United Artists Entertainment LLC announced the start of principal photography
today in Berlin on the international production of “Valkyrie,” a suspense
thriller based on the true story of the daring German officers’ plot to
assassinate Hitler in 1944.
Directed by Bryan Singer (“The Usual Suspects,” “Superman Returns,” “X
Men,” “X2: X-Men: United”) and written by Academy Award®-winning screenwriter
Christopher McQuarrie (“The Usual Suspects,” “The Way of the Gun”) and
Nathan Alexander, “Valkyrie” reunites Singer and McQuarrie for the first
time since their ground-breaking 1995 thriller “The Usual Suspects.”
Superstar Tom Cruise heads an international cast as
Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, the aristocratic German officer who led
the heroic attempt to bring down the Nazi regime and end the war by
planting a bomb in Hitler’s bunker. Also starring are Kenneth Branagh
(“Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”), Bill Nighy (“Pirates of
the Caribbean: At World’s End”), Tom Wilkinson (“In the Bedroom”), Carice
van Houten (“Black Book”), Eddie Izzard (“Ocean’s Thirteen”), Christian
Berkel (“Black Book”), Thomas Kretschmann (“King Kong”), and Terrence
Stamp (“Billy Budd,” “Superman,” “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom
Menace”).
The film is being produced by Singer, McQuarrie, and Gilbert Adler (“Superman
Returns,” “Constantine”), with Chris Lee (“Superman Returns”) executive
producing. Joining Singer behind the camera is a talented production
team that includes director of photography Newton Thomas Sigel (“Superman
Returns,” “X2”), costume designer Joanna Johnston (“Munich,” “War of
the Worlds”), and editor John Ottman (“ Fantastic Four: Rise of the
Silver Surfer,”“Superman Returns”).The “July 20 Plot” on Hitler’s life
is one of the most heroic but least known episodes of World War Two.
Severely wounded in combat, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg returns from
Africa to join the German Resistance and help create Operation Valkyrie,
the complex plan that will allow a shadow government to replace Hitler’s
once he is dead. But fate and circumstance conspire to thrust Stauffenberg
from one of many in the plot to a double-edged central role. Not only
must he lead the coup and seize control of his nation’s government…
He must kill Hitler himself.
“‘Valkyrie’ tells a story that is not only exciting
but also important,” said Singer. “It’s something that Chris McQuarrie
and I have wanted to do for some time. I can’t imagine shooting it anywhere
else but on location in Germany, and I’m thrilled that we were able
to get Tom Cruise to play Col. Stauffenberg.”
“‘Valkyrie’ is a gripping thriller that will keep audiences on the edge
of their seats – and also go a long way towards reminding the world
that even within the ranks of the German military there was real resistance
to the Nazi regime,” said United Artists Chief Executive Officer Paula
Wagner. “As soon as we read the screenplay, we knew this was a movie
we had to make.”
“Valkyrie” is the second production to be green-lit
by United Artists since the fabled Hollywood studio was revived last
November under the leadership of Cruise and Wagner, who co-own the studio.
It is a co-production of United Artists and Studio Babelsberg AG, the
venerable German film studio whose stages have hosted productions ranging
from Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” to Paul Greengrass’s “The Bourne Ultimatum.”
The film will be shot on location in Germany and elsewhere.
It is scheduled to be ready for release by MGM in the summer of 2008.
