Tuesday, July 03, 2007

TomCruiseFan.com

TomCruiseFan.com

Germany to Cruise: It’s Not You, It’s Us

Posted: 03 Jul 2007 08:19 AM CDT

Mon Jul 2, 7:41 AM ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Germany doesn’t care if Tom Cruise is a Scientologist or not—but he still can’t film his movie at their military memorial.

The German Finance Ministry confirmed Monday that it would not grant the makers of the upcoming WWII film Valkyrie permission to shoot at the Bendlerblock, the site where war hero Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was executed after a failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944.

However, the decision has nothing to do with Cruise—who portrays Stauffenberg–being a Scientologist, Finance Ministry spokesman Stefan Olbermann told Reuters. He said only one filmmaker had ever been granted permission to shoot at the Bendlerblock, which is located within the Defense Ministry complex. The experience led the ministry to ban all future shoots.
“They will not be permitted to film at the Bendlerblock but this has nothing to do with [Scientology],” Olbermann told Reuters.
“We welcome the fact that such a film is being made,” he added. “We don’t think it would be appropriate to film there.”

The Berlin studio in charge of securing locations for the film said it was not concerned by the ban, as part of the Bendlerblock memorial is operated by German Resistance Memorial Center and they can shoot there.
“They have given us permission like they have done for other Stauffenberg films before,” Carl Woebken, head of Babelsberg Studios, said in a statement. “From our point of view, everything is ready to go.”

Germany’s official stance on Scientology has apparently softened since last week, when a Defense Ministry spokesman said the makers of Valkyrie would be forbidden to shoot at any military sites as long as Cruise starred as Stauffenberg because the actor had “publicly professed to being a member of the Scientology cult.”
Cruise’s producing partner, Paula Wagner, fired back with a statement that the actor’s “personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie’s plot, themes, or content.”
“Even though we could shoot the movie anywhere in the world, we believe Germany is the only place we can truly do the story justice,” she said.

The ministry later revised its position, stating it would “look agreeably” on an application from the film’s producers to shoot in Germany.

Olbermann said the Finance Ministry was still reviewing the filmmakers’ request to shoot at other sites, but that it had not received any requests to film at military sites.

The film takes its name from Operation Valkyrie, the codename for Stauffenberg’s plot to assassinate Hilter with a briefcase bomb on July 20, 1944. Bryan Singer is directing and Kenneth Branagh costars. (Yahoo News, EOnline

posted by Rex at 6:51 AM

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