Germany has thwarted Tom Cruise’s plan to make a film about the Second World War plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler for a second time in a move that provoked angry protests from the country’s current Oscar-winning director.

Berlin police refused yesterday to allow the actor and controversial Church of Scientology member to use a police station in the city’s Kreuzberg district to shoot his film, Valkyrie, in which he plays Claus von Stauffenberg, a member of the German nobility who tried to kill Hitler in 1944.

A police statement said the presence of a film crew on the site would hamper the activities of police “so seriously” that permission to use the station as a location could not be granted.

It was the second time that Cruise was refused permission to use a Berlin location to shoot his film. Last week, the German Defence Ministry banned the actor from setting foot on key military sites in the German capital that were to have featured in the production. The ministry said the actor’s membership of the Church of Scientology was the reason behind the ban, and insisted that the makers of the film would not be allowed on its premises “if Count von Stauffenberg is played by Tom Cruise, who has publicly professed to being a member of the Scientology cult”.

Germany’s attempts to thwart Cruise were angrily criticised yesterday by Florian Henckel von Donnersmark, the Oscar-winning German director of the film Other People’s Lives, which graphically depicts the spying techniques of the Stasi, the former secret police force in Communist East Germany.

Writing in Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, Von Donnersmarck said Cruise’s role as Stauffenberg would “improve Germany’s international image more than 10 World Cup football tournaments”. He added: “The biggest star of the (Second World War) victor nations is not good enough to play our superman Stauffenberg, if this star’s convictions are not exactly in line with those of Germany.”

Germany treats Scientology with suspicion and keeps it under surveillance. MPs have stated publicly that, although it is not banned, they regard the organisation as a cult which recruits impressionable young people and is bent on making money.

Antje Blumethal, a German conservative, defended the ban yesterday, saying: “If we had given permission to film to a leading Scientologist it would have amounted to official recognition for the sect.”

Cruise’s production company has protested and maintains that the actor is ideally suited to play Stauffenberg, a wartime army officer who became a hero in post-war Germany for attempting to assassinate Hitler with a suitcase bomb. The Nazi leader was wounded but survived and Stauffenberg was shot dead by firing squad shortly after the plot was uncovered.

The ban on Cruise has met with incomprehension in the United States. The Philadelphia Daily News was reported in Germany to have remarked in an editorial yesterday: “It would be difficult to find a better way of recalling the Nazi era than by preventing a man from doing his job because of his beliefs.” (The Independant)

COLOGNE, Germany — Oscar-winning director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck has come out in support of Tom Cruise playing would-be Hitler assassin Col. Claus von Stauffenberg in Bryan Singer’s “Valkyrie.”

The project, set to begin shooting this month at Germany’s Studio Babelsberg, has been surrounded by controversy. German politicians have criticized the decision to cast Cruise in the lead role because he is a Scientologist, a religion seen in Germany as a dangerous sect.

After a long back and forth, the German authorities also banned Cruise and Singer from shooting “Valkyrie” on location at the Bendlerblock memorial in Berlin. It is the actual location where Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirators hatched the plot to assassinate Hitler with a bomb hidden in a briefcase. It is also where Stauffenberg and the other plotters were executed after the attempt failed.

But in a long op-ed piece for German daily the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Tuesday, Henckel von Donnersmarck said Cruise was the ideal person to play one of Germany’s few Hitler-era heroes.

“Tom Cruise is the most successful of all the (Hollywood) superstars,” Henckel von Donnersmarck wrote. “His superstar light will illuminate this rare shining moment in the darkest chapter of our history. In doing so, he will do more to improve Germany’s international image than 10 soccer World Cups could.”

Henckel von Donnersmarck said the story of Stauffenberg is almost unknown outside of Germany and that his country should be grateful a star with Cruise’s drawing power has chosen it as his next project.

Henckel von Donnersmarck is well acquainted with the delicate politics of adapting German history. His Stasi drama “The Lives of Others” was an international boxoffice hit, but he had to publicly defend every casting and wardrobe decision made in adapting the reality of communist East Berlin to the screen.

Despite the political opposition to Cruise, “Valkyrie” is deep into preproduction in Berlin and expected to begin shooting at Studio Babelsberg this month. (HollywoodReporter)

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

By MICHAEL CIEPLY and MARK LANDLER
Published: June 30, 2007

LOS ANGELES, June 29 — When the director Bryan Singer decided to cast Tom Cruise as Col. Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the German Army officer who tried to blow up Hitler toward the end of World War II, he thought he had dealt with all the possible pitfalls.

There was the knotty matter of accents, but the director figured that Mr. Cruise and everybody else in the movie, “Valkyrie,” would do fine if they spoke unaffected English. The cost of affording the high-wattage Mr. Cruise could also be problematic, but the star took the job for a nominal salary, agreeing to get his cut after the tickets were sold — a deal helped by his part ownership of United Artists, the studio behind the picture.

What Mr. Singer did not reckon with is Germany’s open hostility toward Mr. Cruise’s religion. “Frankly, I was not aware of the issue of Scientology here in Germany,” Mr. Singer said in a telephone interview from Berlin this week, shortly after news reports that military officials would ban “Valkyrie” from filming at the Bendler Block, where Colonel Stauffenberg was executed in July 1944 for his leading role in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. Mr. Cruise’s affiliation with Scientology was cited as a reason for the supposed ban.

As “Valkyrie” prepares to begin shooting on July 19 — a day before the 63rd anniversary of the coup attempt — Mr. Singer and his colleagues are still puzzling their way through Germany’s bureaucracy, and wondering how an attempt to lionize one of the country’s anti-Nazi heroes could so quickly have gone wrong.

Continue reading

Different stories on this! It seems Tom got all the permission to shoot since the Finance Ministry is the one who decides, and apparently they have given permission to shoot.
Reuters says:

Cruise film to work around German military site ban

Sat Jun 30, 2007 6:23 AM IST
BERLIN (Reuters) – The makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler said on Friday they had the permits needed to film in Germany despite being declared unwelcome at military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist.

Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung has made it clear the filmmakers could not shoot at any military sites if Cruise plays hero Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, because of his link to Scientology. Berlin regards it as a cult masquerading as a religion to make money, a view Scientology leaders reject.

But the head of the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin, which will handle filming in Germany, said he had all necessary location permits, including for the so-called “Bendlerblock” where Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were shot after the attempt to kill Hitler with a briefcase bomb on July 20, 1944, failed.

The Bendlerblock is located in what is now the Defence Ministry complex in Berlin. However, part of it is run by the German Resistance Memorial Centre and not the ministry, and Babelsberg Studios says it intends to shoot the film there.

“They have given us permission like they have done for other Stauffenberg films before,” Carl Woebken, head of Babelsberg studios, told Reuters.

The buildings’ official owner, the Finance Ministry, had also given permission, he said. “From our point of view, everything is ready to go.”
Woebken said it was important to film at the Bendlerblock for the sake of authenticity.

A German government official said on condition of anonymity the filmmakers did not have a green light to begin filming at the Bendlerblock. This lack of a green light could complicate the shooting, scheduled to begin next month, he said.

The film, slated for a 2008 release, will be directed by Bryan Singer and Kenneth Branagh will co-star. It is called “Valkyrie” after Operation Valkyrie, the plot’s codename.

Sabine Weber, a Scientology spokeswoman in Germany, said German politicians were attacking top Scientologists like Cruise, one of the producers of the film, to get their names in the press.
“I believe that certain politicians from the Christian Democrats use the celebrity status of some of our members to step into the limelight, that’s what this is all about. They don’t care how much they damage Germany’s reputation,” she said. (Reuters)

On the other hand, I’ve found this story, dated today, saying:

Tom Cruise can’t film at German military HQ, authorities confirm

Saturday 30 June 2007 13:49
Germany’s Finance Ministry confirmed Saturday that Tom Cruise has been banned from filming at a military headquarters in Berlin, but denied this was linked to his advocacy of Scientology.The US actor-director is planning a movie called Valkyrie about the July 20, 1944 attempt to assassinate Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who survived the blast with minor injuries.

Cruise, 44, is playing Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the military officer who led the plot and was executed in a courtyard, close to his own office at the army and navy HQ known as the Bendlerblock.

“This place of remembrance and mourning would lose its dignity if it were to be used as the backdrop to a film,” said Torsten Albig, a spokesman for the finance ministry, which is responsible for the administration of the building.

Germany’s defence ministry had earlier spoken out against the building being used as a location for the film, shooting for which is expected to begin on July 19. (Jurnalo)

It seems the second story isn’t accurate, and it’s logical to believe a more trustworthy news source like Reuters. So I think we can conclude everything will be okay regarding the shoot. If there’s more insight to the story, we will let you know! And if indeed the Jurnalo story is inaccurate, I will delete it from our site. For now I did want to report it, since we’re not out of the woods with all the reports.

Ministry would welcome Cruise’s WWII film

BERLIN — Despite calls by some German officials to ban Bryan Singer’s World War II drama “Valkyrie” from shooting at government locations — due to Tom Cruise’s ties to Scientology — the project is getting plenty of support from the local film industry and looks likely to get the greenlight from authorities to film at historical sites here.
In the film, penned by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander, Cruise is set to play German officer Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a national hero who was executed in 1944 for attempting to assassinate Adolf Hitler in a plot code-named Valkyrie.

Cruise talked up the project at length at Cinema Expo in Amsterdam, where the new UA made its first presentation to attendees, but didn’t refer to the ruckus in Germany.

“It is a very powerful film in a very crucial moment in history about the resistance in Germany against the Nazi regime,” Cruise said. “This man had incredible integrity … a real hero. I have great admiration for him and what they tried to do.”

The courtyard in which Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirators were shot is now a memorial, but the building in which it’s located, the Bendlerblock, also houses part of the German Ministry of Defense.

That, and not Cruise’s affiliation to Scientology, poses the main hurdle to a film permit for Singer and his crew, according to Dirk Kuehnau, head of the Bundesanstalt fuer Immobilienaufgaben (BIMA), the company in charge of government buildings.

“In this country, we have constitutionally guaranteed rights,” Kuehnau said. “Articles four and five of the constitution protect freedom of faith and creed and freedom of expression. I don’t think those rights would be denied a film actor.”

If anything, it would be the lights and cables and camera teams that could disrupt work at the Defense Ministry, Kuehnau said, adding that if an arrangement is found where filming does not interfere with government business, a filming permit should be no problem.

Contrary to earlier reports, the defense minister has not banned the project from shooting at the site. In fact, the Defense Ministry, which would lease the building, does not have the right to grant or reject filming permits — that is up to BIMA.

Recent reports of government opposition to the film were triggered by Antje Blumenthal, a member of the Bundestag and cult expert for the conservative CDU/CSU party, who said she had been assured by Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung that the film would not be allowed to shoot at the site, due to the alleged danger posed by Scientology.

The German government does not recognize Scientology as a religion, and sees it as a dangerous cult with totalitarian aims as well as an exploitative, profit-based business.

For the local industry, however, Singer’s project is more of a godsend.

Studio Babelsberg toppers Christoph Fisser and Carl Woebcken are in negotiations with Gil Adler and Paula Wagner of United Artists to come aboard the film as co-production partners.

Fisser praised the project, saying there are sadly far too few examples of the military opposition to Hitler’s regime during the war.

“The assassination attempt against Hitler is hardly known outside Germany. We should therefore be delighted and welcome this wonderful opportunity to improve the image of our country.”

(Leo Barraclough and Archie Thomas in Amsterdam contributed to this report.)
(Variety)

By Scott Roxborough
Thu Jun 28, 6:01 PM ET

COLOGNE, Germany (Hollywood Reporter) – The German Defense Ministry is scrambling to qualify its stance on the Tom Cruise World War Two thriller “Valkyrie,” saying Thursday that, despite reports to the contrary, it has no opposition to the film shooting in Germany.

News reports earlier this week had started officials would ban “Valkyrie” from shooting at German military sites because of star Cruise’s belief in Scientology.

The ministry now says that, while it hasn’t received an official request from “Valkyrie” producers United Artists to shoot in the country, it would “look agreeably” upon any such application.

The film, slated for a 2008 release, tells the true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise), the leader of a failed German military plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. The film’s title comes from Operation Valkyrie, the plot’s code name.

The producers have expressed interest in shooting at the Bendlerblock memorial in Berlin. It is the actual location where Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirators hatched the plot to assassinate Hitler with a bomb hidden in a briefcase. It also is where Stauffenberg and the other plotters were executed after the attempt failed.

Now a memorial site, the Bendlerblock also houses part of the Defense Ministry.

The Defense Ministry said Thursday that it wasn’t even responsible for approving film shoots at Bendlerblock because they are only tenants on the land. The location is under the authority of Germany’s Finance Ministry, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

The source of the “Valkyrie” controversy seems to have stemmed from a posting on the Web site of conservative German member of parliament Antje Blumenthal. Blumenthal posted a statement Friday claiming that Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung had pledged to her that Cruise would not get permission to shoot because of the purported danger posed by his Scientology.

Blumenthal is a cult expert for the conservative CDU/CSU party and a longtime opponent of Scientology.

The German government does not recognize Scientology as a religion and sees it instead as a dangerous cult, which brainwashes and exploits its members. Scientology is under official observation by Germany authorities as a potentially threat to German democracy, putting the organization on par with neo-Nazi groups.

Germany’s film industry, however, has embraced the “Valkyrie” project.

The heads of Studio Babelsberg, Christoph Fisser and Carl Woebcken, on Thursday praised “Valkyrie” as one of the “too few examples of military opposition to Hitler’s regime.”

Fisser and Woebcken are in negotiations with United Artists to join the project as co-producers. If UA executives reach a deal, “Valkyrie” could begin shooting at Babelsberg next month.

“The assassination attempt against Hitler is hardly known outside Germany,” Fisser said. “We should therefore be delighted and welcome this wonderful opportunity to improve the image of our country.”

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter (Source: Yahoo)

BERLIN (AP) — Two hot-button issues in Germany – the Nazi era and Scientology – are being pushed simultaneously by a new film in which Tom Cruise plays the country’s most-famous anti-Hitler plotter, sparking controversy in Berlin.

Cruise, one of Scientology’s best-known adherents, is to play Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg – the aristocratic army officer executed after a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in 1944 – in director Bryan Singer’s new film “Valkyrie.”

The film’s German co-producers say they were given permission to use the former German general staff headquarters in Berlin, where Stauffenberg worked and where he was executed, and that they plan a detailed, historically accurate treatment.

But word that a Scientologist would play Stauffenberg has rubbed some the wrong way. Germany’s government considers Scientology a commercial enterprise that takes advantage of vulnerable people, and critics maintain that one of its adherents should not be playing one of the Nazi-era’s few heroes.

Stauffenberg “is to be played by an actor whose sect, through dubious methods, attempts to lure people and make them pliable,” Social Democratic lawmaker Klaus Uwe Benneter said on his Web site. “This is a slap in the face to all upstanding democrats, all resistance fighters during the Third Reich, and all victims of the Scientology sect.”

Sabine Weber, a spokeswoman for Scientology in Berlin, said she was “shocked” that politicians would speak out against Cruise starring in the movie, saying that it was a “call to discrimination” against someone because of religious beliefs, which violates German and European human-rights codes.

The film’s producers maintain the criticism is misguided, accusing politicians of making hay of a non-issue.

“Basically, some politicians are using the popularity of Tom Cruise to become popular themselves,” Carl Woebcken, head of the Babelsberg studio that is slated to co-produce the film in Germany, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

“This is not a Scientology film, it is a Bryan Singer film, and Bryan Singer is Jewish … and they want to make this film to show that during the Nazi regime there was heroic resistance,” Woebcken said. “The personal beliefs of Tom Cruise have to be separated from his skills as an actor. He is one of the best, if not the best, actors in the world for heroic roles and that is why Bryan Singer approached him.”

United Artists called its film “a historically accurate thriller” and said in a statement that “Mr. Cruise’s personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie’s plot, themes or content.”

Germany’s federal agency that tracks extremism has had Scientology under observation for a decade on allegations that it “threatens the peaceful democratic order” of the country. The Scientologists long have battled to end the surveillance, saying it is an abuse of their right to freedom of religion, and the U.S. State Department regularly criticizes Germany in its annual Human Rights Report for the monitoring practice.

Stauffenberg’s son Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg has spoken out against Cruise playing the role, telling the Sueddeutsche Zeitung that “he should keep his fingers off my father,” and adding that he feared the movie would be “terrible kitsch.”

Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung was quoted as saying such a film involving Cruise could not be made at his Ministry – the same building where Stauffenberg kept his offices and was dragged into the courtyard and shot after his plot failed.

But, Woebcken noted, the film company had not asked to film at the part of the Defense Ministry building occupied by the military, and already has preliminary permission from other agencies to film at the area where Stauffenberg’s offices were, and where he was executed.

A Defense Ministry spokesman confirmed that the moviemakers had not asked to film in his ministry’s areas, and said if they did, the application would be considered like any other.

Stauffenberg and the other plotters were caught and executed after Hitler survived the explosion at his headquarters in what was then East Prussia.

Woebcken said authorities should be welcoming the decision to shoot the film at original locations.

“The Defense Ministry … says that if a Stauffenberg film is done, it has to be authentic, and for exactly that reason United Artists wants to do the film in Berlin in the original places,” he said. “Otherwise they could have done the film anywhere in the world.”

“Valkyrie” is scheduled for release in 2008. (Columbian.com)

Tom Cruise has responded to the German Defense Ministry after they banned the actor from shooting his new movie, “Valkyrie,” on military bases where part of the plot takes place. On Monday, Defense Ministry spokesperson Harald Kammerbauer said the movie star would not be given permission to shoot at the German sites because of his involvement with Scientology.

German Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung had also noted that Cruise would take away from an “authentic portrayal” of the incidents that occurred during Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg’s failed assassination bombing plot against Adolf Hitler in World War II.

However, Cruise, who has been a Scientology member for years, says his performance as Stauffenberg will not be affected by his religious beliefs.

Paula Wagner, the actor’s producing partner and United Artists CEO, is quoted as saying by StarPulse, “Aside from his obvious admiration of the man he is portraying, Mr. Cruise’s personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie’s plot, themes, or content. And 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.”

“Valkyrie” is still scheduled to begin filming next month. (AllHeadlineNews.com, June 26, 2007)

Cruise responds to German filming ban
Latest: Tom Cruise has vowed Scientology will have no impact on his portrayal of a legendary German assassin, after being banned from filming at the country’s military bases because of his controversial beliefs. The actor is set to begin shooting Valkyrie in Germany this summer (07). In the film he plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of an unsuccessful plot to kill Adolf Hitler during World War II. However, permission to film scenes on genuine army sites has been denied by the country’s Defence Ministry because Scientology is viewed as a “money-making cult” instead of legitimate church by the German government. However, Cruise is adamant his beliefs have nothing to do with characterisation, and is desperate to shoot the movie on location in von Stauffenberg’s homeland. His producing partner and United Artists CEO Paula Wagner says, “Aside from his obvious admiration of the man he is portraying, Mr. Cruise’s personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie’s plot, themes, or content. “And 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.” Von Stauffenberg’s briefcase bomb in 1944 only succeeded in wounding Hitler. He was executed by firing squad for the plot the next morning. (ContactMusic.com