Who's trying to kill Katie Holmes's career? Two respectable-for-Hollywood media outlets recently reported that the Sundance audience for her movie, Son of No One, voiced "a collective groan" at her performance, which was followed by a "mass exodus" from the theater. Turns out the report isn't true, Jezebel's Margaret Hartmann explains. But the weird thing isn't the story's inaccuracy--gossip rags often report less-than-true dirt--but why such an easily checkable error was published in the first place.

The Hollywood Reporter and Us Weekly both reported the audience's negative reaction. But Showbiz 411's Roger Friedman was actually there. He reports that, "No one chuckled or snorted when Katie was on screen. No one walked out of the film. There was no exodus, no running for the doors. No 'collective groan.'"

So why, Hartmann wonders, would a source lie about an event with so many witnesses? And why bother beating up on Katie Holmes?

Friedman thinks reporters hate Katie because she's adopted Scientology since marrying Tom Cruise. Hartmann has her own preferred theory.

As former Dawson's Creek fans, we'd rather go with the theory that Michelle Williams, whose film Meek's Cutoff was also shown at Sundance, is acting on a long-standing grudge. However, the truth is probably far less salacious. Whether it's deserved or not, Holmes has developed a reputation for being a not-so-great actress who looks to her husband to prop up her career. It fits better with that narrative to say her acting in Son of No One sparked a walkout, and that's a much juicier tabloid story than a report about a bunch of people quietly enjoying a movie.

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Elspeth Reeve