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The Hollywood studio United Artists, which is partly owned by Cruise, will not release the new film until February next year nearly eight months after it was first scheduled to appear.
For Valkyrie, Cruise wields an eye patch and a German accent to play Claus von Stauffenberg, a Nazi colonel who plotted the only known assassination attempt against Hitler.
It has postponed the release to allow Bryan Singer, its director, more time to shoot three scenes. The release was previously pushed back from June to October because Singer had not shot a battle scene that explained how Claus von Stauffenberg, Cruise’s character, lost a hand and an eye in North Africa. Following that incident, von Stauffenberg returned to Germany and hatched a conspiracy, dubbed Operation Valkyrie, to blow up Hitler with a bomb in his bunker to bring a swift end to the war.
Producers initially planned to film the battle somewhere outside the U.S., but that plan was scrapped for unspecified reasons. Instead United Artists – which is run by Cruise and partner Paula Wagner – is searching for a new locale within the US.
“We wrapped our production in Germany in October, but there was a desert sequence that needed to be prepped and the location finalized,” explains UA spokesman Dennis Rice.
“But with all the schedules and logistics we won’t be able to shoot that until the end of February. We wanted to do what’s right [in terms of marketing] and not put Bryan in a jam, so we said let’s postpone it.” Telegraph.co.uk
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and United Artists announced today they are moving the release date of Bryan Singer’s World War II thriller Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise, from October 3, 2008 to President’s Day Weekend February 13, 2009.
Currently also scheduled for the new date are Confessions of a Shopaholic and Friday the 13th.
“MGM is proud and excited to be presenting ‘Valkyrie,’ and because of that we want to give it the best launch possible,” said Clark Woods, President of Domestic Distribution of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, which is distributing the movie domestically. “When an opening became available for President’s Day Weekend, we seized the opportunity. Having seen a lot of the film and how great it is going to play once it’s finished, moving into a big holiday weekend is the right move.”
We assume Woods is talking about The Wolfman, which was just moved from February 13, 2009 to April 3, 2009.
“‘Valkyrie’ is shaping up to be a phenomenal movie,” said Dennis Rice, President of Worldwide Marketing and Publicity for United Artists, which made the movie. “We’re delighted that MGM has agreed to hold the release until the very strong holiday weekend.”
Bringing a fresh and surprise-filled take to a world people only thought they knew, Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men, Superman Returns) re-teams with his Academy Award®-winning “Usual Suspects” screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie on Valkyrie, a suspense thriller based on the true story of the daring and ingenious plot to assassinate the most monstrous villain the world has ever known. Tom Cruise heads an internationally acclaimed ensemble that includes Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard, Christian Berkel, Thomas Kretschmann, Terrance Stamp and acclaimed stage actress Carice Van Houten.
Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg will shortly begin its second leg of filming in Southern California.
Even though Valkyrie wrapped shooting in Germany late last year, Bryan Singer is prepping to shoot the opening of the movie that is set in North Africa in key Southern California desert locations.
Casting for extras is expected to start soon and filming is expected to start within the next few weeks and wrap by the first week of March.
Superstar Tom Cruise heads an international cast as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, the aristocratic German officer who led the heroic attempt to bring down the Nazi regime and end the war by planting a bomb in Hitler’s bunker. The “July 20 Plot” on Hitler’s life is one of the most heroic but least known episodes of World War Two. Severely wounded in combat, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg returns from Africa to join the German Resistance and help create Operation Valkyrie, the complex plan that will allow a shadow government to replace Hitler’s once he is dead. But fate and circumstance conspire to thrust Stauffenberg from one of many in the plot to a double-edged central role. Not only must he lead the coup and seize control of his nation’s government… He must kill Hitler himself. (Source: IEBS.net)
Los Angeles (E! Online) - Thanks to yet another production hangup, Tom Cruise’s Valkyrie won’t be taking flight as planned.
United Artists and MGM have postponed the WWII thriller from Jun 27 to Oct. 3, 2008 to give director Bryan Singer extra time to film a key battle sequence.
For Valkyrie, Cruise wields an eye patch and a German accent to play Claus von Stauffenberg, a Nazi colonel who plotted the only known assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler.
The studios, which are cofinancing and codistributing the film, pushed back the premiere because Singer has struggled to find a suitable location to shoot the pivotal scene in which Cruise’s character is severely wounded in Africa and ends up losing his eye and a hand.
Following that incident, von Stauffenberg returned to Germany and hatched a conspiracy, dubbed Operation Valkyrie, to blow up Hitler with a bomb in his bunker to bring a swift end to the war.
Producers initially planned to film the battle somewhere outside the U.S., but that plan was scrapped for unspecified reasons.Instead United Artists—which is run by Cruise and partner Paula Wagner—is searching for a new locale within the States.
“We wrapped our production in Germany in October, but there was a desert sequence that needed to be prepped and the location finalized,” explains UA spokesman Dennis Rice. “But with all the schedules and logistics we won’t be able to shoot that until the end of February. We wanted to do what’s right [in terms of marketing] and not put Bryan in a jam, so we said let’s postpone it.”
With the company’s first Cruise-led flick, Lions for Lambs, failing to generate commerical or critical success, UA has a lot riding on Valkyrie, which is easily the most ambitious project on the company’s slate.
Had Valkyrie remained on schedule, its chief competition would have been Disney-Pixar’s animated robot farce, Wall-E, which was due to open the same day. Universal has since slotted the comic book movie, Wanted, into the vacated date.
The October calendar is more crowded, but there are fewer films featuring actors of Cruise’s star power.Valkyrie will now go up against The Express, Universal’s football biopic starring Dennis Quaid; RocknRolla, Warner Bros.’ Guy Ritchie-helmed crime saga with Gerard Butler, Jeremy Piven and Thandie Newton; and Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, Sony’s punk romance starring Michael Cera.
The fall slot would also provide prime positioning for Valkyrie’s presumed awards-season run. The film features an Oscar-worthy cast that, aside from Cruise, includes Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Fry and Terence Stamp. The script is by Christopher McQuarrie, the Academy Award-winning scribe behind Singer’s 1995 breakthrough, The Usual Suspects.
The delay is the lates bit of Sturm und Drang to beset Valkyrie since shooting began over the summer.
First, members of von Stauffenberg’s family, most notably the count’s son, suggested Cruise didn’t possess the gravitas to do justice to his father’s legacy.
Then, German officials initially refused to grant the filmmakers permission to shoot in the Bendlerblock memorial site, where von Stauffenberg and his coconspirators were executed in 1944 for the failed coup and filming is typically verboten. But after intense negotiations and lobbying by the German film industry, the decision was reversed.
In June, a conservative member of parliament posted a statement on her blog from Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung, claiming Valkyrie would not be received well in Germany due to Cruise’s close ties to Scientology.
Two months later, 11 extras were injured on the set when they fell off the back of a truck while filming a scene. All were treated at a hospital for minor cuts and bruises and released.
Finally, nighttime footage Singer and crew filmed in late September at the Defense Ministry ended up being irreversibly damaged after being given the wrong chemical during development, necessitating reshoots.
(Source: Yahoo! News)
Berlin - Tom Cruise has finished his shooting in Germany for a war movie about a plot to kill Hitler, his production company said on Wednesday. The Hollywood star plays German resistance hero Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg in Valkyrie.
Work on the movie began in July and will be wrapped up by the end of the month after scenes in which Cruise is not involved are finished, the spokesman said.
Valkyrie portrays the true-life plot to assassinate the Nazi dictator with a bomb on July 20, 1944 at his Wolf’s Lair headquarters in what is now Poland.
Filming was dogged by problems involving location issues, injuries to extras on set and objections to Cruise playing a German hero.
German authorities initially refused permission for filming at the Berlin site where Stauffenberg was executed, but later agreed on condition due respect was shown to the resistance leader.
After filming at the Bendler Block was finished, it was discovered that some of the negatives were ruined in development by the chemicals and the scenes had to be re-shot two weeks’ later.
Colonel Stauffenberg and three other plotters were summarily shot at the site when Hitler survived the blast and the Nazis raced to suppress the plot before it spread.
Extras playing Wehrmacht soldiers were hurt last month when they fell off a vintage truck after the wooden side fell down as it rounded a bend on a Berlin street.
There were strong objections from some in Germany at the outset to the idea that Cruise should play a German hero, mainly because Cruise is a Scientology devotee and did not look like Stauffenberg, a Catholic.
Cruise is due to appear with Robert Redford in the German capital on October 24 at a special screening of Lions for Lambs, a political thriller about the Afghan war in which they both star.
Afterwards, the two actors will take part in a discussion with the audience about the film, which is due to be released in cinemas in Germany on November 8.
The movie digs behind the news, the politics and a nation divided to explore the human consequences of a complicated war, according to pre-release publicity. (Source: Earth times.org)
HOLLYWOOD - Tom Cruise’s latest movie Valkyrie has suffered a setback: After finally having a ban on filming inside an important German historical location overturned, the footage shot there has turned out to be unusable.
Crucial scenes filmed at the Bendlerblock in Berlin, where a number of German officers were executed after an abortive attempt to assassinate Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in 1944, will now have to be reshot by director Bryan Singer.
A spokeswoman for the production company tells German newspaper Bild, “A majority of the film material is unusable. We have to film it again.”
Colin Ullman, a representative for the company that delivered the footage shot to a post-production studio in Munich, adds, “The production company told us that there were problems with the negative development in Arri Munich, one of the top post-production companies in Germany. The images were wiped away.”
Fortunately for Singer and Cruise, the German government has agreed to allow them further access to the Bendlerblock.
They had previously been banned from filming there because officials did not want the “dignity of the place” to be violated.
In the movie, Cruise portrays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who was put to death after plotting to blow up Hitler. (Source: Hollywood)
BERLIN (AFP) - The producers of Tom Cruise’s new World War II movie on Friday denied reports that film shot on location at a historically sensitive site in Berlin had been sabotaged.
“I categorically deny this. It is a technical problem, as one often sees in the film world,” Carolin Bitzer from Limelight, the public relations company for the filming of “Valkyrie,” told AFP.
She confirmed that scenes shot at the Bendlerblock in Berlin will have to be done again because the film was partly damaged during the development process.
“We will have to shoot part of the scenes again,” she said.
The Bendlerblock was the scene of the execution of Nazi resistance hero Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, who is portrayed by Cruise, and his fellow conspirators in a failed plot to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944 as Germany was losing the war.
There was strong resistance in Germany to Cruise playing the aristocratic von Stauffenberg because of the Hollywood star’s membership of the Church of Scientology.
Authorities initially denied the makers of “Valkyrie” permission to film at the Bendlerblock, which is now part of the defence ministry and a national monument.
But they relented last month after the filmmakers agreed to incorporate a scene showing that Germany had emerged from the evil of the Nazi regime to become a fully democratic country.
The scenes were filmed on September 21-22, with the cast observing a minute’s silence for the slain resistance figures before they began shooting.
Bitzer said the filmmakers had made a request to the authorities for permission to reshoot the damaged scenes at the Bendlerblock. (Source: Yahoo! News)
Entertainment Weekly went behind-the-scenes of director Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Patrick Wilson, Stephen Fry, Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten, Eddie Izzard, Halina Reijn, Kevin McNally, Christian Berkel, Terence Stamp and David Schofield. The dramatic thriller hits theaters on June 27.
For all the Dutch speaking fans among us - Dutch tv show RTL Boulevard aired a small interview with Dutch actress Halina Reijn who was offered a small part in Tom’s movie Rubicon (formerly known as Valkyrie). She played in Zwartboek (Black book) with Carice van Houten; after seeing this movie Tom invited both women to star in his next blockbuster.
Translation of the video clip
Female presenter Daphne Bunskoek: “Between filming in Berlin for her role in a real Tom Cruise-movie, we talked to Halina Reijn. Tom and she are ‘best buddies’ and fortunately she also takes some time to appear at the Dutch Film Festival.”
(video clip of Halina starts.) Voice over: “After years of playing the second violin Halina comes to the Dutch Film Festival with three films ‘in her bag’. But hey, with so much shooting hours she must fight for having a bit of a private life.” Halina: “I have - for example - just purchased a house of my own for the first time, which I consider a big investment.” (we see Halina being interviewed) “So it’s getting more and more a thing of trying to have a life in reality and not just fleeing into fiction.”
(video clip of Halina in a red dress.) Halina: “Hi Linda - excuse me, but - I just hear that Eline prefers not to see mee any more so I’m leaving, but I noticed that your Porsche is parked right in front of my car, so would you please be so kind to remove it?”
Voice over: “In the royal tv-drama ‘The prince and the girl’ she playes Princess Mabel. Her ex-boyfriend Fedjah plays [Dutch prince] Friso. Because of the busy work scedual Halina almost sees more of her ex-boyfriend than she does of her current Belgian boyfriend, Roy.”
Halina: “The fun part of my boyfriend is that he’s absolutely not jealous. And that has indeed been difficult in the past, because Fedjah is so near by, so me being with a new man proved to be difficult, but with Roy, my current boyfriend, he understands that very well. He just enjoys the fact that I get along so well with Fedjah.”
Voice over (while showing a clip of BFFs Halina and Carice): “So best friend Carice van Houten can ‘tung wrestle’ with Tom Cruise in the war epic ‘Rubicon’,” (we see clip of Tom in Amsterdam, with clumbs in his hands, wearing sun glasses) “at the last minute Halina was also flown in for a tete-a-Tom.” (clip of Halina and Carice signing autographs on the red carpet) Halina: “The fun about this is that I can experience all of this with Carice,” (Halina in the picture) “that we’re in this together (laughs), and that we can laugh about it together, every now and then. And that puts things in the right perspective. And I really like that. Because of that I’m not lonely there, or afraid. Everybody is really nice there. They’ve all seen ‘Black book’,” (clip of Paul Verhoeven and the cast of ‘Black book’ on the red carpet)“and that’s why we ended up in this movie. So it’s different from when you have to audition for the role, together with a thousand girls, you know? You feel really welcome, and they are huge fans of ‘Black book’, so yes, that was an incredibly huge moment to get there for the first time, and meet ‘him’ [meaning Tom]for the first time.”
Voice over (while seeing a clip of Halina getting out of a black car): “Halina finds the quickest way to Hollywood through her Tom-Tom.” (clip of Tom during his visit to Amsterdam is shown).
Halina: “He’s super professional and INCREDIBLY nice and likeable/kind. And, well, just an incredible sweet and fun human being. And inspiring to work with.”
Voice over (clip of Halina walking): “Despite a firm contract with a strict non-disclosure agreement included Halina talks candidly.”
Halina: “Of course, the first second you lay eyes on him, you think ‘wow!’, right? But after that, that feeling is gone. Because he’s just so.. ehmm.. down to earth, that - and yes, you can’t keep going on feeling like that. You don’t go around all these hours, thinking ‘Ohhhh!’ right, it just doesn’t work that way. As a human being, nobody is like that. Only when someone would behave like a star. If someone would want that to be validated all the time, that ‘he’s such a great star’ but he doesn’t have that AT ALL!” (end of interview with Halina)
Co-host Albert Verlinde: “That’s just a girls dream come true, right! There you are, two girls in Berlin, making a movie with Tom Cruise! By the way that movie gets a new title: Rubicon, that’s what we’ve also heard. And Halina says “yes,” - she has three movies on that Film Festival in Utrecht to be shown there, and she says “I just have well known movies from now on, and that’s why I get all this publicity”, and of course she enjoys all of this fully, and [other co-host] Peter was right when he said - because in the video clip we saw Tom Cruise walking - that wasn’t Tom Cruise, that was Frits Lambrechts, we all could see that of course” [silly joke, didn’t understand it either] (all of them laughing, Peter stating that this is mean and that he didn’t mean that).
BERLIN (AFP) - Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise at the weekend observed a minute of silence for the slain German resistance hero he portrays in a new World War II film, the German press reported on Sunday.
Cruise made the respectful gesture before shooting a scene of “Valkyrie” at the historic Bendlerblock building in Berlin, where authorities originally refused to allow the crew to film, before reversing their ban 10 days ago.
“Scriptwriter Christopher McQuarie, director Bryan Singer and Tom Cruise each made a short speech and asked for a moment of silence” before filming began there on Saturday night, German actor Christian Berkel told Bild newspaper.
Cruise declared that he was “touched” to be at the site, which today is used by the defence ministry and is a national shrine, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.
It added that nobody was allowed to eat or drink on the set.
Cruise portrays Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, an aristocratic officer who mounted a failed plot to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944 as Germany was losing the war, and was executed at the Bendlerblock along with his fellow conspirators.
The defence ministry said it gave the go-ahead for filming at the Bendlerblock after the filmmakers agreed to incorporate a scene showing that Germany had emerged from the evil of the Nazi regime to become a fully democratic country.
“Valkyrie” has been filming at locations in Berlin since July. It is due for release in 2008. (Source: Yahoo! News)
BERLIN, Germany (September 14, 2007) — The German government will allow the makers of a movie starring Tom Cruise as the country’s most famous anti-Hitler plotter to film at the site where the hero was executed.
Shooting of “Valkyrie,” which has attracted controversy because Cruise is a prominent Scientologist, began in July. At the time, the government didn’t give permission to shoot at the so-called Bendlerblock — part of the Defense Ministry and now a memorial to the anti-Nazi resistance — citing concerns over “the dignity of the place.”
Defense Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said Friday that filmmakers had satisfied officials in recent talks that they were “aware of the particular significance” of the former military headquarters.
United Artists Entertainment LLC said in a statement that it was “extremely grateful to the German government for allowing us to film at the Bendlerblock.” It pledged to “take special care to respect its dignity and keep our activities there within the guidelines laid down by the government.”
“Filming at the Bendlerblock has always been important to us symbolically, creatively and for the sake of historical authenticity,” the statement added. “As a result, we have been in constant communication with the government in an effort to dispel any concerns or misperceptions about the nature of `Valkyrie.“’
The movie, directed by Bryan Singer and scheduled for release next year, stars Cruise as Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg — the aristocratic army officer who was executed after a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944.
Raabe said it appeared the movie would underline the fact that “barbarism did not win, but rather a democratic Germany finally arose.”
Stauffenberg and the other plotters of the July 20, 1944, assassination attempt were caught and executed after Hitler survived the explosion at his headquarters in what was then East Prussia.
The government’s initial refusal to permit filming at the place where Stauffenberg worked and died led to speculation over whether Cruise’s religious beliefs had triggered the decision. Officials denied that.
But Raabe said experience with previous filming at the site in 2003 had been a factor in officials’ initial reluctance to grant permission. He didn’t elaborate.
Officials have noted that filming permission was granted at all other sites — among them, the area around the Finance Ministry, which was once the Nazis’ aviation ministry. (Source: Access Hollywood)
HOLLYWOOD - Extras hurt on Tom Cruise’s new movie Valkyrie have been told the production company was not responsible for the accident.
Eleven extras were injured when they fell off a driving truck last month.
Authorities for occupational health and safety insist no major safety defects were found on the vehicle–contrary to the claims of some extras. An inspection had shown the truck was safe.
It is claimed the extras failed to close the truck’s side covering properly, causing it to open in transit–absolving the production company of any blame.
Filming will now have to be controlled by a safety manager at all times. (Source: Hollywood)
They just stare at the camera and try to ignore that jester who’s waving a furry parakeet doll and trying desperately to get them to crack up. Kidding. I know Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie is a serious movie. A very serious movie in which Tom Cruise plays noble Count Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a man who tries to assassinate Adolph Hitler.
And just look at the very serious supporting cast of anti-Hitler compadres gathered for this odd, buzz-building sneak-peek pic. I’ll help you spot the other familiar faces:
- Kenneth Branagh would be the guy on the far right, the one with his arms tucked behind his back.
- Terence Stamp would be the suit leaning forward with his hands on the table, as if he is about to eat the photographer.
- Bill Nighy would be third from left, the upright fellow with his glasses on and his right arm perched just so on the round table. (E! Online)
BERLIN, Germany (August 21, 2007) – The extras injured during the shooting of Tom Cruise’s new WWII film, “Valkyrie,” last weekend, are now threatening to sue the film’s producers, their lawyer said Tuesday.
According to European wire service Agence France Presse, attorney Ariane Bluttner has said she will launch legal action against the production company making the film, “unless it unbureaucratically and rapidly compensated the injured.”
“Those responsible on the set displayed inhuman indifference in playing with the health and the lives of the extras,” Bluttner continued to AFP.
Access Hollywood has reached out to United Artists for comment on the lawsuit threat, but has not heard back at this time.
The group of extras was injured this weekend when they fell out of a truck during filming of a new movie starring Tom Cruise. The injured parties were taken to a hospital as filming stopped on the movie, which stars Cruise as Germany’s most famous anti-Hitler plotter, Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg. Another person who fell out of the truck was unhurt.
Cruise himself was not involved in the weekend filming.
Police said in a statement to the Associated Press that a bolt on a side panel of the truck apparently came loose as the vehicle turned.
United Artists publicist Allan Mayer confirmed the accident in a statement to Access Hollywood, but said that nine people were involved — not eleven, as has been previously reported.
“The injuries where ‘extremely minor,‘” said Mayer, “and only nine extras were injured (NOT 11). The truck was going 15 miles-per-hour. The 2nd Unit was filming that day, and Tom Cruise was NOT working. Eight of the extras were treated for “cuts and bruises,” and the ninth was kept overnight for observation.”
The accident happened during filming of scenes around the Finance Ministry in Berlin, which was once the Nazis’ aviation ministry. (Source: Access Hollywood)
BERLIN (AP) — Several extras were injured when they fell out of a truck during the filming of Valkyrie, which stars Tom Cruise as Germany’s most famous anti-Hitler plotter.
The accident happened Sunday evening while scenes were being shot around the Finance Ministry in Berlin, which was once the Nazis’ aviation ministry.
United Artists said 10 extras briefly required medical attention after falling off the truck, which the studio said was traveling at less than 10 mph when wooden slats gave way — sending them off the side.
“No one suffered anything more serious than cuts and bruises, though one of the extras was kept in the hospital overnight for observation,” said a statement Monday from United Artists.
Police said a bolt on a side panel of the truck apparently came loose as the vehicle turned a corner.
“Tom Cruise was not there and the film director also wasn’t there,” said Berlin police spokesman Martin Grosse. He put the total number of injured extras at 11.
Studio officials weren’t immediately available for further comment.
United Artists said the movie’s main production unit, which includes director Bryan Singer and Cruise himself, wasn’t filming at the time of the accident — and “it is not expected to have any impact on the production schedule.”
Police opened an investigation of persons unknown on suspicion of negligent bodily harm, Grosse said. That is a standard procedure with workplace accidents in Germany.
Valkyrie stars Cruise as Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, the aristocratic army officer executed after a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944.
The casting of Cruise has attracted controversy in Germany because the 45-year-old actor is an adherent of Scientology, which the German government considers a commercial enterprise that takes advantage of vulnerable people.
Some critics maintain that one of Scientology’s members shouldn’t be playing one of the Nazi era’s few heroes.
Filming of Valkyrie began in mid-July. The movie is scheduled for release next year. (Source: USA Today)
Washington, August 3 (ANI): Tom Cruise played Top Gun for real when he took control of a double-decker plane recently.
The Hollywood star and amateur pilot took the controls of a 1941 Boeing Stearman on the German location of Cruise’s new movie Valkyrie.
The Mission Impossible star’s exceptional handling of the double-decker plane earned him outstanding marks and praises from co-pilot Thomas Schuttoff, director of the Berlin-based pilot training school, Tempelhof Aviators.
“There are pilots who can fly a plane. But Tom Cruise has the soul of flyer. I saw that right from the start,” People quoted Schuttoff, as telling Germany’s Bild newspaper.
Schuttoff said that Cruise offered to shell out for the fuel he used, but Schuttoff didn’t let him pay.
Cruise met Schuttoff at Tempelhof Airport, the oldest airfield in the world, where Cruise has been a well-known figure since starting production on his new movie Valkyrie, wherein he plays the real-life attempted assassin of Hitler, Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg. (ANI) (sawf.org
Tom Cruise couldn’t contain his excitement after he co-piloted a massive 1941 Boeing Stearman plane. The ‘Top Gun’ star took the controls of the historic double-decker aircraft on the German set of his new World War II movie ‘Valkyrie’.
Tom exclaimed, “Wow, wow, what a machine this is”, but instead of pressing the button to speak to his co-pilot he pressed the button to transmit to the control tower, meaning the tower and all other flyers heard his delight. However, that was the only in-air mistake he made, according to his co-pilot Thomas Schuttoff, 43.
Schuttoff - the director of the Berlin-based pilot training school Tempelhof Aviators - said: “There are pilots who can fly a plane. But Tom Cruise has the soul of flyer, I saw that right from the start. He was so nice. Afterwards, he offered to pay for the fuel he had used but I told him I wouldn’t hear of it.”
The enormous plane was used by the US Air Force to train airmen during WWII.
HOLLYWOOD - British actor Bill Nighy has defended his costar Tom Cruise’s religious beliefs after filming on their new movie was jeopardized by German authorities’ Scientology concerns.
Cruise is playing World War II hero Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg–who led an unsuccessful plot to assassinate Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler–in Rubicon.
However, efforts to shoot the movie on military sites were thwarted in July by Germany’s Defense Ministry, allegedly because Cruise’s Scientology beliefs are viewed as a “moneymaking cult” instead of a legitimate church by the German government.
But Nighy–who has already defended the film as a “heroic tale that deserves to be told”–is now urging greater tolerance for Cruise’s views.
He says, “It doesn’t make sense. I can’t see the point of persecuting an individual for what they believe. Whatever they believe.” (Source: Hollywood)
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has criticised Scientology, but said that would not stop him enjoying Valkyrie, the movie in the making about a true 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.US actor Tom Cruise, who is playing Count Claus von Stauffenberg in the movie, has been ostracized by many Germans because of his advocacy of the Scientology creed.
In remarks released Saturday and to appear Sunday in the newspaper BZ am Sonntag, Schaueble said the federal anti-subversion unit BfV which he oversees would continue to monitor the Scientology organization.
“This sect has the purpose of annulling basic and human rights and thus abolishing constitutional liberty,” and thus had “anti-constitutional objectives,” he said.
Although some German courts had ruled that the Scientology organization was a religious group, this did not mean it did not have to obey the German constitution.
“The cover of a religious community is no use if one wants to get rid of the free, democratic constitution. We do debate this with our American friends,” he said, referring to US criticism of Berlin’s surveillance.
Schaeuble said that all the same he could contemplate going to see Valkyrie when it was ready.
“If it is a good film about July 20, 1944 and Stauffenberg, then the fact that Tom Cruise is a Scientologist would not stop me seeing it.
“I’m interested in the subject, it’s a historically important story, and Hollywood can do good movies,” he said. (Jurnalo.com, Saturday 21 July 2007 20:35)
July 20 (Bloomberg) — The grandson of a German anti-Nazi hero, who’s played by Tom Cruise in a film being shot near Berlin, has been given a cameo role in the movie.
Cruise, 45, is playing Claus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg, who was executed in 1944 after a failed bid to kill Adolf Hitler. Philipp von Schulthess, 34, a son of Stauffenberg’s youngest daughter Konstanze, will play a military officer in the film “Valkyrie,” according to Petra Schwuchow from the LimeLight PR agency, which is representing the film in Berlin.
“The grandson has been given a small role as an adjutant,” Schwuchow said in a telephone interview today. (Source: Bloomberg)
Plotter’s grandson cast in Hitler movie with Tom Cruise
Potsdam, Germany - Germany’s Stauffenberg family has broken ranks over a controversial true-life movie in which Tom Cruise is to depict their ancestor who tried to kill Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, with a family member playing a role in the film. The production company said Friday that Philipp von Schulthess, who is a grandson of Count Claus von Stauffenberg, would play the role of a 1944 German Army adjutant in the film Valkyrie, which began shooting this week.
It was not known Friday how Schulthess came to be in the cast, but it appeared he had attended an audition.
Studio Babelsberg also disclosed that Hitler would be played by British actor David Bamber, who played a Bob Geldof look-alike in the movie I Am Bob earlier this year.
The production company said Cruise was present during the second day of filming. (Source: Earth Times)
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 19, 6:46 PM ET
BERLIN - Shooting began Thursday in a forest outside Berlin on a movie starring Tom Cruise as Germany’s most famous anti-Hitler plotter. The German government said it was letting filmmakers shoot anywhere they requested, except the former German general staff headquarters.
The so-called Bendler Block, where Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg was executed by firing squad 63 years ago Saturday, was off-limits, said government spokesman Torsten Albig, citing “the dignity of the place.”
Cruise plays Stauffenberg in “Valkyrie,” directed by Bryan Singer.
The movie set was cordoned off with yellow-and-black plastic tape in a pine forest near the village of Klein Koeris, 43 miles south of Berlin. Studio Babelsberg, the film’s German producers, confirmed that Cruise was on the set.
The government’s refusal to permit filming where Stauffenberg worked and died led to controversy about whether the 45-year-old actor’s religious beliefs had triggered the decision.
Cruise is one of Scientology’s best-known members. The German government considers Scientology a commercial enterprise that takes advantage of vulnerable people, and some critics maintain that one of its adherents shouldn’t be playing one of the Nazi-era’s few heroes.
Albig said the decision not to allow filming at the Bendler Block, now a memorial for Third Reich resistance fighters, had nothing to do with Cruise’s religion.
“We granted all permissions but the one, for the Bendler Block — because the dignity of this place should not be violated,” Albig said Thursday. “These circumstances show that the religious beliefs of the actor are without relevance.”
Stauffenberg and the other plotters of the July 20, 1944, assassination attempt were caught and executed after Hitler survived the explosion at his headquarters in what was then East Prussia.
“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 Col. Stauffenberg,” Singer said in a statement released Thursday by the Babelsberg studio, which is co-producing the film with United Artists Entertainment LLC. The studio didn’t comment on the controversy. (Source: Yahoo)
and fortunately she also takes some time to appear at the Dutch Film Festival.”
