Telluride, Colo. –
Tom Cruise agreed to help out the Palm Theatre by letting the theatre show his new movie, “Valkyrie,” as a fundraiser for the theatre.
“Valkyrie,” the story of a man who tried to kill Hitler, will show at 8 p.m. on Dec. 26 and Dec. 30 in the Palm.
Cruise, who owns a home near Aldasoro and who recently showcased it on the Oprah Winfrey show, has long supported the community.
Heather Knox Rommel, who runs the Palm, approached Cruise’s property manager about showing the film. The property manager passed the request on to Cruise, who agreed to the showing.
“We’re really trying to step up our fundraising, Rommel said. “Not the best time to do it in this economy.”
This summer, the Palm is losing one on its major funding sources. The Gluckstern family paid $1 million to have the Palm named after their friend, the entrepreneur Michael D. Palm, who died from AIDS in 1999. That gift was paid out over five years, and will be entirely paid off by June. 30.
So the Palm has begun looking for other sources of funding.
“The Palm has to be self supporting,” Rommel said.
Tickets to the screening of “Valkyrie” are higher than a normal movie. Tickets to the Dec. 26 showing are $40 for the VIP section, which gets you a better seat and a gift bag. Students can get into the VIP section for $25.
For regular seating, tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for students.
For the Dec. 30 show, tickets are $20 for all adults and $15 for students.
Tickets are going fast.
“We’ve sold a lot of tickets already,” Rommel said.
As well as the tickets, the Palm is raising money through a small silent auction for heliskiing and nights at the Franz Klammer, and other gift certificates from local businesses.
“Valkyrie” is based on the story of the 1944 plot by German army officers to kill Adolf Hitler, install a separate government, and make peace with the Allies and end World War II. Cruise plays the leader of that plot in a film directed by Bryan Singer and co-written by Christopher McQuarrie, a team that collaborated on “The Usual Suspects” in 1995.
Tickets are available at telluridepalm.com or at 970-369-5669.

(Source: TellurideNews.com)