A little while back Tom Cruise and the crew who were filming Valkyrie were banned from entering German government buildings to film certain scenes in the movie. Apparently Cruise’s association with the Church of Scientology was definitely a major fact in the final decision.
The Finance Ministry did in fact deny access to a Defense Ministry building where a German officer by the name of (this is a mouthful) Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was executed because of his brash attempt to take Adolf Hitler’s life. Tom Cruise plays the guy who’s name I cannot say, we’ll refer to him as Claus Stuffenberg
The local community of the town are in support of Valkyrie and the director Bryan Singer. The site is called the Bendlerblock building and is a memorial to Claus Stuffenberg and all the people who were conspiring against the once all powerful dictator.
The cast and crew tried to get access to a police station to film as well, but after supposed intense review were also rejected from that as well. Sounds like the German government are still getting over some of the scenes in Eyes Wide Shut to me.
Something I found funny in this story was when the director of The Lives of Others said that Cruise’s power in the media would make an often overshadowed story of heroism known to the whole world. And another quote I found quite amusing, is that he also said that Cruise playing Stuffenberg (and I quote), “would do more to promote Germany’s image than 10 World Cup soccer championships could ever do.”
