Tom Cruise's film Valkyrie hit by £6m lawsuit from injured extras
Tom Cruise's "jinxed" WW2 film Valkyrie has been hit with a £6m lawsuit.
By Allan Hall in Berlin
Last Updated: 8:10PM BST 25 Aug 2008 
Tom Cruise was taking a day off from filming at the time of the accident and was not on set when the extras were hurt Photo: EPA
Tom Cruise [left] and German army officer Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg Photo: EPA
A group of extras lodged the claim after they were wounded when the side panel of a Nazi-era truck failed as it rounded a bend during filming of the epic in Berlin last year.
They are suing production company United Studios and Cruise for £6m in compensation.
The lawsuit could further delay the project, which has suffered several setbacks and was originally scheduled for release this year.
The extras were injured when they fell out of the side of the truck and on to the street.
Eleven extras, still wearing their Wehrmacht uniforms, were sent to the hospital with an array of injuries, ranging from bumps and bruises to broken ribs and pulled ligaments.
One was kept in the hospital for four days on suspicion of internal injuries.
Cruise was taking a day off from filming at the time of the accident and was not on set when the extras were hurt.
The movie features Cruise as Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of a failed July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
The officer planted a suitcase bomb that only broke Hitler's arm when it detonated in the dictator's hideout, the Wolf's Lair.
The lawsuit is the latest bit of bad luck to hit the production.
Before the accident, United Studios stirred up controversy by asking for permission to hang swastika banners in cordoned off areas of the city during filming.
Displaying the symbol is illegal in Germany, but Cruise's film got the go-ahead.
Cruise came in from a barrage of criticism from members of Stauffenberg's family.
Originally the German government refused to let him film at certain sites but later relented.
Then key scenes had to be re-shot after film was inadvertently destroyed in a developing lab. There were rumours of sabotage, which were denied by the producers.
Later, secret screen tests showed that audiences thought the movie was boring and there has been a frantic re-working ever since. Now the earliest that it could be released is February next year.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...ed-extras.html 
