Last night, ahead of the US release of his big screen documentary My Scientology Movie, Louis Theroux decided to field questions from fans in the form of a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). He talked about the movie, but also his wider career. Here’s what we learned:
1. His on-screen persona is kind of a character
2. He’s too scared to do a documentary on ISIS
3. He had a complicated “friendship” with Jimmy Savile
4. And there’s “probably a lot” the public don’t know about Savile that would still surprise us
5. He regrets the relationship they had and found filming the follow-up documentary extremely stressful
6. He enjoys the cult following he’s recently amassed
7. He keeps in contact with ‘too many’ of the people he’s done documentaries about
8. He’s a very non-confrontational person
9. His scariest ever moment was auditioning for a Norwegian cruiseliner
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10. He’s a big fan of true crime documentaries
11. The Church of Scientology are still sending him “scary” legal letters
12. And he’s pretty certain they were reading the AMA
13. While filming My Scientology Movie, he was most surprised by how they treat former members
14. They treat journalists the same way they treat perverts
15. He’s a big fan of the @NoContextLouis Twitter account
16. Louis’ subjects are sometimes able to change his mind on things
17. His team sometimes have to drag him back when he goes in too deep
18. He’s drawn more to serious stories as he gets older
19. He’s considered going into fiction
20. He doesn’t believe in punching neo-Nazis
21. He’s a big hip-hop and R’n’B fan, and would like to make a documentary on R. Kelly
