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.
Yes. That’s primarily the movie I was thinking of too.
Any movie where at the end he’s put up against a wall and shot. Cant be all bad.
If “The Last Samurai” is any indication, this movie will jump the shark from docu-drama to Cult of Cruise fantasy by the second reel.
Any want to post the animated GIF where he fries Oprah with his Scientological powers?
It’s about time this story be told to a wider audience. The men who were with him are true heroes. It’s interesting to note that if Stauffenberg had succeeded Erwin Rommel would have assumed the top post. Rommel was a tough but honorable opponent in war but was someone that even Winston Churchill could speak well of as an honorable man during the war in front of the House of Commons. It’s possible Rommel could have ended the war in the summer of 1944 with the saving of countless lives.
Stauffenberg is a lesson I hope our own military takes to heart. Because when the time comes to defend the American people from it’s own criminal government (and yes that day is coming) I hope there will be soldiers brave enough to take care of the people like the Pelossis, the Reids, the Kennedys, the Lotts, and the Bushes. We can only hope.
That picture is GaAAAAAay.
Excuse me, but the position of the German government is, that the Cult aims to earn money as the primary cause, and not to express a certain belief. Given this assumption is right (which I do believe), the German government is fully right in denying the Cult the status of a religious organization.
But you are correct, most modern WW2 movies have been flops. The Thin Red Line (a very lousy movie) and The Great Raid (a wonderful movie) were both box office nightmares.
If they were making a film that parroted a bunch of L. Ron Hoover’s drivel, I’d agree with you. It’s difficult to see how Appliantology (Scientology) deserves its non profit status in the this country. If he was trying to recruit members or promote the group and German laws considered that an illegal activity, they’d have reason to bar him. But the film has nothing to do with that, and they were bothering Cruise because of his membership in the group. That’s wrong.
Besides, when Cruise starts talking about Scientology, it doesn’t seem to advance their cause very much, does it? :)
War movies in general have bombed over the past decade.
Was that a pun?
There was a pretty good made-for-TV movie about Stauffenberg made around 1990. I believe the late Brad Davis (of Midnight Express fame) played Stauffenberg.
War movies just aren't good box office anymore. The younger generation has no interest, and the boomers don't want either the rah rah films of their parents generation, nor the weepy, whiny films characteristic of the late 70s-mid 80s.
Hmm, and what do Brad Davis and Tom Cruising have in common? ;-)
Cruise is without a doubt, your standard Hollyweird
personality.
But, he is a great actor.
We already know the ending. Cruise will simply do his trademark smirk after planting the bomb while the Branagh--as a composite of Bush/Hitler-- will thank him profusely for his service when Tom turns to leave. The final scene will show Cruise (still with the smirk) walking away from the bunker as it blows up behind him. Then the credits will roll and there'll be a tiny footnote on the screen after the crowds leave saying that Hitler survived the blast and had the colonel killed.
Look, Cruise wanted to act on the property site of the government, the original site where the resistance group was shot. If the moviemakers had had a right to film there, they could have filed a lawsuit. They didn´t, so they simply had no right. It´s a difference between arresting people for their beliefs and just denying access to your property. Or would you allow Hollywood to film on your ground??
The son of Stauffenberg, Berthold Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg does not want Tom Cruise falsifing the story of this father into a new heartbreaking and smeary Hollywood show. You can be assured that he is no neo-nazi. As a self-confessed catholic he probably rejects such so called "religions" like "Scientology" completely.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1854818/posts
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.
Hollywood tends to pay rather well when they do such things.
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