Cruise Can Film in Germany Despite 'Cult' Status

Tom Cruise will be allowed to shoot his new movie, about a German military officer who tried to assassinate Hitler, on German soil. Earlier reports said the megastar would be banned because of his ties to Scientology, which Germany regards as a threat to democracy and keeps under "official observation,"  as it does neo-Nazi groups, reports Yahoo News.

The controversy apparently was ignited by a web posting from a conservative German MP who claimed the Defense Minister had assured her that Cruise and company would be barred. Not so, the Defense Ministry now says. Meanwhile, two German studio heads have praised the film, called "Valkyrie," as one of the "too few examples of military opposition to Hitler's regime."  (More Valkyrie stories.)