Extras hurt on set of Tom Cruise movie

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)

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