like, I remember thinking is that a good thing to be saying? Is that a bad thing to be saying?

"I remember there was this very loaded moment where he says this to us. Me and Judd are looking at each other and I'm like is he gonna bite, am I gonna bite? Can we come out of this, are we strong enough to have him do this to us and not be converted?"

Facing the prospect of having his mind opened to the possibility that there's an immortal spirit named Thetan, Rogen was worried he might buy into the weirdness.

He continued: "I don't know if I am, I'm generally a weak willed, weak minded person I would assume on the grand scale of people. If they got him what chance do I have?

"Thank god Judd was like 'I think we're good, let's just talk about movies and stuff'. Dodged that bullet."

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Cruise was mocked at this year's Golden Globes over the actor's decision to return his awards, with awards host Jerrod Carmichael joking they'd give him the gongs 'for the safe return of Shelly Miscavige'.

Shelley is the wife of scientology head honcho David Miscavige and has not been seen in public since 2007, with attorneys claiming to represent her saying she has just withdrawn from public life.

She was registered as a missing person by former Scientologist Leah Remini in 2013, and the LAPD investigated her whereabouts, later saying they located her and closed the case.