Hollywood's Biggest Stars on New Projects, Personal Lives

Barbara Walters interviews Tom Cruise for her annual "Most Fascinating People" special airing on ABC.

(Steve Fenn/ABC)
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Tom Cruise on 'Inspiring' New Role

In a departure from his usual action hero flicks, Cruise chose to appear in a Nazi movie that might be the biggest risk of his career: "Valkyrie," the true story of Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, a German officer in World War II who plotted to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

"It was inspiring," Cruise said. "A story that I didn't know about, and that I had no idea that happened. And that it was just very compelling."

But the movie hasn't been without controversy. The U.K. newspaper The Independent reported conflict between the movie's production company, United Artists, and the German army regarding a shooting location. The movie caused further controversy abroad when the filmmakers hung Nazi flags from building windows.

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Despite all of this, Cruise has already earned Germany's prestigious media prize, the Bambi award for courage. "Valkyrie" comes to American theaters on Christmas day, the final release date after several postponements, and after opposition from the German government, which views von Stauffenberg as a national hero.

The von Stauffenberg family, who, like many Germans, considers Scientology to be a cult rather than a religion, was reportedly dismayed that Cruise had been selected for the role.

Cruise told Walters he was hurt by this reaction, but, he said, "You just go, OK, all right. But I'm going to go make the movie."

Cruise remained focused on the reasons he decided to participate in the project to begin with. He said the screenplay was "incredible."

"I'm an actor, and this was a story that I found compelling and I felt there was something to contribute to it," he explained.

The "new" Cruise has been working overtime to keep a low profile. He no longer wishes to speak out about Scientology.

"Now, I just say look, I'm not going to talk about my religion, and if people want to know about Scientology, they can absolutely just go to the Web site."