Posted on 06/22/2007 3:26:53 PM PDT by Atlantic Bridge
Tom Cruise is planning to make a film about the 1944 bomb plot against Hitler, playing leading conspirator Claus von Stauffenberg. Stauffenberg's son is not impressed, and has told Cruise to "keep his hands off my father."
There was much excitement in Berlin last weekend when Hollywood actor Tom Cruise came to the German capital to scout filming locations for the upcoming movie "Valkyrie," in which he will play Claus von Stauffenberg -- a leading figure in a failed 1944 assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler.
However he would have been unlikely to get a warm reception from Stauffenberg's son, should he have met with him to discuss the role. Stauffenberg Junior is less than thrilled about the celebrity Scientologist playing the role of his father.
"It's bound to be rubbish," 72-year-old Berthold Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a retired German army officer and the oldest of Claus von Stauffenberg's five children, told the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung in an interview published in Friday's edition.
"It is unpleasant for me that an avowed Scientologist will be playing my father," Stauffenberg Junior told the newspaper. He admitted that he seldom went to the cinema or watched television, and that he only knew Cruise from "one of those military films" ("Top Gun").
Claus von Stauffenberg was one of the leading figures in the July 20, 1944 bomb plot against Hitler. Now a new Hollywood movie is being made about the conspiracy.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Besides - The Stauffenbergs had their small chateau in Lautlingen next to the village I grew up (Pfeffingen) in southern Germany on the Swabian Alb. They gave it away to the city of Albstadt. Today it is used as a museum for old pianos. The Stauffenberg family still owns a lonesome manor-house with a farm in Lautlingen. They live there seclusive. Stauffenbergs son, Berthold Maria Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg is a retired Major General of the Bundeswehr (the German army) and a very respected person in Germany.
Although the plot on Hitler failed, his father, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg is a (if not THE) German national hero.
Tom Cruise is starring as Stauffenberg in the upcoming film "Valkyrie."
What about Christian Bale or Jude Law?
The son is probably worried that his dad will be portrayed as a drunk communist who likes little boys.
So it goes with Hollyweird.
Uh-oh, he is going to be sued for starting "Tom Cruise is gay" rumors!
Tom Cruise come out of the closet!!!!
Claus Von Stuffenbutt?
Wilem DeFoe would be MY choice to play Claus. Even looks like him. Get together a quality, fact-based script and let Cruise direct the thing.
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By the time he tried to assassinate Hitler, von Stauffenberg had already been badly wounded in combat and was minus an eye and one arm, so that’ll be an interesting makeup choice for TomCat.
I think Dafoe would have been great in his younger days, but he’s too old now.
Probably so. But they do wonderous things with make-up these days. They even make Hillary look human (almost).
lol. True.
PIUS XII AND THE RESISTANCE
Pius XII, a man of great personal courage dared to be involved in a high risk venture that could even endanger the very existence of The Church-the support of the internal resistance to the Nazis inside the German Armed Forces. The French and the British governments were deaf to the pleas of the Vatican to assist the German internal resistance to the Nazi government. From the very beginning Pius XII tried to persuade the Allies to support the inside German opposition, but they did not heed the Pope.
A number of anti-Nazi plotters inside the Abwehr, the intelligence branch of the armed forces, made repeated, and ultimately futile attempts through the Holy See to reach and persuade the British to back, or even to talk with the German resistance. They were all killed in the July 20, 1944; plot to assassinate Hitler, the last in a long line of foiled attempts to get rid of the dictator. The leader, a Roman Catholic officer, Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg was shot on he spot. Other conspirators, mostly Protestants, were not so lucky; they were hung by using piano strings from butchers’ hooks and filmed on Hitler’s orders so that he could watch it himself later.
According to historian O’Carroll, in 1983 the Italian magazine Gente, published the testimony of General Wolff, the commander of the German forces in Italy during WWII. He revealed that in 1943 Pius XII had invited him to the Vatican and tried to persuade him to end the war in Italy on his own initiative. General Wolff was impressed and gave the matter thought; he finally decided against the Pope’s plea. But he recorded the immense personal impression that Pius XII made on him. We already mentioned how the whole leadership of the Italian resistance found refugee in the Church’s facilities in Rome.
Pius XII also served as a conduit for an offer made by a group of anti-Nazi German generals to topple Hitler from power. They wanted to know if the British would make peace with Germany if they succeeded in arresting Hitler and removing him from power. The proposal was made by Colonel-General Ludwig Beck (four star general), who latter was made chief of the German General Staff, but who resigned in 1938 convinced that Hitler was a criminal. Pius XII had known Beck when he was Nuncio in Berlin and “highly esteemed his honesty and integrity.”
The Pope also allowed the Vatican diplomatic corps, which was protected by diplomatic immunity, to carry messages between the Allied powers. There was a close collaboration between the Vatican and the Allies’ intelligence services. In fact, the Vatican forewarned Holland and Belgium of the upcoming German invasion.
There was already a pretty good made-for-TV movie made about this, starring the late Brad Davis (of Midnight Express fame) as Stauffenberg.
First of all, Tom Cruise looks like what he is, a half witted Kentucky hillbilly with caps on his teeth, and assuming the role of Stauffenberg , is like Rosie Odonell portaying Helen of Troy. Second Stauffenberg was a martyred secular saint, and it should offend every civilized person if this film goes forward without his families consent.
BTW, you'll have to drop your tagline after this next college football season. ;-)
Well I know I have at least another six months that I can use it. :)
But will Hollywood ever make a movie about this woman ?
If she had been successful, it's possible that 100 million people might not have died. And Russia, Eastern Europe and China would have been spared being the victims of an evil experiment in human oppression.
Not likely, right? In Hollywood, that might kill a few sacred cows.
If Von Stauffenberg had been successful, it would have only shortened the war by some months. Hard to say what would have happened.
But if Kaplan had finished Lenin before he could consolidate his power....who knows.
Another woman I'd like to see a movie about is Virginia Hall. One heckuva lady!
good call! Willem DeFoe is the man.
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