EDITORIALS

Bryan Singer's Valkyrie Reshooting Three More Scenes

by Alex Billington
June 4, 2008
Source: Variety

We all know that United Artists moved Bryan Singer's Valkyrie to February 13th next year from its original spot in August this year. They claimed that this move was made as a strategic decision to capitalize on the potential of the film, but we all know that couldn't have been the case. Who would move out of the summer to one of the worst movie months of the year?! You probably even already forgot about the unimpressive trailer that debuted last year, too. Well, Variety's Peter Bart reports on his blog that Tom Cruise and company are going back to North Africa to reshoot a total of three important scenes. And if that's not all, he claims that the film is superb, which may mean these reshoots could be a good thing.

Bart reports that "Cruise will be shooting three scenes in North Africa within the next three weeks. In one, his character, Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg, is badly injured but survives, a key moment in the film's first act." He also adds that although it's not complete, certain people he knows have seen the film and told him that it's "a superb thriller." One of them even said that "Bryan Singer is back in form," which we can assume is a reference to his earlier masterpiece The Usual Suspects. I never had any doubts with Singer to begin with, but the moviegoing public seems to have latched on to the negative buzz surrounding production problems with Valkyrie, and thus will probably take these reshoots the wrong way.

I actually hate the idea that reshoots are instantly labeled as trouble. That's a label that was introduced a few years back and has stuck ever since. Unfortunately most people are too blind or too dumb to think through the idea of a reshoot and actually consider that it could potentially be a good think. Every situation needs to be addressed individually. If the reshoots have to do with test screening results or other production problems, then a case can be made that they might be problematic. However, if they're being done to improve the film, which may be the case here with Valkyrie, then they should be accepted as possibly beneficial! I guess I'm just holding out hope for Valkyrie as long as I can.

Valkyrie script was penned by Christopher McQuarrie, who also worked on Public Access and The Usual Suspects with Singer. The "July 20 Plot" on Hitler's life is one of the most heroic but least known episodes of WWII. Severely wounded in combat, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg returns from Africa to join the German Resistance and help create Operation Valkyrie, the complex plan that will allow a shadow government to replace Hitler's once he is dead. But fate and circumstance conspire to thrust Stauffenberg from one of many in the plot to a double-edged central role. Not only must he lead the coup and seize control of his nation's government... He must kill Hitler himself.

Unfortunately we have to wait another 8 months to finally see if the reshoots made an impact on the film. I think everyone has a sour taste leftover in their mouth from Singer's Superman Returns, which is why they're all attacking him and jumping at every little production blip that they can. I'm still expecting this film to be great, especially with McQuarrie's script, and will give it the time it needs to grow. However, as much buzz as this film may eventually receive, it's going to flop terribly in February. I don't know how anyone thinks that releasing a big blockbuster in February is a path to success, because almost every February release is always an instant failure. Oh well, that's United Artists' big loss.

Will Bryan Singer redeem himself with Valkyrie next February?

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