Donnersmarck on Cruise, "Valkyrie"
The Lives of Others director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck has written a piece in yesterday's edition of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung saying it's a good thing for Germany that Tom Cruise is playing would-be Hitler assassin Col. Claus von Stauffenberg in Bryan Singer's Valkyrie.
Donnersmarck's article obviously implies that German authorities who've refused to give permits to Singer's movie to shoot at a legendary building in Berlin should re-think their position.
Cruise, wrote Donnersmarck, is "the most successful of all the [Hollywood] superstars, [and] his superstar light will illuminate this rare shining moment in the darkest chapter of our history. In doing so, he will do more to improve Germany's international image than 10 soccer World Cups could."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 4, 2007 at 10:47 AM
comment #1
BurmaShave
says ...
Excellent point.
Posted by BurmaShave
at July 4, 2007 11:03 AM
comment #2
JD
says ...
Don't the German authorities understand that, by discrimianting against Cruise on the basis of religion, they're guilty of the same kind of prejudice that von Stauffenberg was fighting against. Sure, Scientology is a nutty, dishonest religion... but is there any religion that isn't nutty and dishonest these days?
Posted by JD
at July 4, 2007 11:12 AM
comment #3
BurmaShave
says ...
I think we Catholics have gotten pretty honest about our nuttiness.
Posted by BurmaShave
at July 4, 2007 11:31 AM
comment #4
bagelfilm
says ...
You are all wrong. It is exactly because of the Nazi past that we need to be careful with those sects and crooks. Hitler started with a little group of 25 people in the backroom of a restaurant in the early 1920s.....
Posted by bagelfilm
at July 4, 2007 11:15 PM
comment #5
bacio
says ...
I don´t know how Hollywood will portray Stauffenberg, but Stauffenberg was certainly not a hero nor was he a liberal or a very tolerant person. Indeed, he was a racist. His coup against Hitler was only in 1944, when the nobility realised that the war was going to be lost. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the fate of the Jews or other victims of Nazi terror. Apart from the fact that millions of people were killed even after 1944, it was the best for Germany´s development as a democratic, liberal country that the Hilter assassination did not work out as planned. Stauffenberg did not have a democratic republic on his mind when he thought of Germany.
apart from that, Donnersmarck may well be the most annoying German on earth today. Germany, partly due to its Nazi past, may be one of the most paternalistic states in Europe. they just don´t trust their citizens to be reasonable or clever enough to withstand the powers of some populist greedy organization. yes, Germany is a nanny state. The officials who will not let Cruise in, do believe in their cause, it is crazy. They honestly think they need to protect us Germans from this one Scientology actor. it´s a bit sad really. No-one thinks of it in terms of religious freedom, though, mainly cause Scientology is considered a profit-making organization in the guise of a cult. However, most people do think it is a bit crazy to lead this weird crusade against Cruise. Not only for economic reasons (Berlin as the new German film/media capital), but mainly because it seems exaggerated and laughable.
Posted by bacio
at July 5, 2007 1:05 AM