Bryan Singer’s Second World War drama Valkyrie is on track to become the second large-scale US production this year after the Wachowski brothers’ Speed Racer to shoot at Germany’s Babelsberg Studios.

Principal photography on the United Artists production about the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler is expected to commence at the studios outside Berlin on July 19.

Tom Cruise is being lined up to play Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg in a cast which already reportedly includes Kenneth Branagh, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Daniel Bruehl.

The fact that the production will be coming to Babelsberg next month was underscored by the fact that a Berlin casting agency is organising a casting call this coming weekend (June 16 and 17) in Berlin for male extras aged 18-50 to play German soldiers in the historical drama.

Moreover, a spokeswoman at the Babelsberg Studios confirmed to the German daily newspaper Die Welt that talks are currently underway between the US producers for the studio to come onboard the project as a co-producer. This would then make it possible for Valkyrie to access local production funds in the same way as Speed Racer.

The Wachowski action film, which has been structured as a German-UK co-production between two single purpose vehicles – Babelsberg Sechste Film and Velocity Productions – was able to tap Euros 9m support from the recently created German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) and has also submitted a funding application to the German Federal Film Board (FFA) and FFF Bayern.

The Babelsberg Studios are also set to host Stefan Ruzowitzky’s family entertainment Lilly The Witch (Hexe Lilli) and Jaco van Dormael’s Mr Nobody later this year. (Source: Screen Daily)

I have uploaded more pictures to the gallery:
Outside Essex House in NYC
Out for dinner in Madrid
Marseille, June 17th, 2005, to receive “Medal of the City”
November 5, 2005
October 1, 2005
Issy les Moulineau Heliport in Paris
Rome, July 2005, while filming Mission: Impossible 3
December 3, 2005
October 15, 2005
October 8, 2005
September 9, 2006
September 16, 2006
May 24, 2006
May 15, 2006

Credits: katie-holmes.org

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I have uploaded more pictures to the gallery:
Leaving NYC
Ice Skating in Central Park
Celebrating Katie’s birthday in NYC
FAO Schwarz Store in NYC
Leaving hotel in NYC
December 12, 2005
Three on the Bund
December 9, 2005
Tom’s new plane
Arriving in China
Out in Shanghai
Rome, to receive an award
Ivy Restaurant

Credits: katie-holmes.org

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Entertainment Tonight Online has the complete Katie interview online!

Katie on Tom!
The new mom gives the 411 on being married to Tom while we visit her on the Louisiana set of ‘Mad Money’!

KATIE HOLMES makes her big-screen return since having daughter SURI and marrying TOM CRUISE in the 2008-slated comedy ‘Mad Money,’ and our JANN CARL is on the Shreveport set to get the latest from the A-list actress!

“I have always been one of those people that has been very open to experiencing something and being open to meeting new people and to having an adventure and not being afraid to learn something, and that’s what I like about [my character in the movie],” Katie says.

In the movie, Katie plays Jackie, a woman who teams up with her fellow Federal Reserve Bank cleaning crew members — played by Hollywood heavyweights DIANE KEATON and QUEEN LATIFAH — for a criminal exercise in creative moneymaking!

And a love for adventure is something she and her hubby have in common, including doing “loop-de-loops” in a plane. “I love that stuff,” she says, revealing she never asks Tom to slow it down. “I’m like, ‘Do it one more time! One more time!’”

Something else that may happen at least one more time for Tom and Katie is adding to their brood.

“Yeah, definitely,” she tells Jann when asked if more kids are in their future. “We’re having the best time. It’s so amazing.”

Katie says that 13-month-old Suri, who, along with Tom, is constantly on the ‘Mad Money’ set, is not only walking, but running, as well as waving, giggling, blowing kisses and saying “dada” and “mama” — which was her first word (with “dada” said only moments later).

And like any good dad should be, Katie says Tom is a hands-on parent who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty with diaper and spit-up duty!

“One of the things that I thought was so amazing when I met him is what a great father he is,” she says. “So it came as no shock that when we had Suri, he was amazing with a baby. He is an incredible father.”

Visit ET‘s website to view a video!

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LOS ANGELES – Being the mother of Tom Cruise’s baby daughter has been so much fun that Katie Holmes tells “Entertainment Tonight” she’s ready to have more children.

“We’re having the best time, it’s so amazing,” Holmes, 28, said of the year she and Cruise have spent largely out of the spotlight. She gave birth to the couple’s first child, Suri, in April 2006.

“Yes, definitely,” she told the TV program when asked about the possibility of more kids. The interview airs Monday.

Cruise and his ex-wife, Nicole Kidman, have a 12-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter, and Holmes said the role of stepmother is one she relishes.

“The kids are so sweet, they’re so great with Suri and she lights up when she sees them,” she said. “We have so many kids in our house, there’s always this wonderful chatter and the great noise of kids.”

The actress, who recently returned to work filming the movie “Mad Money” with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah, said her 44-year-old husband has played a key role in making the transition to motherhood an easy one.

“He’s a great father and so it came to no shock that when we had Suri he was amazing with the baby,” she said. (ToledoBlade)

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Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s daughter Suri is not only well dressed, she’s well mannered. After visiting a Shreveport, La., children’s store recently, the 1-year-old (with a little help from her mom) sent the owners a thank-you note – on her very own embossed stationery.

Melissa Dixon, 23, co-owner of the Ladies in Waiting children’s store, tells PEOPLE that Holmes, Suri and two bodyguards visited the shop after Holmes’s assistant called ahead to say she’d be in.

With advance notice, Dixon and co-owner Pam Baker, an artist, got busy and created a special pink picture frame decorated with a princess, butterflies – and Suri’s name across the bottom.

Holmes’s reaction to the frame? “She was really excited,” says Dixon.

Dixon says both Holmes and Suri were outgoing: “Katie was really friendly. When she came in she walked up and introduced herself and Suri. We probably had three other kids in here. She complimented everybody else’s children and said how cute they were. She was really sweet.

“Katie let Suri walk around,” Dixon adds. “One customer had a two-week-old baby and Suri wanted to pick her up. She would wave at the other children and want to play with them.”

During their hour-long stay, Holmes bought Suri a pink dress with white rickrack by Princess Linens, three pairs of rain boots, a blanket, some stuffed bunnies and several games. A few days later, Dixon and Baker received a thank-you note.

“The stationery is cream-colored with ‘Suri Cruise’ embossed across the top,” says Dixon. Read the note: “Dear Melissa and Pam, Thank you so much for the beautiful frame for Suri. It is so sweet and reminds us of our wonderful visit to your store and our time in Shreveport. It was a pleasure meeting you, and we thank you again for this unexpected treasure. Warmly, Katie and Suri.” (People.com)

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