Cruise is filming in a forest south of Berlin
Posted on 07/22/2007 4:02:55 AM PDT by yankeedame
Last Updated: Friday, 20 July 2007, 08:45 GMT 09:45 UK
Cruise is filming in a forest south of Berlin
Filming has begun on Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie despite crew being banned from a Berlin location where an army colonel was executed during World War II. Scientologist Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who was executed after plotting against Hitler.
Rumours circulated that the crew were banned from the former German general staff quarters because of the country's hostility towards Scientology.
But a government spokesman said it was to preserve the building's "dignity".
The building, known as the Bendler Block, is now a memorial for Third Reich resistance fighters.
"We granted all permissions but the one, for the Bendler Block because the dignity of this place should not be violated," said government spokesman Torsten Albig.
"These circumstances show that the religious beliefs of the actor are without relevance," he said.
Stauffenberg and the other plotters of the July 1944 assassination attempt were caught and executed after Hitler survived the explosion at his headquarters in what was then East Prussia.
Valkyrie - named after Operation Valkyrie, the plot's codename - is directed by Bryan Singer and also stars Kenneth Branagh. It is due for release next year.
"I can't imagine shooting it anywhere else but on location in Germany, and I'm thrilled that we were able to get Tom Cruise to play Colonel Stauffenberg," said Singer in a statement.
Why is this movie controversial?
It’s not. Just Tom Cruise is.
Cruise ruined “War of the World’s” and the Mission Impossible Movies.
methinks I will be skipping this one.
Who’s Tom Cruise?
Kenneth Branaugh is awesome. Cruise is a dork, though. I probably won’t watch it. I can’t stand anything that he’s in.
Maybe some German freepers can give some enlightenment as to why this movie is considered controversial.
You can find the answer here:
There are a lot of celebrities involved in it, and Scientology lawyers routinely use nuisance lawsuits as a way of ruining the cult's critics.
What is playing in this entire episode is rather amusing.
First...Cruise doesn’t make a movie for less than $20 million...so this non-action/adventure movie has issues. By the time you add up his cost, the cast, the making of the movie in Germany, and the director...you’ve got a $45 million movie (my best guess).
In the past 25 years...and you guys may correct me...but there have only been two successful WWII movies (Schlinders List and Saving Private Ryan)...the rest were marginal profit movies or losses. Since this movie isn’t about a Jew or an American...I don’t see huge US audiences going to it...so count it as a loss.
German movie audiences, traditionally, don’t go to many movies per year. Young Germans under 18....won’t go to this movie period because who cares about WWII. The older audiences...will likely decline as well.
So who would fund such a unprofitable movie? Take a guess. This movie can’t pay back the $40-odd million it takes to make.
And then the amusing thing...is that Cruise basically can’t act. Everything he does...is related to action-adventure and the story carries the entire movie.
Now if you asked if Tom Hanks had played Col Stauffenberg and would it have been successful....the answer would be yes...and he probably would have won a Oscar.
tom cruise as an actor blows.....
he stunk out mission impossible and war of the worlds as well...and what was that sammuri movie (saw it on tv)
the only nazi suitable for this dope is....colonel klink!!!
cruise would stink out that part as well....
I doubt the thing needs free hype. Tom Cruise tends to star in profitable, and pretty good, films. This one certainly sounds like it will be interesting.
I think the real problem is the media eggheads who just can’t their heads around a complex concept. They have to apply a simplistic label to understand it because they’re stupid. The only people to whom the film might be controversial are neo nazis who disagree with the portrayal of Stauffenberg as a hero. To anyone else, the initial denial of the German government to allow filming in Germany because Tom Cruise is a member of a “cult” is stupid. Whatever one’s opinion of Scientology, to deny its members the ability to work in a country is to deny freedom of religion. If anything was controversial, it was the actions of the German government. But reporters and editors have to label things in order to understand them, so the film is “controversial.”
They wonder why we ignore them. It’s because the impression given by the ignorant who try to talk down to the educated is distasteful at best.
Yawn ...
A stolen copy of the script shows that the story line has been changed to show Hitler being “cleared” of evil alien spirits by a Scientologist. Hitler then cries over his crimes, surrenders, and pays reparations to concentration camp inmates.
I thought War of the Worlds was great. Tom Cruize’s performance was what the movie needed. A regular guy caught in a losing struggle.
I boycotted the Mission Impossible movies after the first one because of who they had for the bad guy. That was just impossible. They took one of my childhood heros and turned him into a bad guy just to replace his with this puny little overaged kid.
Enemy At The Gates made $66,000,000.00, although it had an $80,000,000.00 budget. But, Hollywood accounting is so rife with fraud that it’s impossible to determine if anything ever showed a profit. If the story is good, and it has potential, the film could be a money maker.
I hope they do an accurate and respectful movie. Not enough people know of the Germans who reisited Hitler. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to be in active resistance to the dictator while living in a country that is controlled by the Gestapo sadists. How do you organize a resistance when so many people are spies for the dictatorship? That took courage. They had courage but, tragically, they did not have luck.
He is fantastic in "Henry V" (1989).
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