Tue Jul 10, 10:16 AM ET

BERLIN (AFP) – Tom Cruise received backing Tuesday for his contested plans to play the mastermind behind a daring bid to assassinate Adolf Hitler from one of the real-life hero’s fellow conspirators.

Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, 89, told the German daily Bild that the uproar in Germany over the Hollywood star’s links to the Church of Scientology in no way disqualified him to play Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg.

“I think it is good that Cruise is playing Stauffenberg,” Boeselager said in an interview to be printed Wednesday.

“He is a good actor. But he must not be allowed to advertise for Scientology with the movie.”

Filming is to begin next week in Berlin on “Valkyrie,” named after the code name of the plot.

But the city authorities have restricted where the crew can film and some German officials have expressed discomfort with the idea of Cruise, a dedicated Scientologist, playing a national hero and martyr.

Germany considers the Scientology movement a commercial operation that exploits vulnerable people.

Boeselager belonged to Stauffenberg’s cadre of aristocratic military officers who conspired to kill Hitler in 1944.

The group planted a bomb under a table in Hitler’s eastern headquarters in East Prussia.

But the Nazi leader escaped with slight injuries because an officer had moved the briefcase containing the explosives behind a sturdy leg of the oak table.

Stauffenberg was rounded up that night and executed by firing squad along with other officers at the Bendlerblock, then the army headquarters in Berlin and now a memorial to the German resistance.

Boeselager, who had acquired the explosives used in the attacks, said he believed the Hollywood thriller had an important message to send to international audiences.

“I hope that the German resistance will become more well-known thanks to the film. People know so little about it in the United States.”

In Germany, the group is under observation by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and several state security watchdogs.

But it is no longer being monitored by the Berlin authorities after a successful court challenge by the group.

The US-based Church of Scientology is also regarded with suspicion in European countries such as France and Belgium.

“Valkyrie” is directed by Bryan Singer and co-written by Christopher McQuarrie, the team behind the Oscar-winning 1995 thriller “The Usual Suspects”. (Source: Yahoo)