Cruise film set for Germany shoot

Cruise will play Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg

The makers of Tom Cruise's latest film say they have the relevant permits needed to film in Germany, despite being banned from military sites.

German defence minister Franz Josef Jung this week said the filmmakers could not shoot at certain sites, because Cruise is a Scientologist.

Berlin sees it as a cult masquerading as a religion to make money - a view Scientology leaders strongly reject.

But the head of Berlin's Babelsberg Studios said permits were in place.

In Valkyrie, Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of the 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler using a bomb hidden in a briefcase, scheduled for release next year.

'Democratic order'

Cruise's producing partner Paula Wagner said Cruise's own convictions had no relation to the film's content.

"Personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie's plot or themes," she said.

Scientology has been monitored in Germany in the belief that its activities are "directed against the free democratic order" in the country.

Carl Woebken, head of Babelsberg studios, told the Reuters news agency: "They have given us permission like they have done for other Stauffenberg films before."

The location include the so-called Bendlerblock where Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were shot after the attempt to kill Hitler failed.

The Bendlerblock is located in what is the now the Defence Ministry complex in Berlin.

However, part of it is run by the German Resistance Memorial Centre and not the ministry, and Babelsberg Studios says it will shoot there.

"From our point of view, everything is ready to go," added Mr Woebken.

Valkyrie - named after Operation Valkyrie, the plot's codename - will be directed by Bryan Singer and co-star British actor Kenneth Branagh.