Berlin, Germany - Tom Cruise, 44, is unwelcome for location filming at Germany’s military headquarters in Berlin because of his advocacy of Scientology, a German politician said Friday.
The US actor-director is reportedly planning a movie about the July 20, 1944 attempt to assassinate Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who survived the blast bloodied but not seriously injured.
Cruise is expected to play Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the military officer who led the plot and was promptly executed in a courtyard, close to his own office at the army and navy HQ.
The German defence minister now uses the building as his office along with a Defence Ministry complex in Bonn.
Antje Blumenthal, party spokeswoman for the Christian Democrats on sect issues, said Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung had assured her Cruise would not be given a clearance to film inside the secure site.
She said letting Cruise inside would have seemed like German recognition of Scientology.
The son of the hero, Berthold Schenk von Stauffenberg, said in remarks quoted Friday by the newspaper Sueddeutschen Zeitung that he objected to a practising Scientologist playing his father.
Babelsberg Studios near Berlin said it was unaware of any shooting schedule for the movie, working title Valkyrie, and was still in co- production talks about the project.
The Defence Ministry said it had not received any request to use the building. News reports said Cruise had taken a look at the military building from outside and studio scenes were to begin on July 19.