Trailer
Plot summary
Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg serves in Tunisia during World War II and grows disillusioned with Nazi Germany. An air raid leaves him blind in his left eye and missing his right hand and two fingers of his left hand. He is sent to Munich to recover. General Friedrich Olbricht recruits him into the German Resistance, whose members include Major-General Henning von Tresckow, General Ludwig Beck, Dr. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben. Stauffenberg rewrites Operation Valkyrie, the Reserve Army's emergency deployment plan, so it can be used to dismantle the Nazi regime after Adolf Hitler is killed. Because of his new post, he gains direct access to Hitler, who approves the revised plan. General Friedrich Fromm, head of the Reserve Army, refuses to join the conspiracy, while General Erich Fellgiebel agrees to help.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Valkyrie (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Before production, a German Defence Ministry spokesperson said Valkyrie would not be allowed to film at the country's military sites if Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was played by Tom Cruise, because of the actor's adherence to Scientology, which is considered a dangerous cult by the German authorities.
- Before filming von Stauffenberg's execution at Bendlerblock, Tom Cruise led the cast and crew in a moment of silence for the place and for the people executed there; the German plant developing the footage then used the wrong chemical, damaging some of the film, and the crew needed government permission to re-shoot.
- During filming on 19 August 2007, eleven people were hurt when the side panel of a truck they were riding in broke, one of them requiring hospitalization; they demanded $11 million in compensation and rejected a settlement offered by the studio.
- Germany's Finance Ministry initially refused to let the production film at the real Bendlerblock building, calling it a "place of remembrance and mourning" that would "lose dignity" as a film set, before reversing course and granting access.
- Most of the film's 800 computer-generated effects shots went on von Stauffenberg's injuries: a digital version of Cruise's hand was designed, and technicians rotoscoped that hand through every movement it could make so the missing fingers were erased in the process.
- Valkyrie was first anticipated as a “small” film with a budget of under $20 million, but Cruise's interest in playing von Stauffenberg made Singer realize his involvement could broaden the film's publicity, and the budget was then raised to $60 million.
