Posted on 05/10/2008 5:56:04 PM PDT by libh8er
The fortunes of Hollywood actor Tom Cruise have suffered a blow with the news that his next big film has been postponed until 2009.The release of Valkyrie, which tells the story of the 1944 assassination plot against Hitler, was first postponed from this summer to the autumn and is now not expected to appear until next year.
“We were originally expecting the film to be released in June,” said a senior executive at one of Britain’s leading cinema chains.
“I know there have been all sorts of problems with this production and we will not be screening it at all this year.”
The film is not only a blow to Cruise as an actor but in his more recent incarnation as a movie mogul at United Artists (UA), the studio which made the film. One critic in Hollywood has declared “Valkyrie is dead”, with another arguing that the film’s problems could also wreck the revival of UA.Cruise, whose earlier career saw hit after hit with Top Gun, Rain Man and Jerry Maguire, is a stakeholder in UA, which was originally founded by Charlie Chaplin and other stars. It has since passed through several different owners until Cruise relaunched it as a major studio in 2006. Cruise, who is married to the actress Katie Holmes, has a minority stake with his business partner Paula Wagner, but the pair have almost total control over which films are made.
UA’s first major film, Lions for Lambs, a story about the Iraq war with Cruise and Meryl Streep starring and Robert Redford directing, flopped.
Valkyrie has been directed by Bryan Singer, who is best known for The Usual Suspects and X-Men. The new film, which was mostly shot last year at a cost of £45m, has so far left test audiences unimpressed. The quality of Cruise’s German accent was widely commented on. The film has also had to have reshoots after footage was damaged in labs.
Cruise plays the German officer Claus von Stauffenberg, who led the plot. Other German parts are played by British actors, including Bill Nighy and Kenneth Branagh. A flop would not be good news either for Branagh, who directed three films last year – The Magic Flute, As You Like It and Sleuth – all of which had mixed reviews. However, Branagh has usually fared better as an actor. He won awards for the film Conspiracy in 2001, where he played the Nazi bureaucrat Reinhard Heydrich, who chaired the conference during the second world war at which the policy of exterminating Jews was decided upon. Roger Friedman, who has a widely read film blog and a column on foxnews.com, recently advised Cruise, who was formerly married to Nicole Kidman, to “do another Jerry Maguire-like comedy” to get his acting career back on track.
Anything bad or disappointing that happens to Commiewood is good news for America.
Cruise's role in that film was forgettable. Dustin Hoffman did a good job with it, though.
That movie must really sucks
Roger Friedman for while has first preview of that Tom Cruise wouldn’t do German accent
Nobody’s going to take Tom Cruise seriously as a war hero — for any side.
I personally think that they are going to be tabling a lot after the 104 million dollar weekend for Ironman.
Rah-rah America sells. Perhaps they are getting the word.
Okay, somebody tell me how a movie that ends (or at least historically should end) with Cruise’s character being executed by firing squad isn’t an automatic massive box office hit.
Xenu’s fault.
“UA’s first major film, Lions for Lambs, a story about the Iraq war with Cruise and Meryl Streep starring and Robert Redford directing, flopped.”
I like happy endings. Hope they all 3 lost big money.
Kenneth Branagh's 'Henry V' was absolutely fantastic. He really brought the role to life- it's in my permanent collection of DVDs. There are all kinds of big names in it playing sometimes minor roles. Fun to spot them.
Highly recommended.
This film cannot be released on time. It is too close to the election and ideas about Hitler might filter throught the election rhetoric to dissuade voters from buying into Hillary.
Perhaps they should have done something radical, like casting Germans as Germans.
Gee that’s funny. When listing TC’s movies they seem to have forgotten Born of the 4th of July.
Along with Olivier's Hamlet we'll be watching that movie, or showing it to high school students, for the next fifty years. It's the best Henry V ever made. Branagh rocks. He's an uneven genius, but has really done some breathtaking theater.
The same high school students, the male ones anyway, will be watching Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet.
I had such a thing for Olivia Hussey when I was 13 years old...
Olivia Hussey and Judy Jetson were my fantasy companions.
There, I've said too much...
Holy Xenu!!!
...I’m not sure Cruise’s career will come back....remember Kevin Costner in the 80s?....he was riding high ....then he started shooting his mouth off in public....started taking himself real seriously....his career never recovered...same thing with Cruise...things move fast in Hollywood....you stumble and there’s 10 guys out in the parking lot doing pushups waiting to take your place.
That was actually a brilliant film with great performances by Colin Firth, Branagh, and also Stanley Tucci as Adolf Eichmann. Branagh must have really needed money badly to take this turkey, though.
LOL! I'd pay to see that 30 seconds!
I concur. It was an superb movie. First class performances by all.
“Okay, somebody tell me how a movie that ends (or at least historically should end) with Cruise’s character being executed by firing squad isn’t an automatic massive box office hit.”
That is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.
I salute you, sir.
How could you blow a great topic like this?
There are ten guys under the producer's desk doing things to get a job. Most acting careers are relatively short, particularly as lead actors. Guys like Clint Eastwood, Will Smith, Tom Hanks, John Travolta, and Mel Gibson, who hang around making movies for thirty years are an an anomaly. Most actors and actresses have careers that last five to ten years as a feature performer, IF they are fortunate enough to ever be a top dog. Most of your long-term actors don't insist on being the star of every movie. Gene Hackman made quite a few successful movies, but ones in which he was the star, like Hoosiers, were rare. Usually, he was a character actor with a meaty part. I never really understood why Cruise was popular. Nothing about his acting stands out. He's just kind of there.
Personally, casting Tom Cruise as a Nazi working to assassinate Hitler seems kind of like casting Tobey Maguire as Patton. This movie calls for great character actors, not pretty boys that star in vanity star vehicles. The fact that Cruise is in it tells me it’s not going to be a serious historical movie.
What's that about? Un PC? Sabotage? Undermining the narrative of all Germans being evil accomplices of Hitler, instead of some trying to stop him?
He is thought handsome. Really nothing more to it than that. These days, the blowhard rep undermines that.
Risky Business
Legend
Top Gun
All good solid movies. Must have seen Top Gun 20 times in college alone. Trouble is, as someone above noted, he’s always got to be the lead. John Malkovich can act circles around Tom Cruise, but he doesn’t have the Scientology connections.
Now Patrick Stewart, amongst other great stage actors, was an awe-inspiring Macbeth (just saw that last night at the Lyceum Theater on 45th St, Gotham). Many great actors and actresses do film for the money, but have a real love of the theater and spend most of their time there. Tom Cruise is not one of them.
“Most of your long-term actors don’t insist on being the star of every movie.”
...that’s the secret of Michael Caine’s longevity...the guy constantly works...some roles are great; some mediocre; but he still takes the work....I first remember him in the movie “Zulu” back in the mid 60s
It really is a shame because this is a story that should be told well. Especially with the Indiana Jones movie coming out people need to realize that Hitler was no joke. He, Stalin, and Mao where the three most evil men of the 20th Century.
According to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, estimates made at a later date indicate that the total number of civilians and prisoners of war murdered in Nanking and its vicinity during the first six weeks of the Japanese occupation was over 200,000. That these estimates are not exaggerated is borne out by the fact that burial societies and other organizations counted more than 155,000 buried bodies. Most were bound with their hands tied behind their backs. These figures do not take into account those persons whose bodies were destroyed by burning, by throwing them into the Yangtze River, or otherwise disposed of by the Japanese. The extent of the atrocities is debated between China and Japan, with numbers ranging from some Japanese claims of several hundred, to the Chinese claim of a non-combatant death toll of 300,000[4]. A number of Japanese researchers consider 100,000 – 200,000 to be an approximate value. Other nations usually believe the death toll to be between 150,000–300,000. This number was first promulgated in January of 1938 by Harold Timperly, a journalist in China during the Japanese invasion, based on reports from contemporary eyewitnesses. Other sources, including Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking, also conclude that the death toll reached 300,000. In December 2007, newly declassified U.S. government documents revealed an additional toll of around 500,000 in the area surrounding Nanking before it was occupied.
“Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Henry V’ was absolutely fantastic.”
I agree. It’s been 18 or 19 years since I saw it on the big screen, but it made a big impression on me. I just now watched on YouTube the speech Henry made before the big battle at Agincourt. Terrific stuff!
“They lose me right after the bunker scene.” - Blazing Saddles
Singer’s overrated. The two X-Men movies were okay, but Superman Returns was a rancid piece of crap.
Caine has amassed quite a fortune from all those roles. I saw an interview with him where they asked him about some of the roles in iffy movies he has taken. He smiled and said: "If you're going to be a prostitute, charge a lot"
I am not as sure you can put the Japanese atrocities squarely on the door of Hirohito like the others. Hirohito really did not call the shots as much as went along with the warlords (this alone should have been enough for his neck to be stretched if we were willing to continue the war until all of Japan was an ash heap).
Other contenders IMHO would include Mengistu Haile Mariam, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung, and the second tier under Hitler (Himmler) and Stalin (Kaganovitch).
I can go with that. In Japan it was more of a societal belief system, particularly among the warlords. Some of the others you list didn’t kill as many, but only because they were working on a smaller stage. Idi and Pol Pot were probably more bloodthirsty than any of the others. My guess is that in terms of percentage of population, they were in the top two.
I thought we was strangled with piano wire.
One of Hollywood's finest!
"Wait.......wait....where are you going.....I was going to make espresso...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxgd6ITbl8s
That is what I read too....in "Hitler's Bunker." I think most or all of those thought to be part of the plot died a tortuous death, except Rommel who I think was shot.
I thought Cruise did a fantastic job as himself in that South Park episode.
If you haven’t, catch Branagh in ‘Conspiracy.’ Chilling. It’s also a film with great actors in small roles, acted superbly.
I agree ‘Henry V’ was fantastic. I was fortunate to be able to take my son over to England shortly after the film came out and saw Henry’s tomb and other historic places. It really helped him think of history as reality, not just a interesting story.
Yes, that's pretty good acting all right.
Branagh will be Henry V in my memory forever.
I think he's an outstanding actor and an underrated director. I'd like to see a lot more of his work.
I suspect he's likely a drinker.
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