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Valkyrie true story: the july 20 plot to kill hitler explained.

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The 2008 Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie is a historical period piece about the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Cruise has a unique filmography for one of the world's biggest movie stars. He has rarely played a real-life figure, as nearly all of his roles have been original creations. One of the few times Cruise portrayed someone from history came in Valkyrie, written by his frequent collaborator Christopher McQuarrie. In Valkyrie, Cruise plays Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a high-ranking member of the Nazi military apparatus and the chief architect of the 20 July plot.

Von Stauffenberg's growing resentment of Adolf Hitler and the clandestine machinations that went into pulling off the ploy serves as the historical basis for Valkyrie . Tom Cruise is the hero in a villainous regime as von Stauffenberg, and the movie, for the most part, tracks the events leading up to July 20, 1944. The ensemble cast plays out the conspiracy of German military and political officials who plotted to assassinate Hitler and nearly succeeded. Real life can be as cinematic as fiction as the 20 July plot shows in sits depiction in Valkyrie .

Related: Top Gun Maverick – 10 Most Rewatchable Tom Cruise Movies

Colonel Claus Schenk Graf Von Stauffenberg

The figure of Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was always going to be a fascinating and suitable role for any leading man in Hollywood. Von Stauffenberg was a highly decorated military leader for Germany during World War II whose bravery and charisma led to him becoming the de facto leader of the conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Christopher McQuarrie writes a classic Tom Cruise opening scene in Valkyrie with a desert battle in Northern Africa taken straight from von Stauffenberg's life. While fighting in Tunisia, von Stauffenberg was shot at by an allied aircraft and lost his eye, one hand, and two fingers on the remaining one.

By 1944, some members of the German high command thought the only way to salvage something from defeat was by ridding the country of Hitler while others had reached a tipping point of their morality, according to Time . Von Stauffenberg was an ardent German patriot but had no ties to the Nazi party. As von Stauffenberg, Cruise has an uncanny resemblance to the colonel that helps immerse the audience in Valkyrie . It's one of Tom Cruise's most dramatic movie roles , and his ability to command a scene gives the character of von Stauffenberg the necessary gravitas to convincingly be someone capable of plotting an assassination.

Planning The 20 July Plot

The first half of Valkyrie is primarily focused on the conversations Tom Cruise's von Stauffenberg has with other members of the Nazi military about moving against Hitler. Cruise meets with several venerated actors playing real-life historical figures, some whom bring von Stauffenberg into the conspiracy and others who are brought in themselves. The plotters eventually decided on the 20 July plan. There were several assassination attempts by this German Resistance force, but it was not until von Stauffenberg became attached that serious plans were made. The 20 July plot is shown at the climax of Valkyrie while the lead up is appropriately tense, as most great great Christopher McQuarrie movies are .

According to Time magazine, the plotters of 20 July chose the Wolf's Lair as the location for the assassination. This secret base held a fortified, windowless, underground main bunker. A room like that would amplify the effects of the bomb they planned to detonate. As it was shown in Valkyrie, July 20 proved to be an incredibly hot day, so Hitler's meeting was moved to a larger room not ideal for a detonation. The way Tom Cruise and his co-conspirators act concerned while still keeping their composure in front of the other Nazis is a fascinating look into what was going through the plotters' heads on that day.

Related: Why It Took Tom Cruise So Long To Make A Billion Dollar Movie

Detonation And Immediate Aftermath

In Valkyrie , as in real life, according to Time , the bomb is rigged inside a suitcase with a set timer. Unfortunately, an attaché of Hitler, Colonel Heinz Brandt (played by Tom Hollander, adding another villainous character to his catalog), is suspicious of von Stauffenberg from the moment he arrives. Von Stauffenberg carefully sets the suitcase bomb under the war table where Hitler is standing, and it seems for a moment that Valkyrie may be turning into alternative history film, like Inglourious Basterds . Just as things appear to be going according to plan, Brandt moves the suitcase bomb out from under Hitler's chair, just to be safe.

There is no evidence for Brandt knowing anything about the conspiracy, and the suitcase was most likely simply shifted during the course of the meeting. Whatever the cause, the explosion of the suitcase bomb killed three officers, including Brandt but only left minor wounds on Hitler, according to History . While in another Tom Cruise movie, the actor might run out of the exploding camp to the next set piece, Valkyrie stays true to the history, and von Stauffenberg calmly slides into an army jeep and talks his way back to Berlin. This is identical to the real life flight of von Stauffenberg, as he and the rest of the conspirators raced to finish their ploy.

Operation Valkyrie

The title of Valkyrie is taken from "Operation Valkyrie," a government sanctioned contingency that laid out the plans for the reserve army to make arrests on behalf of the German government. This operation was the core of the conspirators' plans and the reason it had the best chance of success of any coup since the 1938 plot to kill Hitler in Munich . Von Stauffenberg gets Adolf Hitler to sign an amended version of the plan that puts more power into the hands of the plotters. In Valkyrie, von Stauffenberg meets with Hitler to have the document signed, a piece of film fiction to add more agency to von Stauffenberg's actions.

While the post-assassination events in Valkyrie see the conspirators nearly reaching their goal of having all the Nazi officials arrested, the real story is wrapped up much quicker. In both the movie and history, it quickly becomes clear that Adolf Hitler survived the assassination attempt and ordered all the initiators of Operation Valkyrie arrested. Nearly 200 plotters were captured and brutally executed for their involvement in the plan. Many of the executions are shown in the final scenes of the movie, and von Stauffenberg's death by firing squad is filmed with Tom Cruise's character shouting before he dies , " Long live Germany! " — the true final words of the German patriot.

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Given the subject matter, Valkyrie could have been an outstanding historical thriller, but settles for being a mildly entertaining, but disposable yarn.

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Bryan Singer

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg

Kenneth Branagh

Henning von Tresckow

Friedrich Olbricht

Tom Wilkinson

Friedrich Fromm

Carice van Houten

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"Valkyrie" is a meticulous thriller based on a large-scale conspiracy within the German army to assassinate Hitler, leading to a failed bombing attempt on July 20, 1944. At the center of the plot was Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, played here by Tom Cruise as the moving force behind the attempted coup, which led to 700 arrests and 200 executions, including von Stauffenberg's. Because we know Hitler survived, the suspense is centered in the minds of the participants, who call up the Reserve Army and actually arrest SS officials before discovering that their bomb did not kill its target.

Considering they were planning high treason with the risk of certain death, the conspirators seem remarkably willing to speak almost openly of their contempt for Hitler. That may be because they were mostly career officers in the army's traditional hierarchy and hated Hitler as much for what he was doing to the army as for what he was doing to the country. Realizing after the invasion of Normandy that the war was certainly lost, they hoped to spare hundreds of thousands of military and civilian lives.

Von Stauffenberg was known to be "offended" by the Nazi treatment of Jews in the 1930s and considered the Kristallnacht a disgrace to Germany, which possibly disturbed him as much as the fate of its victims. In any event, little is said among the conspirators about the genocide then underway -- although, being alienated from the SS, perhaps they didn't know what was happening. Perhaps.

They repeatedly tell each other that even should they fail, at least the world would know that not all Germans supported Hitler. And so it does. And whatever their deepest motives, they gave their lives in trying to kill the monster. The film, directed by Bryan Singer (" The Usual Suspects "), works heroically to introduce us to the major figures in the plot, to tell them apart, to explain their roles and to suggest their differences. The two best supporting performances are by Kenneth Branagh , as a major-general who smuggles a bomb into Hitler's inner circle and then must smuggle it out again, and Tom Wilkinson , as a general who artfully plays both sides of the fence, treating the plot with benign neutrality while covering himself should it fail.

Tom Cruise is perfectly satisfactory, if not electrifying, in the leading role. I'm at a loss to explain the blizzard of negative advance buzz fired at him for the effrontery of playing a half-blind, one-armed Nazi hero. Two factors may be to blame: (a) Cruise has attracted so much publicity by some of his own behavior (using Oprah's couch as a trampoline) that anything he does sincerely seems fair game for mockery, and (b) movie publicity is now driven by gossip, scandal and the eagerness of fanboys and girls to attract attention by posing as critics of movies they've almost certainly not seen. Now that the movie is here, the buzz is irrelevant, but may do residual damage.

If I say that Cruise is not electrifying, I must add that with this character, in this story, he cannot and should not be. This is a film about veterans of officer rank, with all the reserve and probity that officers gather on the way up. They do not scream or hurry and do not care to be seen that way. They have learned not to panic under fire, and they have never been more under fire than now.

A key element of their plot is to use Hitler's "Valkyrie" plan against him. The reserves were held back to defend Berlin and Hitler in case of an Allied assault, so von Stauffenberg conceived the strategy of killing Hitler, ordering up the reserves to ensure stability and making its first order of business the immobilization of the SS. We see that the plan might well have worked. Indeed, it did -- until the news arrived that Hitler was still alive. So much did the Fuhrer command the fanatical loyalty of troops and civilians with an almost mystical grip, that merely his voice on the radio could defeat the plot, even with Germany clearly facing ruin.

The July 20 plot is an intriguing footnote to history, one of those "what if" scenarios. If it had succeeded, one of the hopes of the conspirators was said to be an alliance with the Allies against Russia. Given the political realities of the time, when Russia was seen as our ally, that would have been insane, but it shows the plotters continuing to dream of a reborn professional German army with roles for them. The question of the liberation of the death camps is a good one. Even the Allies did not bomb the rail lines leading to them. There were so very, very many people who did not know.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Valkyrie (2008)

Rated PG-13 for violence and brief strong language

121 minutes

Bill Nighy as Olbricht

Thomas Kretschmann as Remer

Terence Stamp as Beck

Tom Wilkinson as Fromm

Tom Cruise as Von Stauffenberg

Kenneth Branagh as Von Tresckow

Eddie Izzard as Fellgiebel

• Nathan Alexander
• Christopher McQuarrie

Directed by

• Bryan Singer

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‘valkyrie’: film review.

MGM has finally pulled back the curtains on its Tom Cruise historical thriller to reveal a coolly efficient, entertaining and straightforward tale about the last of 15 known assassination attempts against Adolf Hitler.

By Kirk Honeycutt

Kirk Honeycutt

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After keeping “Valkyrie” under wraps for months and moving its release date four times, MGM has finally pulled back the curtains on its Tom Cruise historical thriller to reveal a coolly efficient, entertaining and straightforward tale about the last of 15 known assassination attempts against Adolf Hitler.

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How great the fascination among moviegoers is another question. Curiosity about seeing Cruise sporting an eye patch might ensure initial crowds when the film opens Christmas Day. But whatever its superficial resemblance to Cruise’s highly popular “Mission: Impossible” series, “Valkyrie” isn’t a crowd-pleaser of that order. The release should enjoy modest success, but if Cruise’s career is seen as momentarily stalled, “Valkyrie” is not the electric jolt he needs to jump-start it.

Cruise plays Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, a central figure in the shrewdly planned July 20, 1944, assassination and coup attempt against the Nazi leader. A considerable number of people were involved, and the film understandably whittles these down to a manageable cast. (About 200 people were hanged and about 700 were arrested in connection to the plot.)

The film opens with Stauffenberg forswearing his allegiance to the Fuhrer because of the murderous outrages the German leader has committed, forever staining the honor of his country and its army. This is a key point, yet the movie hurries off to chronicle an earlier assassination attempt that misfires, Stauffenberg’s own severe injuries fighting in Tunisia, his recruitment by similar-minded officers and the bomb he plants at the Wolf’s Lair that fails to kill Hitler.

Cruise doesn’t actually star in this movie as he has in nearly all his previous films. He is the key player in an ensemble, but he — how to put this? — blends in. Frankly, the following offer up equal if not more compelling performances: Kenneth Branagh’s Maj.-Gen. Tresckow, an even stronger zealot; such ambiguous figures as Tom Wilkinson’s Gen. Fromm and Eddie Izzard’s Gen. Fellgiebel; Terence Stamp’s Gen. Beck, who resigns as early as 1938 to protest Hitler’s military aggression; and Bill Nighy’s Gen. Olbricht, who hesitates at a crucial moment.

The coup itself, following the assassination attempt that many believe has succeeded, makes for fascinating viewing and much what-if speculation that should continue long after the credits roll. All details are convincing and presumably well researched. The film has a documentary-like authenticity yet remains a sleek thriller filled with flawed heroes and catastrophic missteps.

Singer has crafted a fine film. One just wishes for greater details — and a different ending.

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Currently you are able to watch "Valkyrie" streaming on fuboTV, MGM Plus Amazon Channel, MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, Hoopla, MGM Plus, FilmBox+ or for free with ads on The Roku Channel, Tubi TV, Pluto TV. It is also possible to rent "Valkyrie" on Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Apple TV, Microsoft Store, Spectrum On Demand online and to download it on Microsoft Store, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, AMC on Demand.

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Valkyrie is 5121 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 1618 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than Robbing Mussolini but less popular than Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.

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• "Tom Cruise fails to convince in sluggish 'Valkyrie' (...) [It] is a World War II thriller without enough thrills (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"  Claudia Puig : USA Today
• "[It] has visual splendor galore, but is a cold work lacking in the requisite tension and suspense."  Todd McCarthy : Variety
• "'Valkyrie' is a meticulous thriller (...) If I say that Cruise is not electrifying, I must add that with this character, in this story, he cannot and should not be (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"  Roger Ebert : rogerebert.com
• "Cruise starring in the fact-based story of a plot to kill Hitler by Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg sounds like Oscar bait. It isn't. And the sooner you accept it, the more fun you'll have at this satisfying B movie (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"  Peter Travers : Rolling Stone
• "Think of Valkyrie as a reasonably entertaining drama about the time Tom Cruise tried to kill Hitler. Do that, and it becomes possible to enjoy the movie"  Mick LaSalle : SFGATE
• "A handsome hybrid of conspiracy thriller and history lesson, of Mission: Impossible and The Day of the Jackal"  Lisa Schwarzbaum : Entertainment Weekly
• "As a suspense movie, this works pretty well: director Bryan Singer ('X-Men', 'The Usual Suspects') maintains a crisp pace"  J.R. Jones : Chicago Reader
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Movie Review | 'Valkyrie'

Mission Imperative: Assassinate the Führer

By Manohla Dargis

• Dec. 24, 2008

There are no discernibly nasty Nazis in “Valkyrie,” though Hitler and Goebbels skulk about in a few scenes, shooting dark, ominous looks at the heroic German Army officer played by Tom Cruise. Perhaps they’re wondering what this Hollywood megastar is doing in their midst, a sentiment that you may come to share while watching Mr. Cruise — who gives a fine, typically energetic performance in a film that requires nothing more of him than a profile and vigor — strut about as one of history’s more enigmatic players.

That enigma was Claus von Stauffenberg, a count and a colonel who, though he lost one eye, an entire hand and several fingers while fighting on behalf of the Reich, made several attempts to assassinate Hitler and seize control of the government. At the core of Stauffenberg’s spectacularly ambitious plot was Valkyrie, Hitler’s plan for the mobilization of the home army that Stauffenberg hoped to hijack in order to quash the SS and its leaders. It didn’t work, of course, for complicated reasons, though also because by 1944, as William L. Shirer bluntly puts it in “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” the conspirators were “terribly late.”

You don’t learn how belated the coup d’état was in “Valkyrie,” which might matter if this big-ticket production with Mr. Cruise in an eye patch and shiny, shiny boots had something to do with reality. But the director, Bryan Singer (of the “X-Men” franchise), and the writers, Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander, aren’t interested in delivering a history lesson: that’s why Ken Burns was born. Slick, facile entertainment is the name of the game here, as it is in all Mr. Singer’s films, including “Apt Pupil” (about a Nazi war criminal and the American boy next door who outs him) and “The Usual Suspects,” an intricately plotted story with men and guns, secrets and shadows that Mr. McQuarrie wrote. The secrets have already begun swirling by the time “Valkyrie” opens with Stauffenberg, stationed in North Africa, bitterly recording his opposition to Hitler in a diary right before losing various body parts to the war. After his convalescence he meets Maj. Gen. Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh), who, sometime earlier, tries to blow up Hitler with a bomb hidden in bottles of French liqueur. (Russian vodka might have been more effective.) Stauffenberg soon joins the conspiratorial party that includes other British class acts brandishing high military rank and speaking in lightly accented or unaccented English: Bill Nighy as Gen. Friedrich Olbricht, Tom Wilkinson as Gen. Friedrich Fromm, Terence Stamp as Gen. Ludwig Beck and Eddie Izzard as Gen. Erich Fellgiebel.

Most of the crucial rebellious officers are played by British actors, while some of the Nazi diehards are played by Germans, which wouldn’t be worth mentioning if this cacophony of accents weren’t so distracting. But, as with the casting of Mr. Cruise, whose German voice-over quickly eases into English, this international acting community invokes an earlier studio age, when Peter Lorre and Claude Rains delivered their lines in exotically flavored English and everyone pretended that Rick’s Cafe really was located in Casablanca and not on a back lot. If Mr. Cruise doesn’t work in “Valkyrie,” it’s partly because he’s too modern, too American and way too Tom Cruise to make sense in the role, but also because what passes for movie realism keeps changing, sometimes faster than even a star can change his brand.

Though Mr. Singer’s old-fashioned movie habits, his attention to the gloss, gleam and glamour of the image, can be agreeably pleasurable, he tends to gild every lily. Hitler (David Bamber) doesn’t need spooky music or low camera angles to be villainous: he just has to show up. Mr. Singer’s fondness for exaggeration can even undercut his strongest scenes, as when Stauffenberg visits Hitler to secure approval for the rewritten Valkyrie plan. If implemented, the plan will bring down the Führer who, for his part, seems intent on bringing down the house with leers and popping eyeballs. Mr. Singer appears to have taken cues here from “Black Book,” Paul Verhoeven’s World War II romp, but he’s too serious to make such vaudeville work.

Stauffenberg, who hated Hitler but worshipped the Reich, sacrificed himself on the dual altar of nationalism and militarism, which makes him a more ambiguous figure than the one drawn in “Valkyrie.” He’s a complex character, too complex for this film, which like many stories of this type, transforms World War II into a boy’s adventure with dashing heroes, miles of black leather and crane shots of German troops in lockstep formation that would make Leni Riefenstahl flutter. It’s a war that offers moral absolutes (Nazis are evil) and narratives (Nazis are evil and should die) that seem easier to grasp than any current conflict. Truly, World War II has become the moviemaker’s gift that keeps on giving, whether you want it to or not.

“ Valkyrie” is rated PG-13. (Parents strongly cautioned.) Bombs, guns and executions, though little blood.

Opens on Thursday nationwide.

Directed by Bryan Singer; written by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander; director of photography, Newton Thomas Sigel; edited by John Ottman; music by Mr. Ottman; production designers, Lilly Kilvert and Patrick Lumb; produced by Mr. Singer, Mr. McQuarrie and Gilbert Adler; released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and United Artists. Running time: 2 hours.

WITH: Tom Cruise (Col. Claus von Stauffenberg), Kenneth Branagh (Maj. Gen. Henning von Tresckow), Bill Nighy (Gen. Friedrich Olbricht), Tom Wilkinson (Gen. Friedrich Fromm), Carice van Houten (Nina von Stauffenberg), Thomas Kretschmann (Maj. Otto Ernst Remer), Terence Stamp (Gen. Ludwig Beck), Eddie Izzard (Gen. Erich Fellgiebel), Kevin R. McNally (Dr. Carl Goerdeler), Jamie Parker (Lieut. Werner von Haeften), Christian Berkel (Col. Mertz von Quirnheim), David Bamber (Adolf Hitler), Tom Hollander (Col. Heinz Brandt), David Schofield (Erwin von Witzleben), Kenneth Cranham (Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel) and Halina Reijn (Margarethe von Oven).

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• 56   Metascore
• 1 hr 52 mins
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Tom Cruise stars in the incredible true story of a rebel German army officer who led a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and overthrow his ruthless Nazi regime during World War II.

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Product Description

Based on the incredible true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) and his ingenious assassination plot targeting Adolph Hitler, this engrossing thriller reenacts the daring operation to eliminate one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known.

In the tradition of The Great Escape , Valkyrie is a war movie full of famous faces, including Kenneth Branagh, Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy and Eddie Izzard. (The lesser-known David Bamber is very good as Hitler, hunched and cracking under pressure.) The film's gravity is offset a bit by the fun of seeing all these actors in a factually-based slice of history, and by a few, interesting stylistic flourishes on Singer's part, including the peculiarly unsettling image of a mosquito sizzled to death in close-up. --Tom Keogh

Product details

• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.85:1
• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.57 x 5.36 x 7.53 inches; 2.4 ounces
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ FOXS113814DVD
• Director ‏ : ‎ Bryan Singer
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Multiple Formats, AC-3, NTSC, Color, Dolby, Closed-captioned
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 2 hours and 1 minute
• Release date ‏ : ‎ May 19, 2009
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten
• Dubbed: ‏ : ‎ Spanish, French
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English, French, Spanish
• Studio ‏ : ‎ United Artists
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001TUZG4K
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #82 in Military & War (Movies & TV)
• #224 in Mystery & Thrillers (Movies & TV)
• #737 in Action & Adventure DVDs

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Valkyrie - Based on a true story featurette

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Just How Historically Accurate Was Tom Cruise’s Valkyrie?

Valkyrie is, in essence, a thriller more than it is a war movie, and it’s a damn good one at that. Charting the real-life events that saw a number of high-ranking Nazi officers attempt to overthrow Hitler, the movie stars Tom Cruise as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, one of the leaders of the daring plot. The movie opens with Stauffenberg in North Africa, voicing his displeasure towards Hitler and the state of his country. His rant isn’t given long to linger, though, because Stauffenberg is soon injured by an American aircraft attack. From that very point, the action and tension is pretty much wire to wire until the moment the credits roll.

It’s so expertly crafted, I found myself literally holding my breath during certain sequences, even though I had a pretty good idea of how it was going to end for Stauffenberg and his fellow dissenters. Cruise turns in an A+, ferocious performance, and the rest of the cast is also eerily right on the money.

Sure, they do all inexplicably have American (and sometimes English) accents and are not speaking German, but the cast all convey the tense inner turmoil each character is going through as they decide who to side with. It was truly one of the better historical films I have seen.

Best of all, you can catch it right here on CHARGE! at 12:00PM EST/PST on Sunday, March 27th.

But, before you settle in to watch this classic piece of historical mastery, I’m going to give you the tools with which to truly appreciate the Valkyrie story. Below are some of the most important things this movie got right…and a few of the things it got wrong when it came to the real life events that inspired ‘Valkyrie.’

Things They Got Right

Costumes/Props/Vehicles: All of the costumes are either authentic military uniforms or clothing of the time. The details are spot on down to the various medals the characters wear. For a scene involving telecommunications, the set designer acquired over 30 exact period teletype machines. The P-40s used are all authentic. The tanks are real! Do you know how hard it is to get an authentic 1930s tank? Most films just rebuild those. The planes are authentic too. The only problem is the aforementioned plane that injures Stauffenberg in the opening scene drops bombs that it does not actually have the capacity to carry.

Some of the messages delivered in the film are the real messages dug out of archives; now that’s going above and beyond. Additionally, despite Cruise’s involvement, they managed to get permission from Germany to shoot in the real Bendleblock building where Stauffenberg was executed (spoiler sorry).

The shining jewel, however, is Hitler’s headquarters, also known as the Wolf’s Liar. The production spent 3 months building an exact replica. Historians say it is authentic from the inside the to the mosquitoes seen flying around outside.

The Plot: For the most part, the plan was conceived and carried out exactly as portrayed by the film. Early in the film, a bomb is placed on Hitler’s plane, but it fails to go off. The characters then have to retrieve the bomb from the S.S. which is disguised in a liquor box. I thought for sure this was a convenient Hollywood cliche inserted in the opening to build tension, but it really happened! In fact, the full story leading up to July 20th has other assassination attempts that were not even included simply because they didn’t have time.

Things They Got Wrong

Tresckow Didn’t Retrieve the Liquor Bomb: In one of the movie’s tensest scenes, a major character retrieves the liquor bomb from the S.S. without revealing it’s contents. In reality, this was carried out by one of his aides. Sheesh, imagine being an intern and getting that job.

Haeften Didn’t Step In Front: At the end of the film, the young conspirator Werner Von Haeften steps in front of Stauffenberg’s firing line, revealing himself to be a traitor. He is shot in front of Stauffenberg as they share a knowing glance. Haeften seems at peace with his decision. In reality, this never happened. Haeften was discovered and executed after the initial Bendleblock executions.

Hitler didn’t approve review Valkyrie in person for Stauffenberg: Valkyrie basically refers to an executive order which calls for the reserve army to step up in the case of a military coup. Stauffenberg’s plan was to assassinate Hitler, then use army radio frequencies to announce the S.S. was attempting a coup and have them arrested. Once they were away, Stauffenberg and his allies could instill new leadership. First, however, they needed Hitler to approve the rewritten declaration that explicitly ordered the reserve army (which Stauffenberg fronted) to be called upon to eradicate threats. In the film, Stauffenberg sweats it out while Hitler reviews it. In real life, however, it was approved separately and then sent to Stauffenberg.

Stauffenberg’s Plan: It wasn’t really Stauffenberg’s plan. The film portrays him as a man on a mission, the de facto leader of the conspirators. It suggests that his vigor is the inspiration that pushes other into the resistance. In reality, Colonel Henning Von Tresckow did most of the legwork. He managed to get a great many resistors assigned under his command, making his officers a hivemind for conspiracy. There, several plans to assassinate Hitler were conceived, but they were all aborted or failed. Historically, the other military leaders did not waver their decisions or need as much guidance as they receive in the film. Hitler had many steadfast dissenters and critics in the German military, but the S.S. was a powerful regime to remove.

Stauffenberg himself: This is actually the biggest misstep of the film. Stauffenberg is portrayed as a straightforward hero, but his life story is not so simple. Earlier in his career, Stauffenberg was a major support of Hitler and the National Socialism ideals he preached. He and Tresckow both participated in heinous massacres on the eastern front, and Stauffenberg believed in Nazism and was even an anti-semite. Although he was very much opposed to genocide as most German leaders were, he did believe that the removal of Jewish culture would be beneficial to his country. Stauffenberg, as well as others, only began to oppose Hitler outright when it looked as though the war was no longer winnable. In fact, the opposition to Hitler was mostly lead by rich conservatives who were upset they lost power when he took over.

The saddest part is, expert historians have come to a consensus that even after a successful assassination, the rebels would have been overpowered and Hitler’s right-hand man would be put in place to resume his vision. The problem is, they attempted a military coup that did not involve the many citizens of Germany who were hostile towards the Nazi regime (and ready to fight it to the death with proper leadership), which ultimately limited its chances of success in the long run.

Despite all this, there’s no denying that Valkyrie is a wholly fascinating story. It’s also perfectly clear why the filmmakers opted to make the changes they did, cutting out many of the blurred lines and gray areas that existed with the personalities in the real-life plan, instead opting to focus on the tension and complexity that would have been associated with concocting such a daring plan to take down the most-feared man in the world.

Catch Valkyrie on CHARGE! on Sunday, May 27th, at 12:00PM EST/PST.

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Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (pronounced /ˈtɒməs ˈkruːz ˈmeɪpɒθɚ/; born July 3, 1962), better known by his screen name Tom Cruise, is an American actor and film producer. Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity in 2006.[1] He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards. His first leading role was the 1983 film Risky Business [2], which has been described as "A Generation-X classic, and a career-maker" for the actor.[3] After playing the role of a heroic naval pilot in the popular and financially successful 1986 film Top Gun, Cruise continued in this vein, playing a secret agent in a series of Mission: Impossible action films in the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to these heroic roles, he also played other roles, such as the misogynistic male guru in Magnolia (1999) and a cool and calculating sociopathic hitman in the Michael Mann crime-thriller film Collateral (2004).

In 2005, Economist Edward Jay Epstein argued that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) who are able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar movie franchise.[4] Since 2005, Cruise and Paula Wagner have been in charge of the United Artists film studio, with Cruise as producer and star and Wagner as the chief executive. Cruise is also known for his support of and adherence to the Church of Scientology.

• 1 Family and early life
• 2.1.1 1980s
• 2.1.2 1990s
• 2.1.3 2000s
• 3.1 Breakup with Paramount
• 3.2 Management of United Artists
• 4 Popularity
• 5.1 Mimi Rogers
• 5.2 Nicole Kidman
• 5.3 Penélope Cruz
• 5.4 Katie Holmes
• 6.1.1 IAS Freedom Medal of Valor ceremony video
• 6.2 Oprah Winfrey Show incident

Family and early life [ ]

Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York, the son of Mary Lee (née Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer.[8] Cruise has German and English ancestry from his paternal great-grandparents, William Reibert and Charlotte Louise Voelker; and Irish ancestry from his paternal great-great-grandfather Thomas O'Mara. It was O'Mara's son Thomas who adopted the name Mapother, the surname of his older half-brothers, becoming Thomas Cruise Mapother I. Tom Cruise's oldest sister, Lee Anne, was born in Louisville. His older sister Marian was born in Syracuse, as were Tom and his younger sister, Cass.

Cruise attended Robert Hopkins Public school for grades three, four, and five. The Mapother family then moved to the suburb of Beacon Hill, in Gloucester, Ontario, so Cruise's father could take a position as a defence consultant with the Canadian Armed Forces. There, Cruise completed grade six at Henry Munro Middle School, part of the Carleton Board of Education,[11] where he was active in athletics, playing floor hockey almost every night, showing himself to be a ruthless player, eventually chipping his front tooth. In the game "British Bull Dog", he then lost his newly capped tooth and hurt his knee. Henry Munro was also where Cruise became involved in drama, unter the tutelage of George Steinburg.[13] The first play he participated in was called IT, in which Cruise won the co-lead with Michael de Waal, one playing "Evil", the other playing "Good". The play met much acclaim, and toured with five other classmates to various schools around the Ottawa area, even being filmed at the local Ottawa TV station.[14] The two were also singled out for a version of Jesus Christ Superstar, as well as a Marcel Marceau-type act. It was at this point that Mary Lee Mapother helped foster her son's acting aspirations: when the religious overtones of the former caused concern for school principal Jim Brown, Cruise's mother convinced him that the play should proceed, and she founded the Gloucester Players, a theatrical troupe where Cruise and some of the boys in Steinburg's class acted.

When Cruise was twelve, his mother left his father, taking Cruise and his sister Lee Anne with her.[15] After a long period of near-poverty, in which Tom's newspaper-delivery earnings helped put food on the table, his mother married a plastics salesman named Jack South.

Besides Ottawa, cities in which Cruise lived included Louisville, Kentucky; Winnetka, Illinois; and Wayne, New Jersey. In all, Cruise attended eight elementary schools and three high schools. He briefly attended a Franciscan seminary in Cincinnati (on a church scholarship) and aspired to become a Catholic priest. In his senior year, he played football for the varsity team as a linebacker, but he was cut from the squad after getting caught drinking beer before a game.[16] Cruise graduated from Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey in 1980.

Cruise has said that he suffered from abuse as a child. This was partially due to his suffering from dyslexia. He stated that when something went wrong, his father came down hard on him. He told Parade Magazine that his father was "a bully" and "a merchant of chaos." Cruise said he learned early on that his father was – and, by extension, some people were – not to be trusted: "I knew from being around my father that not everyone means me well."[17] Having gone through fifteen schools in twelve years, Cruise, who dropped his father's name at age twelve, was also a victim of bullying at school.

Cruise started acting after being sidelined from his high school's wrestling team due to a knee injury. While injured, he successfully auditioned for a lead role in his high school's production of Guys and Dolls and decided to become an actor after his success in the role. His cousin William Mapother is also an actor most known for playing Ethan Rom on Lost.

Hollywood [ ]

Acting career [ ].

Tom Cruise in 1989Cruise's first film role came in 1981, when he had a small role in Endless Love, a drama/romance film starring Brooke Shields. Later that same year he had a more substantial role in the film Taps, appearing alongside George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn. The film about military cadets was moderately successful. In 1983, he was one of many teenaged stars to appear in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders. The cast for this film included Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, and Ralph Macchio, two of which were part of the Brat Pack. That same year Cruise appeared in the teen comedy Losin' It. Cruise's breakthrough came after Risky Business was released, which helped to propel Cruise to stardom. One sequence in the film, featuring Cruise lip-syncing Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" in his underwear, has become an iconic moment in 1980s film. The film has been described as "A Generation-X classic, and a career-maker for Tom Cruise".[3] A fourth film that was released in 1983 was the high-school football drama, All the Right Moves. Cruise's next film was the 1985 fantasy film Legend directed by Ridley Scott.

Cruise was then selected as the first choice by producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson for an upcoming American fighter pilot film. Cruise at first apparently turned down the project, but helped to alter the script he was given and developed the film. After being taken for a flight with the Blue Angels, Cruise changed his mind and signed on with the project. The project was titled Top Gun and opened in May 1986, becoming the highest grossing film of the year, taking in US$354 million in worldwide figures. Also in 1986, he starred in Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money along with Paul Newman, which earned Newman a Best Actor Academy Award. In 1988, he starred in the lighthearted drama Cocktail, which received mixed reviews and Cruise received his first nomination for a Razzie award in 1989. Later that year, Rain Man was released, which also starred Dustin Hoffman and was directed by Barry Levinson. The film was praised by critics and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, and won four, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

Tom Cruise's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.Cruise was welcomed with similar success the following year when he received Academy Award nominations for Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July, which was based on the best selling autobiography of parapalegic veteran and anti-war activist Ron Kovic. In 1990, Cruise starred as hot-shot racecar driver "Cole Trickle" in Tony Scott's Days of Thunder. Cruise's next film was Ron Howard's Far and Away where he again was starring with Nicole Kidman. After Days of Thunder he starred in the military thriller A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore. This film was very well received and earned Cruise a Golden Globe and MTV nominations. The following year he starred in Sydney Pollack's The Firm along with Gene Hackman and Ed Harris. It was based on the best selling novel by John Grisham, and won Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards.

In 1994, Cruise starred along with Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater in Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire, a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice's best-selling novel. The film was well received, although Rice was outspoken in her criticism of Cruise having been cast in the film, as River Phoenix was her first choice. In 1996, Cruise starred in (as well as produced) Brian de Palma's Mission: Impossible. The film, a remake of the 1960s TV series, grossed US$456 million worldwide, making it the third highest grossing film that year. That same year he played the title role in the comedy-drama Jerry Maguire. The film earned him an Academy Award Best Actor nomination as well as winning co-star Cuba Gooding, Jr. an Academy Award; the film was nominated for five Academy Awards in total. The film also included the catchphrase "Show Me the Money!" which became part of popular culture. In 1999 he starred in the erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut which took two years to complete and was director Stanley Kubrick's last film. It was also the last film in which he starred alongside then spouse Nicole Kidman. But the film, which had a straightforward description of sex and a recondite story-telling style, raised great controversies. Cruise also played a misogynistic male guru in Magnolia (1999), which netted him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He was originally intended to play as Jericho Cane in the action horror film End of Days before Arnold Schwarzenegger assumed the lead role.

Tom Cruise in Toronto, Canada, 2008In 2000, Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt in the second installment of the Mission Impossible films, releasing Mission: Impossible II. The film was directed by Hong Kong director John Woo and branded with his Gun fu Style, and it continued the series' blockbuster success at the box office, taking in almost US$546 M in worldwide figures, like its predecessor, being the third highest grossing film of the year. The following year Cruise starred in the remake of the 1997 film Abre Los Ojos, Vanilla Sky. In 2002, Cruise starred in the dystopian science fiction thriller, Minority Report which was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick; and the following year, he was in Edward Zwick's historical drama The Last Samurai.

In the 2004 Michael Mann's crime-thriller film Collateral, Cruise took a turn against his generic "good guy" role by playing the role of a sociopathic hitman. In 2005, Cruise worked again with Steven Spielberg in War of the Worlds, which became the fourth highest grossing movie of the year with US$591.4 M worldwide. The film also earned three Razzie nominations including one for Cruise. In 2006, he reprised his role as Ethan Hunt in the third installment of the Mission Impossible film series, Mission: Impossible III. Although it was more positively received by critics than its predecessor, it disappointed at the box office, grossing nearly $150M less worldwide.[18][19] He appeared in the 2007 drama Lions for Lambs, which bombed, and had a comedic supporting role in the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder. Cruise's latest starring role is in the historical thriller Valkyrie, released on December 25, 2008 to mixed reviews.

Producing career [ ]

Cruise partnered with his former talent agent Paula Wagner to form Cruise/Wagner Productions in 1993, and the company has since co-produced several of Cruise's films, the first being Mission: Impossible in 1996 which was also Cruise's first project as a producer. He won a Nova Award (shared with Paula Wagner) for Most Promising Producer in Theatrical Motion Pictures at the PGA Golden Laurel Awards in 1997 for his work as a producer for the film Mission: Impossible.

His next project as a producer was the 1998 film Without Limits about famous American runner Steve Prefontaine. Cruise returned to work as a producer in 2000, continuing work on the Mission Impossible sequel. He then served as an executive producer for The Others which starred Nicole Kidman, also that year, he again worked as actor/producer in Vanilla Sky. He subsequently worked on (but did not star in) Narc, Hitting It Hard and Shattered Glass. His next project, which he also starred in, was The Last Samurai, he was jointly nominated for the Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award at the 2004 PGA Golden Laurel Awards. He then worked on Suspect Zero, Elizabethtown and Ask the Dust.

Cruise is noted as having negotiated some of the most lucrative movie deals in Hollywood, and was described in 2005 by Hollywood economist Edward Jay Epstein as "one of the most powerful – and richest – forces in Hollywood". Epstein argues that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) who are regarded as able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar movie franchise. Epstein also contends that the public obsession with Cruise's tabloid controversies obscures full appreciation of Cruise's exceptional commercial prowess in the industry.

Cruise/Wagner Productions, Cruise's film production company, is said to be developing a screenplay based on Erik Larson's New York Times bestseller, The Devil in the White City about a real life serial killer, H. H. Holmes, at Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition. Kathryn Bigelow is attached to the project to produce and helm. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is also developing a film about Holmes and the World's Fair, in which DiCaprio will star.

Breakup with Paramount [ ]

On August 22, 2006, Paramount Pictures announced it was ending its 14-year relationship with Cruise. In the Wall Street Journal, chairman of Viacom (Paramount's parent company) Sumner Redstone cited the economic damage to Cruise's value as an actor and producer from his controversial public behavior and views. Cruise/Wagner Productions responded that Paramount's announcement was a face-saving move after the production company had successfully sought alternative financing from private equity firms.[24] Industry analysts such as Edward Jay Epstein commented that the real reason for the split was most likely Paramount's discontent over Cruise/Wagner's exceptionally large share of DVD sales from the Mission: Impossible franchise However, Radar has claimed that the "personal conduct" complained of by Redstone was an allegedly Cruise-inspired attempt to intimidate Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount. According to Radar, when Grey was walking to his car one night after tense negotiations with Cruise over Mission: Impossible 3, he was "surrounded by more than a dozen Scientologists, who pressured him to ease up on the actor … Following a terse exchange, the visitors allowed Grey to get into his car and leave, but the message was clear." Grey reportedly stood his ground and convinced Cruise to accept a lower fee than the actor had initially demanded.

Management of United Artists [ ]

According to an Associated Press report on November 2, 2006, Cruise and Paula Wagner announced that they will be in charge of the United Artists film studio. Cruise will produce and star in films for United Artists, while Wagner will serve as UA's chief executive. Production began in 2007 of Valkyrie, a thriller based on the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler. The film was acquired in March 2007 by United Artists. On March 21, 2007 Cruise signed on to play Claus von Stauffenberg, the protagonist. This project marks the second production to be greenlighted since Cruise and Wagner took control of United Artists. The first was its inaugural film, Lions for Lambs, directed by Robert Redford and starring Redford, Meryl Streep and Cruise. Lambs was released on November 9, 2007,[28] opening to unimpressive box office revenue and critical reception. In August 2008, Wagner stepped down from her position at United Artists; she retains her stake in UA, which combined with Cruise's share amounts to 30% of the studio.

Popularity [ ]

In 1990, 1991 and 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1995, Empire magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 movie stars of all time. In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by Premiere among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list.

In 2006, Premiere ranked Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor,[30] as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazines 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor.

On June 16, 2006, Forbes magazine published 'The Celebrity 100', a list of the most powerful celebrities, which Cruise topped. The list was generated using a combination of income (between June 2005 and June 2006), web references by Google, press clips compiled by LexisNexis, television and radio mentions (by Factiva), and the number of times a celebrity appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines.

As of August 2006, "a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an "unfavorable" opinion of the actor" was cited as a reason in addition to "unacceptable behavior"[32] for Paramount's non-renewal of their production contract with Cruise. In addition, Marketing Evaluations reports that Cruise's Q score (which is a measure of the popularity of celebrities), had fallen 40%. It was also revealed that Cruise is the celebrity people would least like as their best friend. Cruise came bottom with just 3 percent, while the winner was Jack Black.[citation needed] October 10, 2006 was declared "Tom Cruise Day" in Japan; the Japan Memorial Day Association said that he was awarded with a special day because he has made more trips to Japan than any other Hollywood star.

Relationships and personal life [ ]

Mimi rogers [ ].

Cruise was married to Mimi Rogers on May 9, 1987; they divorced on February 4, 1990. Rogers is generally believed to have introduced Cruise to Scientology.

Nicole Kidman [ ]

Cruise met Nicole Kidman on the set of their film Days of Thunder. The couple married on December 24, 1990 and divorced on August 8, 2001. He and Kidman adopted two children, Isabella Jane (b. December 22, 1992) and Connor Antony (b. January 17, 1995). They separated when Kidman was three months pregnant, just before their tenth wedding anniversary; she later miscarried.

Penélope Cruz [ ]

Cruise was next romantically linked with Penélope Cruz, the lead actress in his film Vanilla Sky. After a three-year relationship, in March 2004, Cruise announced that their relationship had ended in January.[36]

Katie Holmes [ ]

Main article: Relationship of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes In April 2005, Cruise began dating actress Katie Holmes. Shortly after they began their highly publicized relationship, on June 17, 2005, Cruise announced he had proposed to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.[37] She accepted his proposal, and the couple married in Bracciano, Italy on November 18, 2006.

On April 18, 2006 Katie gave birth to a baby girl named Suri at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.[38] Cruise stated that the name derives from the Hebrew word for "princess" or the Persian word meaning red rose.[39] (See also Sarah.) She is the first child for Holmes and third for Cruise, who (as previously mentioned) has two adopted children with Nicole Kidman.[40]

Controversy [ ]

Scientology [ ].

Cruise is an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology. He became involved with Scientology in 1990 through his first wife, Mimi Rogers.[41] Cruise has publicly said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron Hubbard Study Tech, helped him overcome dyslexia.[42] In addition to promoting various programs that introduce people to Scientology, Cruise has campaigned for Scientology to be fully recognized as a religion in Europe. He lobbied politicians in France and Germany, where the legal systems regard Scientology as a cult and business respectively. In 2005 the Paris city council revealed that Cruise had lobbied officials Nicolas Sarkozy and Jean-Claude Gaudin, described him as a spokesman and militant for Scientology, and barred any further dealings with him.[43][44] Cruise co-founded and raised donations for Downtown Medical to offer New York 9/11 rescue workers detoxification therapy based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. This has drawn criticism from the medical profession,[45] as well as firefighters.[46] For these activities and others, David Miscavige awarded Scientology's Freedom Medal of Valor to Cruise in late 2004.

A controversy erupted in 2005 after he openly criticized actress Brooke Shields for using the drug Paxil (paroxetine), an anti-depressant, to which Shields attributes her recovery from postpartum depression after the birth of her first daughter in 2003. Cruise asserted that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance, and that psychiatry is a form of pseudoscience. This led to a heated argument with Matt Lauer on The Today Show on June 24, 2005.[47] Medical authorities said Cruise's comments had further stigmatized mental illness[48][49] and Shields herself called them "a disservice to mothers everywhere."[50] In late August 2006, Cruise apologized in person to Shields for his comments; Shields said that she was "impressed with how heartfelt [the apology] was […]. I didn't feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it."[51] Cruise's spokesman confirmed that Cruise and Shields had made up but said that Cruise's position on anti-depressants had not changed. Shields was a guest at Cruise's and Holmes's wedding.

Cruise also said in an Entertainment Weekly interview that psychiatry "is a Nazi science" and that methadone was actually originally called Adolophine after Adolf Hitler, a myth well-known as an urban legend. In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Cruise said that "In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It's called Narconon… It's a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period". While Narconon claims to have a success rate over 70%,[53][54] the accuracy of this figure has been widely disputed. Scientology is well-known for its opposition to mainstream psychiatry.

In January 2008 the Daily Mail (UK) announced a forthcoming biography of Cruise, Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography, by Andrew Morton. Among the book's claims, it said that Cruise had become the church's "second in command in all but name." This has been corroborated by former Scientology staff member Marc Headley. Cruise's attorney Bert Fields said that the unauthorized biography was full of "tired old lies" or "sick stuff".

IAS Freedom Medal of Valor ceremony video [ ]

On January 15, 2008, a video produced by the Church of Scientology featuring an interview with Cruise was leaked to the Internet and uploaded to YouTube. In the video, music from Cruise's Mission Impossible films plays in the background, and Cruise discusses what being a Scientologist means to him. According to The Times, Cruise can be seen in the video "extolling the virtues of Scientology". The Daily Telegraph characterizes Cruise as "manic-looking" during the interview, "gush[ing] about his love for Scientology".

The Church of Scientology asserted that the video material that had been leaked to YouTube and other websites was "pirated and edited" and taken from a three-hour video produced for members of Scientology. YouTube removed the Cruise video from their site under threat of litigation. As of February 4, 2008, the web site Gawker.com was still hosting a copy of the video, and other sites have posted the entire video. Lawyers for the Church of Scientology sent a letter to Gawker.com demanding that they remove the video, but Nick Denton of Gawker.com stated: "It's newsworthy, and we will not be removing it."

Oprah Winfrey Show incident [ ]

Cruise jumps on the couch during the taping of an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show.Cruise has made several expressions of his feelings for Holmes to the media, most notably the "couch incident" which took place on the popular The Oprah Winfrey Show of May 23, 2005. Cruise "jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend." The phrase "jumping the couch", fashioned after "jumping the shark", is used to describe someone "going off the deep end" in public in a manner extreme enough to tarnish his or her reputation. It enjoyed a short-lived popularity, being chosen by the editors of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang as the "slang term of the year" in 2005 and by the nonprofit group Global Language Monitor as one of its top phrases for the year.

The "couch incident" was voted #1 of 2005's "Most Surprising Television Moments" on a countdown on E! and was the subject of numerous parodies, including the epilogue of Scary Movie 4.

In early May 2008, Cruise reappeared on the Oprah Winfrey show to celebrate 25 years of being in the film business. The feature was a two hour special, the first hour was Oprah spending the day with Cruise at his house in Telluride, Colorado on May 2. The second part was on May 5 with Cruise making an in studio appearance and ending with every member of the audience receiving a box DVD set of all the films Cruise had ever starred in.

• 1 Malcolm Richmond

Actor Tom Cruise is the star of several box-office hits, including Risky Business , A Few Good Men , The Firm , Jerry Maguire , and the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Who Is Tom Cruise?

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, better known as Tom Cruise, was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, to Mary and Thomas Mapother. Cruise's mother was an amateur actress and schoolteacher, and his father was an electrical engineer. His family moved around a great deal when Cruise was a child to accommodate his father's career.

Cruise's parents divorced when he was 11, and the children moved with their mother to Louisville, Kentucky, and then to Glen Ridge, New Jersey, after she remarried. Like his mother and three sisters, Cruise suffered from dyslexia, which made academic success difficult for him. He excelled in athletics, however, and considered pursuing a career in professional wrestling until a knee injury sidelined him during high school.

At age 14, Cruise enrolled in a Franciscan seminary with thoughts of becoming a priest, but he left after a year. When he was 16, a teacher encouraged him to participate in the school's production of the musical Guys and Dolls . After Cruise won the lead of Nathan Detroit, he found himself surprisingly at home on the stage, and a career was born.

'Taps,' 'The Outsiders'

Cruise set a 10-year deadline for himself in which to build an acting career. He left school and moved to New York City, struggling through audition after audition before landing an appearance in 1981's Endless Love , starring Brooke Shields. Around this same time, he snagged a small role in the military school drama Taps (1981), co-starring Sean Penn .

His role in Taps was upgraded after director Harold Becker saw Cruise's potential, and his performance caught the attention of a number of critics and filmmakers. In 1983, Cruise appeared in Francis Ford Coppola 's The Outsiders , which also starred Emilio Estevez , Matt Dillon and Rob Lowe —all prominent members of a group of young actors the entertainment press dubbed the "Brat Pack." The film was not well received, but it allowed Cruise to work with an acclaimed director on a high-profile project.

'Risky Business'

His next film, Risky Business (1983), grossed $65 million. It also made Cruise a highly recognizable actor — thanks in no small part to a memorable scene of the young star dancing in his underwear.

In 1986, after a two-year hiatus, the budding actor released the big-budget fantasy film Legend , which did poorly at the box office. That same year, however, Cruise's A-list status was confirmed with the release of Top Gun , which co-starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan . The testosterone-fueled action-romance, set against the backdrop of an elite naval flight school, became the highest-grossing film of 1986.

'The Color of Money,' 'Rain Man' and 'Born on the Fourth of July'

Cruise followed the tremendous success of Top Gun with a string of both critically acclaimed and commercially successful films. He first starred in The Color of Money (1986) with co-star Paul Newman , and then went on to work with Dustin Hoffman on Rain Man (1988). Cruise's next role, as Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in the biopic Born on the Fourth of July (1989), earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Actor.

'A Few Good Men,' 'The Firm' and 'Interview with a Vampire'

In 1992, Cruise proved once more that he could hold his own opposite a screen legend when he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men . The film grossed more than $15 million its first weekend and earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. He continued to demonstrate his success as a leading man with The Firm (1993) and Interview with a Vampire (1994), which co-starred Brad Pitt.

'Mission: Impossible,' 'Jerry McGuire'

Next, Cruise hit the big screen with two huge hits—the $64 million blockbuster Mission: Impossible (1996), which the star also produced, and the highly acclaimed Jerry McGuire (1996), directed by Cameron Crowe. For the latter, Cruise earned a second Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe for Best Actor.

'Eyes Wide Shut,' 'Magnolia'

Cruise and then-wife Kidman spent much of 1997 and 1998 in England shooting Eyes Wide Shut , an erotic thriller that would be director Stanley Kubrick 's final film. The movie came out in the summer of 1999 to mixed reviews, but that year Cruise enjoyed greater success with the release of Magnolia . His performance as a self-confident sex guru in the ensemble film earned him another Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

'Vanilla Sky,' 'The Last Samurai'

Cruise then starred in the long-awaited smash hit Mission: Impossible 2 in 2000, alongside Anthony Hopkins , Thandie Newton and Ving Rhames. In 2002, he starred in Vanilla Sky , his second collaboration with Crowe, as well as Steven Spielberg 's Minority Report . The following year, Cruise traveled to Australia to shoot the $100 million war epic The Last Samurai, which earned him another Golden Globe nomination.

'War of the Worlds'

Cruise proved he remained a top draw by starring in the Spielberg-directed remake of the science-fiction classic War of the Worlds (2005), which grossed more than $230 million at the box office.

His next effort, Mission: Impossible 3 (2006), also scored well with audiences. However, Cruise was faced with a professional setback in August when Paramount Pictures ended its 14-year relationship with the actor. The company's chairman cited Cruise's erratic behavior and controversial views as the reason for the split, though industry experts noted that Paramount more likely ended the partnership over Cruise's high earnings from the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Cruise quickly rebounded and on November 2, 2006, he announced his new partnership with film executive Paula Wagner and the United Artists film studio. Their first production as a team, the political drama Lions for Lambs (2007), proved a commercial disappointment despite a strong cast that included Meryl Streep and Robert Redford .

'Tropic Thunder'

Taking a break from weighty material, Cruise delighted audiences with his performance in the comedy Tropic Thunder (2008). Despite his relatively small role in a movie that featured Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller , Cruise stood out by obscuring his trademark good looks to play a balding, obese movie studio executive.

'Valkyrie,' 'Rock of Ages'

In December 2008, Cruise released his second project through United Artists. The film, Valkyrie , was a World War II drama about a plot to assassinate German leader Adolf Hitler . Cruise starred as a German army officer who became involved in the conspiracy.

Cruise returned to one of his most popular franchises in 2011 with Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol . Breaking into new territory, he then starred in the 2012 musical Rock of Ages . Although Cruise received some positive reviews for his performance as a rock star, the movie failed to attract much of an audience.

'Jack Reacher,' 'Edge of Tomorrow'

Returning to his mainstream action roots, Cruise starred in the 2012 crime drama Jack Reacher , based on a book by Lee Child. He then headlined a pair of science-fiction adventures, Oblivion (2013) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Showing no signs of slowing down, the veteran actor in 2015 delivered his usual high-energy performance for the fifth installment of his blockbuster franchise, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation .

Latest Movies and Familiar Franchises

In 2016, Cruise reprised the role of Jack Reacher for Never Go Back . He then headlined a reboot of The Mummy (2017), which performed respectably at the box office but was savaged by critics, before earning better reviews later that year for the crime thriller American Made .

2018 brought a return to familiar territory for Cruise, who starred in Mission Impossible —Fallout that summer. Prior to its release, he tweeted a photo to mark day 1 of production on the long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick , scheduled for a June 2020 release.

Scientology and Personal Life

Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers in 1987. It was through Rogers that the actor became a student of Scientology, the religion founded by writer L. Ron Hubbard. Cruise credited the church with curing his dyslexia, and he soon became one of its leading proponents. However, while his spiritual life flourished, his marriage to Rogers ended in 1990. That same year, Cruise made the racecar drama Days of Thunder alongside Kidman. Though the movie was unpopular among critics and fans alike, the two lead actors had real chemistry. On Christmas Eve 1990, after a brief courtship, Cruise and Kidman married in Telluride, Colorado.

Divorce from Kidman

For much of the 1990s, Cruise and Kidman found themselves fiercely defending the happiness and legitimacy of their marriage. They filed two different lawsuits against tabloid publications for stories they considered libelous. In each case, the couple received a published retraction and apology, along with a large monetary settlement which they donated to charity. The couple has two children, Isabella and Connor.

On February 5, 2001, Cruise and Kidman announced their separation after 11 years of marriage. The couple cited the difficulties involved with two acting careers and the amount of time spent apart while working. Following the divorce, Cruise briefly dated his Vanilla Sky co-star Penelope Cruz , followed by a much-publicized relationship with actress Katie Holmes. A month after his ties to Holmes became public, Cruise professed his love for the actress in a now-famous appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which he jumped on Winfrey's sofa, shouting "Yes!"

Marriage to Katie Holmes

In June 2005, after a two-month courtship, Cruise proposed to Holmes in a restaurant at the top of the Eiffel tower. In October, they announced that they were expecting their first child together. The hasty proposal and surprise pregnancy quickly became tabloid gossip. But Cruise made even bigger headlines that year as an outspoken advocate for Scientology. He openly criticized former co-star Brooke Shields for using anti-depressants during her recovery from postpartum depression. He also denounced psychiatry and modern medicine, claiming Scientology held the key to true healing. Cruise's statements led to a heated argument with news anchor Matt Lauer on The Today Show in June 2005, for which Cruise later apologized.

In 2006, Cruise and Holmes welcomed daughter Suri into the world. That year, they were married in an Italian castle, with celebrities Will Smith , Jada Pinkett Smith , Jennifer Lopez and Victoria and David Beckham among those in attendance. However, the storybook romance wouldn't last, and in June 2012, the couple announced their separation.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth Year: 1962
• Birth date: July 3, 1962
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: Syracuse
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Actor Tom Cruise is the star of several box-office hits, including 'Risky Business,' 'A Few Good Men,' 'The Firm,' 'Jerry Maguire' and the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise.
• Astrological Sign: Cancer

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

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• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
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• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 26, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

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Valkyrie (2008)

Tom cruise: colonel claus von stauffenberg.

• Photos (51)
• Quotes (22)

Photos 

Quotes 

[last lines] 

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : Long live sacred Germany!

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : Look them in the eye. They'll remember you.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : [translation of letter he is writing]  The Fuhrer's promises of peace and prosperity have fallen by the wayside leaving in their wake a path of destruction. The outrages committed by Hitler's SS are a stain on the honor of the German Army. There is widespread disgust in the officer corps toward the crimes committed by the Nazis, the murder of civilians, the torture and starvation of prisoners, the mass execution of Jews. My duty as an officer is no longer to save my country, but to save human lives. I cannot find one general in a position to confront Hitler with the courage to do it.

[from trailer] 

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : Only God can judge us now.

Werner von Haeften : You're as guilty as any of us.

General Friedrich Fromm : [scoffing]  Spare me, Lieutenant.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : No one will be spared.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : I'm a soldier, I serve my country. But this is not my country. I was lying out there bleeding to death, thinking, if I die now, I leave nothing to my children but shame. I know now there is only one way to serve Germany, and doing so I'll be a traitor - I accept that. Just tell me, can these men see it through?

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : You can serve Germany, or the Fuhrer. Not both!

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : I am involved in high treason with all means available to me. Can I count you in?

Werner von Haeften : For anything, sir. Anything at all.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : "Anything" is a *very* dangerous word, Lieutenant.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : If I fail, they'll come for you. They'll come for all of you.

Nina Von Stauffenberg : I know.

Erich Fellgiebel : And you think that makes me a sympathizer, hey? Give a man a choice of betraying his fellow officer or his Fuhrer and you think his actions will show you his heart.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : It's not that simple.

Erich Fellgiebel : Yes. Yes it is. For the last time, don't push me to make a decision.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : I don't have a choice, it's clear now. Without you there is no hope of success.

Erich Fellgiebel : You're nothing but rats jumping from a sinking ship! What makes you think you'll be any different? What makes you think you're stronger than the people, the Reich? The very momentum of history?

Henning von Tresckow : You scared me half to death.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : You'll be closer than that before we're finished.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : [after being informed Hitler is meeting Benito Mussolini for lunch]  Will Mussolini be at the briefing?

Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel : We should be so lucky. Then some ambitious young officer might do us a favor and shoot the Dago bastard!

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : Hitler is dead. Operation Valkyrie is in effect.

General Friedrich Fromm : What is it you want?

General Friedrich Olbricht : I wanted to introduce our new man, Colonel Stauffenberg.

General Friedrich Fromm : Ah! From Africa. Well, I'd offer you my hand, but I might not get it back.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : I'd say the General's lost more important things this morning.

[pause] 

General Friedrich Fromm : [laughs]  It's about time they put somebody with balls into this office.

General Friedrich Fromm : I'll hear you say it Colonel!

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : [angrily turns and raises false arm]  Heil Hitler!

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : Gentlemen, in three hours I want confirmation that the government quarter is ours and SS Command has been cleared of every living soul. You all know what must be done. By nightfall I want to know that Hitler's Germany has seen its last sunrise.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : We have to kill Hitler.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : I'm a soldier, but in serving my country, I have betrayed my conscience.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : There has to be a chance of success.

General Friedrich Olbricht : That's why you're here.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : Get the car.

Werner von Haeften : [dissapointed on not accompanying him]  But sir...

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : [curtly]  I have everything I need. Get the car.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : [when all are wondering who shall go to get Hitler's signiture on the Valkyrie papers]  Well, we can all draw straws for that job.

Werner von Haeften : We've lost contact with District 11.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg : The switchboard is overloaded. Give it ten minutes and try again.

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Tom Cruise Pays Tribute To His Best Sci-Fi Movie For Its 10th Anniversary

W hen Doug Liman's sci-fi actioner "Edge of Tomorrow" was released in 2014, it opened to a mere $28.7 million at the domestic box office. This was considered a minor scandal at the time, as the film was roundly praised by critics for its slick wartime combat sequences, clever time-loop premise, and charismatic leading performances from stars Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise. Many also saw "Edge of Tomorrow" as an antidote to the ascendant tide of Marvel movies that had, by then, completely infiltrated the cinema marketplace. Recall that 2014 was the year of "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Captain America: The Winter Solider," two wildly popular films that, perhaps because of their popularity, invited early invitations of the phrase "Marvel fatigue."  

"Edge of Tomorrow" was often touted as proof that great, original films — that is: not driven by marketable I.P. — were still being made. Its paltry opening was held up as a negative example of changing tastes. People, the argument went, didn't want originality any longer. They only wanted their usual roster of well-known CGI mascots. 

The film ultimately went on to gross over $100 million domestically and $370 million worldwide, up against a $178 million budget. It more or less broke even. More importantly, fans latched onto "Edge of Tomorrow," and critics continued to spread the good word. No matter how much money it made, Liman's film was excellent. Indeed, it may be Tom Cruise's best sci-fi film (with only "Minority Report" notwithstanding). 

On the 20th anniversary of its release, Cruise celebrated "Edge of Tomorrow" in a series of posts on X, aka Twitter , praising his co-stars, his director, and the film's many fans and boosters. In an age when stars shy away from financial flops, it's comforting to see Cruise touting a great film's actual greatness. 

Read more: A Doctor Who Beginner's Guide: Where To Start Watching The Long-Running Sci-Fi Classic

Live. Die. Repeat.

The premise of "Edge of Tomorrow" is fun. It's the near future and an alien species called Mimics have invaded Earth. In response, Earth united its military forces to fight back, equipping its soldiers with outsize, superpowered exoskeletons. A public affairs officer named Cage (Cruise) is hired by the government to report on the war from the front lines, but he refuses to do so, saying it's too dangerous. In response, he's forced to don an exoskeleton and enter the fray himself. Shockingly, he's killed in battle almost immediately. 

He then reawakens the previous morning, having been thrown back in time. It doesn't take Cage very long to discover he is stuck in a time loop. Every time he dies in combat, he reawakens the previous morning. After multiple repeats, he becomes a more efficient fighter. To figure out what's happening, confront the Mimic battlefield tactics, and become a better soldier, Cage repeatedly enlists the help of the super-soldier Vrataski (Blunt). It's pretty awesome.

Cruise has only ever been positive about "Edge of Tomorrow," and was happy to recall his great time working on the film. He wrote:

"I want to take the opportunity to thank Emily Blunt once again for being such a great friend and brilliant actress. I love her performance in this film. Her dedication. Her humor. Her vulnerability and power. She brought it all. [...] This anniversary brings back incredible memories. My first collaboration with Doug Liman. Rejoining the indomitable Brendan Gleeson. And my first time working alongside the great Bill Paxton. His performance and the character he created left an indelible mark on this film."

Liman would also make "American Made" with Cruise in 2017. 

Christopher McQuarrie Co-Wrote Edge Of Tomorrow

"Edge of Tomorrow" also firmly cemented Cruise's relationship with writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, one of three credited screenwriters on the film. McQuarrie had already written the screenplay for the Cruise-starring WWII thriller "Valkyrie" and he wrote and directed his vehicle "Jack Reacher." Every film McQuarrie has made since then has been a Cruise project, having co-written "The Mummy" and "Top Gun: Maverick," and directed every "Mission: Impossible" film since "Rogue Nation."  

Cruise praised McQuarrie, writing:

"Hitting this kind of tone was no easy task. The writing and storytelling of Christopher McQuarrie made the movie work. Along with the dedication of our entire team who helped bring it to the screen -- it was an absolute joy creating it with you all. [...] To everyone who has enjoyed this film over the years, thank you for being a fan. And thank you to Warner Bros. for making this film. I can't wait to share more about the great movies we're working on." 

If you haven't seen it, by all means, do. It's an excellent blockbuster.

The initial lack of popularity of "Edge of Tomorrow" included a semi-rebranding kerfuffle wherein new posters were released bearing the film's tagline, "Live. Die. Repeat.," instead of its title. Those posters led some online retailers to sell "Edge of Tomorrow" under that title, and some confused consumers began to refer to the film that way. The rebranding couldn't have helped sell tickets and/or DVDs, as it would likely have caused some confusion (see also: "Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey" or "Ghostbusters: Answer the Call"). If you choose to purchase a physical copy (which is recommended), be sure to look for both titles, just in case. 

Read the original article on SlashFilm

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Entertainment | Like Brad Pitt’s kids, Tom Cruise’s Suri…

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Entertainment | like brad pitt’s kids, tom cruise’s suri may have dropped dad’s last name, report says, one-time co-stars brad pitt and tom cruise share an unfortunate bond: both are reportedly dealing with being estranged from once beloved children.

Before news broke in the past week that two of Brad Pitt’s daughters have stopped using his surname, a report said that Tom Cruise’s daughter, Suri, didn’t want to use her mega-star dad’s last name when performing recently in a stage musical.

After Suri celebrated her milestone 18th birthday in April, she is about to graduate from La Guardia High School in New York City, and hinted in a classmates TikTok video that she’s headed to Carnegie Mellon University in the fall. She also made the subtle yet noticeable choice to only be identified as Suri Noelle for a performance of the stage musical “Head Over Heels,” according to a report from Hello magazine.

It’s not clear if the show was presented at Suri’s public high school, which specializes in teaching performing and visual arts, or at a theater in New York City. Suri lives in Manhattan with her mother, Katie Holmes, Cruise’s ex-wife. Hello magazine said Suri starred as Philoclea in the juke-box musical, which features music from the Go-Go’s.

For the show’s program, Suri used Holmes’ middle name, Noelle, as her last name in the show’s credits, Hello reported.

It’s long been reported that Suri has been estranged from her mega-star father, since around the time her mother surprised Cruise in 2012 by reportedly “blindsiding” him and asking for a divorce. Following Cruise and Holmes’ high-profile breakup, there were reports that the “Dawson’s Creek” star left the marriage so that she could protect her daughter from being raised in the cult-like Church of Scientology, of which the “Top Gun” star is a prominent member.

Since then, Suri has grown up under the care of her mother in New York, with the two sharing a close mother-daughter bond, Newsweek reported . There have been questions about whether Suri’s reported estrangement from the Jerry Maguire actor is due to Scientology.

According to its website , church recommends that members stay away from people labeled “suppressive persons,” or SPs, because they are considered “anti-social” personalities who seek to upset and undermines a members’ adherence to Scientology.

It’s been reported that Holmes secured sole custody of Suri in the divorce, while Cruise retained “meaningful” visitation rights. Yet, public sightings of Cruise with his daughter dwindled soon after the divorce, with Page Six saying they were last seen together at Disney World in the summer of 2012.

As Suri has come of age, she has shown an interest in the performing arts, attending La Guardia High School, which is officially known as the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Her actor-director mother also told Glamour last year that she had asked her daughter to sing the opening credits of her 2022 film, “Alone Together.” Suri’s next destination is Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is known for having one of the top-ranked undergraduate drama programs in the county.

The Hello report didn’t say whether Suri was using the name “Suri Noelle” just for the musical, or if it signals a more permanent shift in how she identifies herself and in how she may want to relate to her father.

Of course, Cruise wouldn’t be the only top male star right now who’s had a once beloved child reject her association with him, if that’s what Suri intends to do.  The same thing happened to Cruise’s one-time co-star Pitt, who may be estranged from all six of his children with Angelina Jolie.

Pitt, who co-starred with Cruise in the 1994 gothic thriller, “Interview with the Vampire,” has been reminded of this “loss” in recent weeks, a source told People, after he and the rest of the world learned that his 18-year-old daughter Shiloh had dropped “Pitt” from her last name.

There have been news reports over the past several years that indicated that Pitt had probably become estranged from his older adopted children — Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, and Zahara, 19 — amid his contentious and protracted divorce from Jolie. But it’s become apparent in the past week that Pitt may no longer have relationships with his three biological children, Shiloh and 15-year-old twins, Vivienne and Knox.

Last week, Shiloh celebrated her 18th birthday by hiring a lawyer to help her petition the court to legally drop “Pitt” from her surname and to henceforth be known as “Shiloh Jolie,” not “Shiloh Jolie-Pitt,” People and other news outlets reported. People also reported last week that Vivienne had dropped “Pitt” in her Playbill credit for the new musical “The Outsiders,” which her mother produced.

The news about Shiloh hiring an attorney to officially distance herself from Pitt has proved to be especially painful for the “Fight Club” star, according to the People source.

“The reminders that he’s lost his children, is of course not easy for Brad,” a source told People Monday. “He loves his children and misses them. It’s very sad.”

People magazine reported that Shiloh’s decision to drop Pitt’s last name was in part motivated by Jolie’s allegations related to her father’s “abuse history.”

The storied Hollywood super couple union between Pitt and Jolie came crashing down in September 2016 when Jolie filed for divorce and reports began circulating that the split was prompted by an altercation involving the couple on a private plane ride from the South of France to Los Angeles.

Several of the actors’ children also reportedly were involved in the incident, according to a subsequent FBI report. Since then, Jolie has accused the “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” actor of being physically abusive on the plane ride and during their two-year marriage and 12-year relationship. Pitt has long denied the abuse allegations and his representatives have pointed out that he was never charged with a crime. Sources close to Pitt also have accused Jolie of working to turn their children against them.

Meanwhile, before Shiloh and Vivienne dropped “Pitt” from their full names, legally or otherwise, their older sister Zahara made a similar move. Zahara was seen in a video shared by Essence magazine, calling herself Zahara Marley Jolie at a 2023 event at Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College.

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