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Tom Cruise is German Hero (Stauffenberg) in Valkyrie
July 7, 2007 — ppedersenTom Cruise is German Hero (Stauffenberg) in Valkyrie
Tom Cruise is preparing to play Germany’s most-famous anti-Hitler plotter, Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg in a new film, called Valkyrie, which is due to start shooting in Germany on July 18th.
“He [Tom Cruise] is one of the best, if not the best, actors in the world for heroic roles” stated Carl Woebcken, head of the Babelsberg studio that is slated to co-produce the film in Germany.
The United Artists film, which focuses on the German World War II military hero Stauffenberg, will receive E4.8 million ($6.5 million) from the German government’s new $80 million a year German Federal Film Fund (DFFF).
Valkyrie’s budget has been estimated at $80 million, with about two-thirds of that being earmarked for filming in Germany.
The film will be directed by Bryan Singer, who also worked on the X-Men series and Superman Returns. Singer said the colonel (Stauffenberg), like Cruise, was “dark-haired, handsome, and very charismatic - he had the ability to light up the room.”
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, director of the Oscar-winning Lives of Others, stated in the German press that Cruise’s “superstar light would illuminate this rare shining moment in the darkest chapter of our history. In doing so, he would do more to improve Germany’s international image than 10 World Cups could ever do.”
Personally, I think he is right. Many easily associate Germany with the past, in particular World War II, Adolph Hitler and concentration camps. But I think it is time that freedom from such suppression shall prevail and this movie could just be that turning point.
They even look similar.
July 9, 2007 at 3:31 am
It sounds like a fabulous movie and Cruise is the obvious person to star in it. I think the controversy was blown out of proportion by the media. Scientology is actually very popular in Germany, but just as in America the newspapers have to earn a living too, and do so by spreading rumors and other nonsense. Anyway, it’s good to see all of that blew over and the German government is now paying to help defray the cost of the filming!
July 10, 2007 at 4:59 pm
This article is a nice summary of the facts.
The fact that the German government is contributing to the production costs says a lot about what the truth is and just how inaccurate the “controversy” reported by the mass media is.
April 28, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I absolutely agree with lbwl.
i mean, there are many kinds of people and ways of earning a livelyhood, so people just use some interesting or unique bits of information and blow it out of proportions.
it is how we react that shows our intelligence and if we agree with everything that the press has to say,… it jus shows exactly how stupid you are.
as for the movie, it sounds excellent.