10 Actors Who Were Horribly Mismatched To Their Character Professions

2. Tom Cruise - German Army Colonel (Valkyrie)

Valkyrie I probably don't really need to explain this one, but I will. So Tom Cruise decided to play German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in Bryan Singer's rather dull World War II drama Valkyrie, who famously attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. You could see how that's not exactly a match made in heaven, right? I mean, props to Tom Cruise for trying to do something a bit different here, but it's not a very convincing performance. In fact, the actor just plays Stauffenberg as "Tom Cruise with an eyepatch," which makes it difficult to get into the movie at all, especially since he's speaking in an American accent. Basically, then, Singer and Cruise just expected us to buy into the idea of Cruise being a highly decorated German Army Colonel without doing any of the work. Ultimately, he just comes across as an American-style movie hero with none of Stauffenberg's inherent aristocratic traits. Boo!
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