When McQuarrie showed the script to his longtime friend Bryan Singer, with whom he had previously collaborated on The Usual Suspects, the writer added he was struggling to come up with a scene at the beginning of the film that would help viewers see past the characters' uniforms.

'Bryan said `What scene could you possibly write that would be eloquent enough to erase 60 years of perception? Let's just focus on what they did, which was to try to kill Hitler.' ''

LANDING CRUISE

It didn't hurt, either, to land Cruise as the star of the film, something McQuarrie says was completely unintentional.

'Bryan wanted to make this as a smaller movie in-between bigger projects, something that didn't have the pressure of a $100 million budget. We took it to United Artists and expressed our feelings, and they agreed. They said `This is a little movie, and it will not a big investment.' ''

As part of the development process with the studio, Singer and McQuarrie were required to meet with Cruise, who had been named one of the heads of United Artists in 2006.

'They had told us `This is not going to be a Tom movie. Tom doesn't want to star in every movie UA makes.' So there was no pressure,'' McQuarrie says. 'But right from those first few meetings between the three of us, there emerged this real camaraderie. No one ever said `Will you be in it?' or 'Can I be in it?' I got the strong sense Tom was very excited about the project, but he was never going to impose himself on it.''

For Cruise, his interest in the script and his desire to play Stauffenberg overrode whatever concerns he might have had about donning Nazi garb, a glass eye and sport only one hand with two fingers.

'Throughout my career, there have been many times when people have said `Don't do this' and 'Don't do that,' '' he says. ``It happened with Born on the Fourth of July and Interview With the Vampire and even Rain Man. But not only did I think playing Stauffenberg would be a challenge for me, but I also think like a moviegoer. I like it when actors do different things, and I'm surprised by them.''

The fact that Cruise was also the big boss at the studio financing Valkyrie made it a non-issue that his famously handsome mug would be adorned with an eye patch for much of the film.

''I remember having extensive conversations with [Warner Bros.] over my beard in The Last Samurai,'' he says. 'I said, `But Clint Eastwood wore a beard!' With this, I thought of John Wayne in True Grit. He looked cool with an eye patch. There was something bad-ass about it. And the character himself was a classic underdog going up against insurmountable odds. That is always heroic, even when we know the outcome.''

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