Tom Cruise is Ready for His Close-Up Again, Mr. Singer
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 4, 2008
Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart is blogging — and yes, I know that is one sign of the apocalypse — today that superstar of fake religion Tom Cruise, who was most recently seen giving Adam Sandler a hysterical into at the MTV Movie Awards, is engaged in some reshoots for his forthcoming Nazi assassination flick Valkyrie.
In the film, which is being directed by Superman Returns helmer Brian Singer, Cruise plays Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg, a Nazi officer who leads a secret group of defectors in a Hitler assassination attempt. As you can imagine if you’ve read a history book, the plan probably doesn’t work, as Hitler was not assassinated by Von Stauffenberg. And just as the plot failed back in the day, the film seems to be continuing the trend with a few release date changes, signs of production problems. It is currently slated for a February 13, 2009 release date — nothing like releasing your Nazi film on Friday the 13th, Tom.
As for the reshoots, Bart is reporting that Cruise will be shooting three scenes in North Africa over the next three weeks. One of the scenes is allegedly a “key moment” in the film’s first act. Hopefully it is the “key moment” where the fuzzy bunny shows up and teaches the Nazis the meaning of Hanukkah, because that would be the only entertaining thing I can think of out of a film that stars a bunch of American and British actors playing Nazi officers.
Yet, while there is a lot about this project that bothers me — note the non-accent issue — I am not going to fully pass judgement until I see the thing. I also refuse to be against the film just because Cruise is a Scientologist, as some people have already done. Just because the guy kidnapped Katie Holmes and forced her to birth the second-coming of Xenu, that doesn’t mean all of his movies will suck. He is not John Travolta and this is not Battlefield Earth… yet. Plus, to hate someone famous because they are crazy is total BS. There are probably other, more acceptable reasons to not like Tom Cruise.
Sound Off: Do you hate Tom Cruise because he is a Scientologist, or because his recent movies are bad?
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