Tom Cruise says grew up wanting to kill Hitler

[edonline]

http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSTRE50H0KA20090118

Tom Cruise says grew up wanting to kill Hitler

Sun Jan 18, 2009 2:14am EST

By Angela Moon

SEOUL (Reuters) - Tom Cruise, who fails to assassinate Adolph Hitler in his new movie "Valkyrie," said he grew up really wanting to kill the Nazi leader.

In the World War II thriller based on a true story of the unsuccessful attempt by German soldiers to kill Hitler, Cruise plays Colonel Claus Von Stauffenber who plants a briefcase bomb under a table at Hitler's military headquarters.

A heavy wooden table saves Hitler and Stauffenberg is executed with his co-conspirators.

"I always wanted to kill Hitler, I hated him," the Hollywood star of such major blockbusters as "Top Gun" and "Mission Impossible," told the press during a visit to Seoul to promote his latest film.

"As a child studying history and looking at documents, I wondered, why didn't someone stand up and try to stop it? When I read the script, it was entertaining and informative to know what the challenges were and what it was like to be in the environment."

Stauffenberg's legacy helped ease the burden of guilt about World War II and the Holocaust Germans still endure. But Germans had balked at the prospect of Cruise playing Stauffenberg as they objected to the actor's ties to Scientology, the movement founded in the 1950s by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

Germany, which does not recognize Scientology as a religion and regards it as a cult, made it difficult for the crew to film in the Bendlerblock building and courtyard where Stauffenberg was shot dead.

"I've never heard of this story before... It turned out to be an incredible adventure, just to be there and shoot at these locations that Stauffenberg was. It was a very powerful experience and hopefully it will communicate with the audience," the actor said.

"It has certainly influenced my life, just knowing that there were people who tried to stop him (Hitler)."

Valkyrie, directed by Bryan Singer, opened in the United States on December 25 and fared better than skeptics had predicted, reaching No. 4 in the North American box office ratings for the three-day weekend starting December 26. It opens on January 22 in Seoul for the first time in Asia.

[Smarmy Douche]

Perfectly normal behavior. Yeah.

[Salieri]

I'm not sure why this is even news-worthy. I'm sure there's been a few billion people that wanted to kill him in the last 70 years.

[Smiert Spionam]

Tom Cruise says he grew up wanting to kill Hitler

And now, in the eyes of the German government, you have become the newest possible incarnation of him.

How delightfully ironic....

[JJFlamingo]

Someone should make Tom Cruise a life-size Hitler Dummy, so he can take out all the pent-up aggression. I would recommend the guy who made my L. Ron Hubbard Dummy...:D

[someguy]

And so Tom Cruise drifts from town to town, hunting down the person Hitler re-incarnated into...

[Salieri]

I grew up wanting to kill Clifton James.

[jackson13]

If I had a time machine I wouldnt kill Hitler. I would rape Hitler. That would be a lot more depressing for him.

"You wanna go invade Poland?"

"No, maybe just take a shower, I dont fell well...*cries*"


Gotta love Louis C.K.

[edonline]

Hearing/reading stories like these are why I have such a dislike for Tom Cruise (personally, not professionall). At some times, it seems like comments out of his mouth are scripted or somehow planned for the occasion. In the case at hand, he could have simply said something like "I read/studied Hitler when I was young and knowing the evil things he did, I'm surprised more people didn't try to kill him". But no, Tammy has to go way over the top and make his own real-life drama out of it. How many people have ever said anything like "I grew up wanting to kill Hitler"?

[Kiwi Fruit]

Instead he grew up to kill his career.

[darkface]

This was taken way out of context. I remember he said this on the Jay Leno show. He didn't stop everything, look straight into the Camera and say, "I wanted to kill Hitler when I grow up". he said it casually in conversation while talking about his role in the movie Valkyrie.

What a stupid f'n story. I'm sorry but it's obvious they're trying to make Tom Cruise to be this insane man, when he 'recently' seems like a genuinely nice guy.

[The Postmaster General]

Yeah, I agree with the comments that this is pretty normal, and Cruise is no exception with that thought. If I was talking about it though, I would have made a point about traveling through time, and the disguises I would use.

What I want to add, though, is yeah, for a pretty senseless story, it's a poor excuse for spoiling the film. I mean, come on, we all know it was history and can be learned anywhere, and yeah, we all know the plot didn't succeed, but fuck man, they could have stopped there without needing to get so detailed, wherein lies the spoiler -- what the article explains is pretty much the only reason to see the movie in terms of the story.

[screamer581]

Instead he grew up to kill his career.



Nope. Valkyrie is going to end up grossing about 90 million at the box office in the US alone. His career is still going strong, no matter what the haters say.


And what darkface said.

[Le_Big_Mac]

It's too bad he was born after Hitler was already dead. It could have been the only non-worthless thing he's done in his life (besides his performance in Collateral).

[screamer581]

It's too bad he was born after Hitler was already dead. It could have been the only non-worthless thing he's done in his life (besides his performance in Collateral).


Yeah, those performances in Magnolia, Born On The 4th Of July, Rain Man, and Eyes Wide Shut weren't any good at all.

[FireCaptain4]

Yeah, those performances in Magnolia, Born On The 4th Of July, Rain Man, and Eyes Wide Shut weren't any good at all.

Don't forget A Few Good Men. His performance in that sucked a big one. :o

[screamer581]

Don't forget A Few Good Men. His performance in that sucked a big one. :o

Yeah, forgot about that one! Man does Tom Cruise suck as an actor!!!!

[miguel_montes]

And I'll add Jerry Maguire because he's just so terrible in it... :)

[Pentangeli]

Hopefully most people will not condone murder, not even for revenge. And the comments of one poster here (Jackson13) quoting Louis C.K, presumably gay, condoning raping the man, is a sure way to undermine any disagreement on morality you may have had. People like Hitler, Hussein, Mugabe...Greenspan, do belong in jail, but to torture or kill is not a way to reach a moral high ground, or to exhibit to foes our perception of civilisation.

[The Postmaster General]

I think you are taking it a bit too far, Pentageli. Obviously it's nothing more than the ultimate in adolescent male machismo, taking down a powerful and hated man, thus saving the world from a reign of terror. I mean, the killing Hitler thing, not raping him. All it is is some Top Gun shit, and obviously can't be taken too literally considering that time travel would have to be involved for one to actually kill Hitler.

[ilovemovies]

Wasn't there an episode of The Outer Limits where somebody goes back in time to try and kill Hitler? I seem to recall something like that.

[Rawlin67]

Instead he grew up to kill his career.

id love to hear this one explained.

[MoovEDude]

And I'll add Jerry Maguire because he's just so terrible in it... :)

Laughable post of the day - for being totally off the mark and untrue

[Kiwi Fruit]

Tom crusie can turn water into funk so yes he can travel back in time.

[Lindsey]

Tom crusie can turn water into funk so yes he can travel back in time.

For sure, yorrick!

Although Tom's been looking mighty fine these days.

[JJFlamingo]

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

[Lindsey]

Dun dun dun...

Another one bites the dust. :cool:

[the clever guy]

It's times like these that make me appreciate the occasional puffy Cheetos and a nice, cold beer.


I love this fucking site.

[Euclid]

I'll say this much... Things around here never get boring. :D

[SoCool]

It's amazing to me that people care at all about stories like these. Tom Cruise isn't crazy - or rather, he's no more crazy than any of those people who believe that the world was flooded and repopulated by an old guy and his family, who made a boat that had a male and female from each animal species. Yeah...

All of this shit about Scientology does not make him crazy, or any less talented. I think Tom Cruise may be one of the most likable celebrities ever.

Anyway,

It's too bad he was born after Hitler was already dead. It could have been the only non-worthless thing he's done in his life (besides his performance in Collateral).

Fail.

...in my opinion, of course. :rolleyes:

[Potter82]

I know people like to rip on Cruise for his nutty religion and eccentricities but wanting to kill Hitler is perfectly reasonable in my opinion.

I mean here is a man who is probably the closest thing that modern Western Civilization has to the personification of evil - Hitler that is, not Cruise :D

He caused more pain and hardship than anyone who ever lived (with a few possible arguable exceptions) and so wanting to put a stop to that is perfectly understandable.

Not only that but when a person imagines themselves killing Hitler they also imagine themselves becoming a hero and a martyr. Such a person would be praised as a hero until the end of time and really there are few ways to go out more productively than taking the most evil SOB on the planet with you - and I say "with you" because I can't forsee an instance in which a person could have killed Hitler without being killed immediately or soon after (successfully anyway, which excuses the Valkeryie plot)

Imagining yourself doing heroic things and saving mankind as a young kid isn't that odd at all - and no I'm not saying this because I wrote a story when I was 15 called "I wish I could have killed Hitler"

[muttly69]

God damn it Tom, I grew up wanting to kill the sun but the other voices say wait for Hitler to return and after the battle of Moldobie, them it will be time to make my move. Don’t FUCK with me Cruise!

[jackson13]

Wait a minute, someone got upset at my post? Dude, dont get mad at me. Get mad at Louis C.K. He's the one that said it. I just repeated it because the man is hilarious and I felt it fit quite well being that this thread is about Hitler.