Tom Cruise Denied Access to Berlin Site 'Out of Spite'

Photo Gallery

HOLLYWOOD - Tom Cruise was banned from shooting his new movie on German military sites--even though a TV film on the same subject was granted full access.

Cruise is playing World War II hero Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg--who led an unsuccessful plot to assassinate Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler--in new film Valkyrie.

Film bosses wanted to use Berlin's Bendlerblock building as a location, because it is crucial to the film's storyline--it's a military building that includes a memorial to Von Stauffenberg, who was executed at the site in July 1944; however, they were refused permission.

It was alleged they were denied access because of Cruise's Scientology beliefs, but the German government later denied the claims, insisting it wasn't "appropriate" to shoot a film at a memorial site.

But it has emerged that 2004 German movie Stauffenberg was granted permission to film at the Bendlerblock.

Sources claim Valkyrie bosses were snubbed out of spite. An insider says, "There's no logical reason why they weren't allowed to film there--after all, a film had already been shot at the memorial just three years before. Somebody somewhere has obviously taken a dislike to Cruise and the film."

COPYRIGHT 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.