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New Mishap For Hitler Movie

Faulty Film Forces Cruise to Re-Shoot Key Scenes

Are Tom Cruise's efforts to make a film about Hitler's would-be assassin Clauss von Stauffenberg jinxed? Key scenes have to be re-shot because some of the rolls of film used proved to be faulty.

Tom Cruise, in Berlin to make a film about the German officer who tried to blow up Adolf Hitler in 1944, will have to re-shoot some key scenes for the movie after rolls of film used to shoot them were found to be faulty.

The mishap means Cruise will have to return to the Berlin Defense Ministry to film at the site were Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was shot for trying to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944.

A spokeswoman for the production company declined to comment on media speculation that someone was trying to sabotage the film. "It's simply faulty material, that can happen," she said. The company has already applied for permission to film the scenes again.

The filming so far has been anything but smooth. Production company United Artists was initially refused access to original locations in Berlin because of Cruise's membership of Scientology, which German authorities regard as a money-making cult rather than a church.

The Defense Ministry changed its mind last month, allowing Cruise to shoot inside the ministry's "Bendlerblock" memorial where Stauffenberg planned the failed plot to blow up Hitler with a suitcase bomb, and where he was later executed.

In August, 11 extras were injured when they fell off the back of a truck turning a corner during a shoot in central Berlin.

cro/dpa/ddp