‘Valkyrie’: The role that disturbed Tom Cruise so much he couldn’t look at himself
Tom Cruise has thrown himself off buildings, scaled the Burj Khalifa with one arm, launched off a cliff on a motorbike with nothing more than a parachute to save him, and nearly lost his head (literally) during a particularly dangerous stunt with a horse during the filming of The Last Samurai. But none of this prepared him for the physical challenge of wearing an eye patch.
In the 2008 film Valkyrie, the Mission: Impossible star plays the real-life Nazi officer Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who spearheaded a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. The scheme was foiled, and the conspirators were swiftly murdered, but their resistance remains a source of pride for many Germans and a part of history that went under the radar for many decades. For the role, Cruise had to wear an eye patch like the one von Stauffenberg wore after suffering extensive injuries in North Africa, and it became a thorn in his side.
“The eye patch was very difficult,” he told film critic Emanuel Levy in 2008. “At first it threw my balance off, and I would imagine the kind of physical discomfort he had to live with.” More importantly, however, it handicapped one of the most important tools an actor has. With part of his face obscured, he had to figure out how to communicate thoughts and emotions without his usual range of expressions.
It’s hard to believe that an actor known for doing his own stunts in some of the most tense action movies of the century would struggle with his balance unless he was standing on one leg on a tightrope above the Grand Canyon while blindfolded in a windstorm, but physical acting challenges aside, the role also posed a psychological challenge.
“Putting on that uniform and looking at the world from that perspective was disturbing,” Cruise said. “I didn’t like it at all. It definitely changes your viewpoint.”
It’s safe to say that any non-fascist who puts on a Nazi uniform would feel pretty icky about it, even though countless actors have done it over the years in pursuit of a good cause. For Cruise, it was as instructive as it was unsettling, helping him get into the mind of a man who was forced to don the costume every morning while plotting the downfall of the regime he despised.
Despite how seriously the actor took the character and his portrayal of him, Cruise’s casting was heavily criticised by many people in Germany. Even von Stauffenberg’s son expressed his displeasure, saying that the movie star would turn the story into a piece of Hollywood kitsch. He even took aim at Cruise’s affiliation with Scientology. The production struggled to secure locations for the film due to the public outcry.
In the end, the movie went ahead, and ended up receiving largely positive reviews. Cruise has continued to test his balance in many films since Valkyrie, but it’s worth noting that he has not worn an eye patch again. Apparently, there are some stunts that even he isn’t willing to try more than once.
