The Hollywood actor Tom Cruise visit Seoul to promote his news movie
"Valkyrie."

Tom Cruise, widely known to Asian fans as the star of major blockbusters
such as "Top Gun" and the "Mission Impossible" franchise,
visited Seoul, South Korea, January 18, to promote his Second World War
thriller, "Valkyrie."

In the World War Two thriller based on a true story of the
unsuccessful attempt by German soldiers to kill Hitler, Cruise plays Colonel
Claus Von Stauffenberg 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.

Cruise was quote at the press conferance saying, "I always wanted to
kill Hitler, I hated him."

Tom Cruise, saying:
"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 Two
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.

Tom Cruise, saying:
"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.