Watch: Controversial Scientology Doc 'Going Clear' Gets a Trailer

HBO has released the trailer for Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Alex Gibney's documentary built on Lawrence Wright's Pulitzer-finalist book — and the 90 seconds of footage land like a subpoena. Former senior members speak on camera; the church's lawyers have already been heard from; HBO's president famously quipped the network had 'probably 160 lawyers' look at the film.

Wright's 2013 book grew from his 25,000-word New Yorker profile of writer-director Paul Haggis, the highest-profile defector to go on record. The book's method — court records, tax filings, and interviews with those who left — gave Gibney a spine of documentation to hang testimony on.

The film premiered at Sundance in January to standing ovations and instant controversy: the church took out full-page newspaper ads attacking it before most of the country could watch. The HBO premiere is set for March 29.

Update: the broadcast drew millions of viewers and three Emmys. Book and film are cataloged together here — read Wright for the architecture, watch Gibney for the faces.