"Distractingly bad," and "unengaging Nazi escapade" are among some of the reviewers' comments attached to "Valkyrie," Tom Cruise's film that opens Christmas day.
Cruise's people can't be happy —for the obvious reasons — but also, according to a source with radio station K-Earth 101, the Cruise camp was willing to go to great lengths to garner some positive publicity. In fact, they went so far as to offer a screening for anyone at the station and their friends at the Cruise home, if only they'd "say 'nice things' about the movie," according to the source.
Here's what's said to have happened. On Nov. 24, Mark Steines of "Entertainment Tonight" called into the show to discuss the exclusive interview "ET" had scored with Cruise. During the course of the interview with Lisa Stanley, Stanley mocks Cruise for not having a German accent in the film, says early viewers "laughed at it," and then asks, "Listen, I'm just curious how you have no German accent, so many delays, and now people are saying, 'It's fantastic!' It's impossible."
Impossible if you've seen the film ... maybe. Which is why, according to the radio station source, a member of Cruise's camp called the station to offer up a free friends and family screening.
"They offered to hold it in Tom's home — they didn't say if he'd be there or not," the source says. "We just had to agree to say 'nice things' about the movie."
Cruise's camp didn't respond to a request for comment.
As of last week, however, "Valkyrie" was tracking similar to Brad Pitt's "Curious Case of Benjamin Button," at least among women who said they would see the films.
This didn't come as a huge surprise to one industry expert, however.
"That data came out in the middle of Tom's publicity run for the film, and Brad's barely done any promotion for 'Ben Button,'" the source notes. "Don't forget, too, that there's a big difference between saying you'd see something and seeing it. We'll have to wait."
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