Report: Tom Cruise Allowed to Film in German Defense Ministry

In a complete turnaround to an initial ban on US actor Tom Cruise to film at a Berlin memorial to the men who tried to kill Adolf Hitler, German government officials have now reportedly changed their minds.

German tabloid Bild reported on Friday, Sept. 14, that the makers of "Valkyrie," a film about failed Hitler assassin Count Claus von Stauffenberg, starring Cruise, will be allowed to shoot key scenes of the movie in a courtyard of the German defense ministry. Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were executed there after the failed 1944 attempt to kill the Nazi dictator.

"There has been a change of mind at the defense ministry," Thorsten Albig, a spokesman for the German finance ministry, which issues film permits at government buildings, told the paper. "A new request by the film team has received a positive answer."



Concerns about preserving memorial's dignity

Earlier this year, Cruise's plan to film at the Bendlerblock memorial had been met with resistance from government officials.

According to news reports, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung had said that his ministry would not allow filming at the site after one of his party colleagues had voiced concern over Cruise's Scientology membership.

In July, Albig had told reporters that the memorial's dignity would be compromised by allowing a film crew to use it.

No Nazi flags allowed

According to a defense ministry spokesman, film director Brian Singer and ministry officials will jointly visit the memorial to decide what can be filmed there.

Bild reported that government officials will not allow the crew to display Nazi flags at the site. The crew was permitted to fly the flags at the German finance ministry, where filming took place in August.

The tabloid said that the film script called for four scenes to be shot at the memorial, including Stauffenberg's execution.



Cruise feels "great responsibility"

In an interview with German celebrity magazine Bunte in August, Cruise had said he felt it was important that the movie was shot on original locations instead of a studio set.

"We want the inner truth, so to speak, and location helps with that," he said, adding that he urged his critics to wait until they had seen the film.

"I carry a great responsibility to the Germans, for whom a man like Stauffenberg is of deep significance, and I feel this responsibility to the man himself."

In an interview with DW-WORLD.DE, one of Stauffenberg's sons said that he didn't like the fact that Cruise was going to play his father, but added that he had taken no steps to prevent it from happening.


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I hope that this movie won't mess up with the history like the majority, if not all, of the so called "historic" movies do!

PS. I really hate it when movies are not 100% with history, no matter if it is Greek, German, American or anyone's else history...

Well let's see, Tom Cruise is an American action star. So this means when he plays Stauffenberg at his execution, he'll miraculously bring out two Uzi submachine guns (which weren't even around back then) behind his back, mow down the execution squad, run away and hide and eventually make his way out of Berlin all the while single-handedly tying down two German Army divisions and inflicting massive casualties never once being hit by a bullet. Pretty impressive considering Stauffenberg lost an eye, an arm and three fingers on one hand in combat.

Yeah, sounds about right.



I honestly think Thomas Kretschmann would have made a great Stauffenberg. He was great in the The Pianist and he's German, speaks German (duh!) and with a bit of a hair color change looks a lot like Stauffenberg. Tom Cruise is not even close...