Washington, July 5 (ANI): Director Ken Russell has taken a swipe at Germany’s Defence Ministry for banning Scientologist actor Tom Cruise from filming ‘Valkyrie’ at military sites.

The film is about Claus Schenk Graf Von Stauffenberg who led the Operation Valkyrie assassination plot that tried to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944.

Cruise has been turned down by the Finance Ministry to shoot the film at a Defence Ministry building, Bendlerblock, in Berlin.

The iconoclastic director insisted that the officials are unnecessarily bringing in the actor’s personal beliefs and are forgetting that he is working so hard to make a film on the German hero.

“It seems stretching it to make Cruise take the flak for his philosophy of choice while he seeks, with all sincerity and a huge amount of resources, to promote Germany’s favourite son. Give the guy a break,” Contactmusic quoted Russell, as saying.

Russell quipped that Hollywood actors are known as ‘eccentric and daredevil weirdos’, so Scientology should not be hyped so much.

“Everybody knows Hollywood types are eccentric and daredevil weirdos, don’t they? Where’s the news in that?” he added.

Reports had earlier said that the Scientology wary country had banned Cruise from filming the thriller at German military sites due to his religion.

UA chief exec Paula Wagner in a statement however insisted that Cruise’s ‘personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing’ on the movie.

Cruise is set to play Stauffenberg in the film, who planted a bomb in a briefcase near Hitler at his military headquarters in Rastenburg on July 20, 1944, but while the bomb exploded and killed several officers, Hitler himself narrowly escaped death, thanks to a large oak table in the room that saved him.

Stauffenberg was caught and executed that night at Bendlerblock, as were 7,000 other sympathizers. (ANI) (Source: Yahoo India)

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