Photo Gallery 'Valkyrie' Hits the Big Screen
The film "Valkyrie" tells the story of the July 20, 1944 attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler carried out by Lt. Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, who is played by Tom Cruise. Many of the scenes were filmed in Berlin in the summer of 2007. The movie premiered in the US in December and is set to hit European cinemas this week.
The movie ran into a number of on-set snags. A number of shots had to be redone after some film wasn't developed properly. And a number of extras filed a lawsuit after being injured when the side railing of a truck like the one shown here gave way. Eleven people were injured in the accident.
Cruise told a German newspaper on Monday that he too would have tried to kill Adolf Hitler. "I would like to think that about myself. I think so," he said in an interview with the tabloid Bild.
The film has done well in the US so far, having brought in $77.6 million at the box office since its release.
The "Valkyrie" production team rounded up as many authentic props as possible, including this Junker Ju-52 plane parked at Berlin's Tempelhof airport in July 2007.
Stauffenberg attempted to kill Hitler with a briefcase bomb placed under a table at the Führer's advance headquarters called the Wolf's Lair, located in present-day Poland. Stauffenbberg and his co-conspirators were quickly rounded up after the plot failed. Many were killed in this Berlin building, known as the Bendlerblock.
The film debuted in New York on Dec. 15. Here, actress Carice van Houten arrives for the premmiere.
Cruise said he was immediately excited by the "Valkyrie" script. "When I read the script my hands were sweating with anticipation," he told Bild newspaper.
Prior to his arrival in Berlin early on Monday morning, Cruise had been in South Korea promoting the film.
Stauffenberg has long been honored in Germany for his courageous attempt to kill the Führer. He isn't the only one to have tried it, but he came the closest to succeeding.
Each year on July 20, ceremonies are held in commemoration of the failed assassination attempt. The ceremony pictured, however, is from Stauffenberg's 100th birthday in November 2007.
