Curse of 'Valkyrie' Strikes Again

Tony Paterson - Associated Press

Tom Cruise's Second World War epic Valkyrie has been hit by a $11m (6m) law suit filed by a group of extras who suffered broken bones, cuts and bruises after they were thrown out of a lorry during shooting.

The claim is the latest in a string of calamities to dog the movie since filming began last year.

Eleven extras who were hired on short-term contracts for the United Artists production were sitting in a 1940s-era troop carrier when its side railings gave way as the vehicle rounded a bend on a set in the centre of Berlin.

The extras, all still wearing Nazi army uniforms, were taken to hospital for treatment. One of them was kept under observation for four days because of fears that he had suffered serious internal injuries. Tom Cruise was not on the set at the time.

Arianna Bluttner, the lawyer for the extras, insisted yesterday that the studio knew the lorries used in the sequence were not entirely safe. "There was even an internal memo about the railings," she said. "A new letter has been sent to Tom Cruise and United Artists which sets out the facts of the case again and puts a figure of $11m on the legal demands of our clients," she added.

Valkyrie tells the story of the abortive 1944 attempt by a group of senior German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler. It relies heavily on genuine locations in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg for its authenticity.

Cruise plays the leading role as Claus von Stauffenberg, the aristocratic ringleader who was shot dead in the courtyard of German army headquarters in Berlin. He was caught only hours after planting a suitcase bomb next to Hitler at the dictator's Wolf's Lair command centre in eastern Prussia. Stauffenberg, who objected to the Nazi persecution of the Jews, is one of the few German anti-Nazi heroes of the Second World War. He remains a revered figure.

The Stauffenberg family objected almost as soon as it became known that Cruise was to play the part because of the actor's membership of the Church of Scientology. The organisation is officially regarded in Germany as a money-making cult and kept under surveillance by the intelligence services.

Berthold von Stauffenberg, son of Claus, stated publicly that he found it "unpleasant" that an "avowed Scientologist" was to play his father. He dismissed the film as a publicity stunt and said it was "bound to be rubbish".

The German army followed suit by banning United Artists from using the courtyard where Stauffenberg was shot as a location. It later relented. The production company was also immersed in a row for demanding the right to hang Nazi swastika banners from buildings in a country where displaying the symbol is illegal. However, the city authorities eventually gave the go-ahead.

The release date for Valkyrie has already been postponed a number of times. The verdict of audiences who screen-tested the film is that the production is boring. United Artists is currently reworking the material. The earliest release date is now February next year.

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