Dutch actress Carice van Houten, who starred in Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book (AKA “Zwartboek”), has landed a role in director Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie, says her manager. It will be her fist American feature and she’ll play the wife of Tom Cruise.

Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Patrick Wilson, Stephen Fry and Tom Wilkinson co-star in the thriller, in which German generals hatch a scheme to assassinate Adolph Hitler at the height of WWII. It is based on actual events.

Shooting is set to take place in Berlin this July and October. United Artists will distribute in 2008. (ComingSoon.net)

Who is Carice van Houten, you might ask? Well, read the following opinion by the reporter of Cinematical.com:
Anyone who has seen the masterful Black Book knows that Carice van Houten is destined for major, lasting stardom, and Hollywood seems to be catching on quickly. We’ve been hearing rumours for a while now that van Houten is in consideration for the female lead in the next James Bond adventure, but if Eva Green’s casting timetable is any guide, the deal could potentially go unannounced for another eight months, if it happens. Still, van Houten isn’t cooling her heels — after recently signing on for an indie project about South African poet Ingrid Jonker, she’s now landed a role in a major Hollywood production. She’s signed on to Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie, presumably as Nina von Stauffenberg, the 30 year-old wife of Tom Cruise’s character, a German general who plots to assassinate Hitler. In leaked excerpts from the script online, Nina von Stauffenberg is described only as a “beautiful, dignified” woman. The stock in this project just skyrocketed, in my opinion.

Valkyrie is ramping up shooting in July, and is expected to be wrapped well before 2008. Also, as I previously mentioned, the Jonker biopic is lensing around Europe and will undoubtedly be a quick shoot, not some drawn out, protracted thing, so van Houten’s commitments have not yet put her out of the running for Bond. Heads up, Barbara Broccoli — her price isn’t getting any lower. Complete the deal now, so that you can have the next Garbo in your Bond film. (Cinematical.com)

More on the movie itself:
The film, which will be directed by ‘The Usual Suspects’ director Bryan Singer, will mark Houten’s American debut, Moviehole quoted Nu.nl, as stating.
Others signed for the film are actors Kenneth Branagh, Patrick Wilson Stephen Fry and Tom Wilkinson.
The film, which is based on the ‘July Plot’ of German officials to assassinate Hitler, is set to start filming from July in Berlin.
Cruise will portray the leader of the plot, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
Branagh will play a German general who guides Cruise’s character, and hatches the plot to kill Adolf Hitler.
Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander will pen the script for the film.
United Artists (UA), owned by Cruise and his producing partner, Paula Wagner, was approached by Singer and McQuarrie.
The project will be UA’s second venture since its establishment in 2006. (ANI)

Carice about the part:
Cruise was so impressed by her after watching ‘Black book’, that he had his castingdirector call the Dutch actress. She of course responded enthusiastic, says her manager. “When you are told you can play along Tom Cruise in a movie, you are cheering of course.”

Van Houten and Cruise will play a married couple. Her manager says Carice’s part isn’t big. “But she has the only feminine role in the movie.” (RTL Boulevard)