Valkyrie
Short description
Valkyrie dramatizes the July 20, 1944 plot by German officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and seize control of the government. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a decorated officer recovering from severe wounds suffered in North Africa, joins a circle of conspirators who have concluded that Hitler is leading Germany to ruin. Together with General Friedrich Olbricht and General Henning von Tresckow, they adapt an existing emergency plan, known as Operation Valkyrie, so that it can be used to take command of the country once Hitler is dead. As the plot advances, Stauffenberg moves from participant to central figure, charged both with leading the takeover and with carrying out the attempt himself.
Bryan Singer directed the film, which followed Superman Returns in his filmography and preceded Mockingbird Lane. Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander wrote the screenplay, with McQuarrie also producing alongside Gilbert Adler and Singer. Tom Cruise plays Stauffenberg; Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson and Carice van Houten appear among the credited cast of 35. The production, mounted in Germany and the United States, cost about 75 million dollars and took roughly 200 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its budget.
Audience response has been solid: on IMDb it holds 7.1/10 from about 274,000 votes, and on TMDB 7/10 from over 4,000 votes. A critics' rating of 6.2/10 from 199 reviews sits below those audience scores, indicating that reviewers were less enthusiastic than the wider public.
What's left behind the scenes
- The younger daughter of Claus von Stauffenberg, Valerie von Stauffenberg, was played by twin actresses: Annika Becker and Marie Becker.
- Carice van Houten, who played Colonel Stauffenberg's wife, was in a relationship for some time with Sebastian Koch, who played Stauffenberg in the German television film about "Valkyrie".
- The film used authentic tunics of German officers from World War II.
- Cruise is not the only well-known actor who resembles von Stauffenberg. Patrick Wilson was also offered the role, but Cruise was chosen for commercial reasons.
- Austrian actor Tobias Moretti, who had already played Hitler in the mini-series "Speer and Hitler" (2005), was invited to play the role of Hitler, but he was unable to find an opening in his filming schedule.
- Eleven extras playing Wehrmacht soldiers were injured during filming in Berlin. They fell out of a moving truck due to a poorly secured truck body.
- Several scenes of the film had to be reshot because during film processing, the technicians made a mistake with the chemicals, and the footage was destroyed.
- Philipp von Schultheiß plays Treskow's aide-de-camp – the grandson of Claus von Stauffenberg.
- Tom Cruise's involvement in the filming initially caused disapproval in Germany among politicians, as well as members of the family of Claus von Stauffenberg, due to the actor's adherence to Scientology.
- Looking at profile photographs, one cannot help but notice the physical resemblance between Tom Cruise and Claus von Stauffenberg. However, according to some reports, the filmmakers admitted that Stauffenberg's profile in the photos was slightly retouched to make it more similar to Cruise's, for advertising purposes.
- In the film scenes where Colonel Stauffenberg meets Hitler, it is clearly visible that Hitler is much shorter than the colonel. This corresponds to historical reality: Stauffenberg was noticeably taller than Hitler, while Tom Cruise is 1.70 m tall, and Hitler was 1.74 m tall.
- In 2004, Claus von Stauffenberg was officially recognized as a hero of the Resistance. Soldiers take their oath at the site of his execution.
- Before filming the scene of Stauffenberg's execution in Bendlerblock, the film crew honored the memory of the officers executed here with a minute of silence.
- At the beginning of the film, an airfield near Smolensk is shown, where an airplane lands. The field has green grass. Trees with green foliage surround it. And there is an inscription: 'Smolensk. March 13, 1944.'
- At the beginning of the film, during the fighting in Africa, Stauffenberg is addressed as "Mr. Colonel" even though he was only granted that rank on July 1, 1944. In English, it is acceptable to address a lieutenant colonel as "Colonel," just as the nuances of rank between "lieutenant" and "general" are not emphasized in personal address.
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