 Tom Cruise: 'Valkyrie' challenges fans for rethinking
Tom Cruise is not having good time. His recent movie "Valkyrie" is highly criticized for casting hero Tom Cruise in the role of a German army officer.
Sources have thrown more light on the news of Tom Cruise. According to them, Tom enjoys All-American looks that helped send him to movie stardom by portraying heroic young men such as Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell of 1986 movie, titled "Top Gun." Presently, he has been on a mea culpa tour to clarify his odd behavior in recent years and to regain his good-guy image with fans.
The unlikely plot was a plan by German officers to kill Adolf Hitler by placing a bomb near him at a top secret meeting, and "Valkyrie," stars Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg who was at the center of the assassination attempt.
"Stauffenberg was unique, handsome, and Tom had a lot of the same attributes, besides the physical looks of the character," "Valkyrie" director Bryan Singer told Reuters.
"I look for similarities in the actor and the person and in that world -- you take all (Tom's) baggage away -- and you've got a good casting choice," he said.
However the film did not prove to be good with casting of Tom Cruise.The biggest threat may have always been casting Cruise as a German army officer who fought for Hitler.
When pictures comparing the likeness of a Stauffenberg to Cruise began making their way around the Web in the year 2007, speculations arose that Tom Cruise's squeaky clean public image would be further tarnished by playing a Nazi.
In the mean while Tom Cruise already had suffered publicity setbacks with his couch jumping incident on "Oprah" and verbal hurly-burly with Matt Lauer of "Today." Therefore in order to cleanse tarnished image, Tom Cruise was back on "Today" earlier this month thereby confessing the fact that he "came across as arrogant" with Lauer.
But Singer, a self-described history buff, looks differently at the film and at Cruise as von Stauffenberg.
He sees the movie as a thriller, a genre Cruise mastered in the blockbuster "Mission: Impossible" flicks. Singer also views Stauffenberg as a true hero who tried to kill one of the 20th Century's most notorious villains.
"In the context of an assassination thriller ... Tom Cruise was a natural for this character," Singer said.
Audiences apparently agree. With mixed reviews and against stiff competition that included family films "Marley & Me" and "Bedtime Stories," as well as Oscar hopeful "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Valkyrie" held its own at box offices.
Early reports had the film taking in an estimated $8.5 million in ticket sales on Christmas Day. However its studio backer United Artists that was owned by Cruise, Wagner and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was yet to issue its official numbers.
"Considering the subject matter and level of competition, 'Valkyrie' did just fine," added Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media by Numbers. |
News / Gossips by Eric.Kimbro
