Tag: Valkyrie
Tom Cruise, Bryan Singer, Christopher McQuarrie form an all-for-one and none- for-Nazis geek squad.
So how did Suri deal with the eye patch?
That would be Suri Cruise and her dad, Tom, who famously wears a black pirate-esque patch in his new film, “Valkyrie,” a World War II thriller about a plot to assassinate Hitler that opened on Christmas. Cruise plays the coup’s real life ringleader, the aristocratic Col. Claus von Stauffenberg. Suri, often touted as the most powerful tot on the planet, would often walk to her dad as he was ready to leave the makeup trailer, and “she would take my eye patch off,” says Cruise with his trademark laugh. “The girls in the makeup trailer got her a stuffed bear with a patch on it so that she would play with that and start to feel very comfortable.”
Suri wasn’t the only one disconcerted by the eye patch. The blogosphere went nuts — not in a good way — when images of Cruise in his character’s Nazi gear first appeared online, but perhaps that’s the fate of being Tom Cruise in the last few years. Every action seems to provoke an unanticipated reaction. Holed up in the Beverly Hills Hotel last week, Cruise is in the middle of the “Valkyrie” press tour, which could also be dubbed the “apology” tour, an elaborate jaunt with stops at some of the media outlets (“Today” show, anyone?) that contributed to his famed couch-jumping, Scientology-spouting, psychiatry-bashing media implosion of 2005.
In a green sweater and jeans, the 46-year-old Cruise is thin, friendly and solicitous, with practically the only visible sign of age being the little laugh lines around his eyes. He also appears relaxed — one suspects that was helped in part by the presence of his wingmen, director Bryan Singer and Singer’s childhood friend, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie. Unlike many of his peers in stardom, Cruise does not seem to travel with a posse of guy pals, an entourage of buddies from before fame; one can almost imagine him living in a hermetically sealed bubble with wife Katie Holmes, his children Suri, Bella and Connor, his sisters and various Scientologists. But that apparently is not the case.
When Cruise is asked if he feels misunderstood, Singer and McQuarrie jump in with the passion of longtime homeboys (well, longtime homies who happen to be intellectual film geeks from Princeton, N.J.). “He’s totally misunderstood. Tom, you need to let us talk about you,” says Singer, passionately, as Cruise looks on vaguely embarrassed. Singer describes the time they all spent with Tom and his family, he and McQuarrie’s circle of family and friends in Germany, and in the desert (where they shot a battle sequence).
“You spend the first two weeks waiting for the . . . that you think Tom is to manifest itself. And after a year and half, you realize that is not who he is. . . . He gets a bad rap.”
“He is a really great guy,” chimes in McQuarrie. “He’s a generous person. He works very hard. He is exceedingly professional. There is no hierarchy of any kind on the set. We would have . . . somebody’s mother came to visit the set and Tom would spend the afternoon having lunch with that person’s mother.”
Operation Valkyrie is in effect! Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer sit down with Maria Sansone to let her know that we should ‘kill Hitler for Christmas.’ Check out scenes from the movie VALKYRIE here!
Guillermo interviews Tom Cruise at the red carpet of “Valkyrie” on Jimmy Kimmel Live 12-18-08.
I’ve uploaded a whole bunch of pictures:
– Outside “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Studios – December 11th, 2008
– Valkyrie – Los Angeles – December 18, 2008
– Outside “David Letterman Show” Studios – December 16, 2008
– Valkyrie Posters
NEW YORK – “I make a lot of different kinds of movies,” Tom Cruise says, “and I’m always looking for something that’s challenging. But I want to entertain an audience.”
Cruise is describing what drew him to his new movie, “Valkyrie,” which opens Thursday. However indirectly, he’s also describing what it means to succeed at having it both ways: art and entertainment, critics and audience, respect and fame.
One definition of stardom might be as the shortest distance between having it both ways. And while Cruise is a very big star, “Valkyrie” puts that stardom to the test and at a peculiar point in his career.
“Risky Business” was 25 years ago, but Tom Cruise still looks boyish. In Seattle for a few hours last month, as part of the media barrage accompanying his new film “Valkyrie” (opening Thursday), he grinned when reminded of the anniversary. (Then again, Cruise tends to grin — that familiar, blinding movie-star smile — at just about everything.)
“I can’t believe I’m still here,” he said, “still fortunate enough to be making movies.”
NEW YORK – There are reflective people who take things in, and radiant people who beam light out.
Tom Cruise is definitely of the second kind. His eyes sparkle, his teeth sparkle, and so does his eternity ring, a wedding band inset with serious diamonds at its equator. In his presence, an SPF 30 sunblock is recommended, to protect against starburn.
At 46, the eternally boyish actor who has, incredibly, been top box office for 25 years is as polished and gleaming as a freshly buffed Vince Lombardi trophy. And for one who has a reputation as a control freak, Cruise comes across as unguarded and open about his life.
“A bright candle” is how filmmaker Bryan Singer (“X-Men“) describes the actor and executive producer of “Valkyrie,” a white-knuckle thriller about the real-life German officers who conspired, and failed, to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944.
“Alfred Hitchcock explained the difference between surprise and suspense,” says Cruise, casual in an untucked navy-blue shirt and dark pants. “If a bomb under a table goes off, that’s a surprise. But if we know that the bomb is under the table but not when it will go off, that’s suspense.”
“We literally have a bomb under the table,” he says. “In movies you want to create drama. In the case of ‘Valkyrie,’ which is a conspiracy thriller, the drama is actually true.”
New York, Dec 20 (PTI) Tom Cruise has received praise for his role as a Nazi assassin in his latest film ‘Valkyrie’ from none other than the grandson of the soldier he is playing in the controversial film reports New York Daily News.
Philipp von Schulthess, the soldier’s grandson who also has a small role in the controversial war drama, insists the actor represented his grandfather “wonderfully”. He defended the actor despite criticism from his own family about the film.
Cruise plays injured World War II Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who led a plot to assassinate Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, in the film.
The history-making Colonel’s children voiced objections to Cruise playing their father.
“Most of them (von Stauffenberg’s children) haven’t seen it. They’re crossing their fingers this turned out well. I think it did, and hope they agree.” Von Schulthess told the New York Daily News.
(Source: Press Trust of India)
The Star interviewed Tom for ‘Valkyrie’. After a lengthy introduction and other subjects (Lions for Lambs, his beliefs, private life, War of the Worlds, the Golden Globes, the Oscars and Oprah) they give us some insight on Tom’s preparation for the movie, which I found interesting to report to you.
First they describe their meeting with Tom…
..after being ushered into a coolly elegant and very expensive-looking Yorkville hotel suite to find a confident Cruise standing alone at the end of the entry hall, smiling and holding out his hand in greeting, doubts about his ability to stay at the top of the Hollywood heap start to fade. If wanting it means getting it, the very focused Cruise is destined to stay on top.
Slim, about 5-foot-seven, wearing brilliant white tennis shoes, dark jeans and black shirt, the sleeves rolled up to show a heavy stainless steel watch, Cruise is a gracious host. Where would you like to sit? Couch? Chair? He’s outgrown the pretty-boy good looks that landed him on magazines’ sexiest-man lists 20 years ago, with a face that’s more angular, with blue eyes that are more piercing, than might befit a more boyish face. He’s guarded and careful about how he answers a reporter’s questions, but seems to consciously soften the tone with frequent smiles, sometimes breaking into his hearty, now-familiar laugh.
…tell us about the fun of making movies with others that love to make good movies…
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