The Tom Cruise Career Comeback is in full force – and it’s working! Xenu loves a comeback, and so does America, apparently. A somewhat contrite Tom Cruise has apologized to glib Matt Lauer, toned down the Scientology speeches, received a Golden Globe nomination for his hilariously crude turn in Tropic Thunder, been in a critically well-received Nazi movie, and perhaps, to look a little “refreshed” for his comeback, a little nip-tuck? Cruise has been looking mysteriously svelte and “tight” around the jaw… but I digress.

Most of the biggest films with the biggest box offices make half (if not more) of their money in foreign markets. So it makes perfect sense that a big star like Tom Cruise would take his comeback tour to Seoul, South Korea to promote the hell out of Valkyrie. While in Seoul, Cruise talked about how much he wanted to kill Hitler when he was a child. There are a couple of things about his answers that make me uncomfortable, but I’ll get to that later. Here’s what Xenu approves of.

Tom Cruise, who fails to assassinate Adolph Hitler in his new movie “Valkyrie,” said he grew up really wanting to kill the Nazi leader.

In the World War II thriller based on a true story of the unsuccessful attempt by German soldiers to kill Hitler, Cruise plays Colonel Claus Von Stauffenber who plants a briefcase bomb under a table at Hitler’s military headquarters. A heavy wooden table saves Hitler and Stauffenberg is executed with his co-conspirators.

“I always wanted to kill Hitler, I hated him,” the Hollywood star of such major blockbusters as “Top Gun” and “Mission Impossible,” told the press during a visit to Seoul to promote his latest film.

“As a child studying history and looking at documents, I wondered, why didn’t someone stand up and try to stop it? When I read the script, it was entertaining and informative to know what the challenges were and what it was like to be in the environment.”

Stauffenberg’s legacy helped ease the burden of guilt about World War II and the Holocaust Germans still endure. But Germans had balked at the prospect of Cruise playing Stauffenberg as they objected to the actor’s ties to Scientology, the movement founded in the 1950s by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

Germany, which does not recognize Scientology as a religion and regards it as a cult, made it difficult for the crew to film in the Bendlerblock building and courtyard where Stauffenberg was shot dead.

“I’ve never heard of this story before… It turned out to be an incredible adventure, just to be there and shoot at these locations that Stauffenberg was. It was a very powerful experience and hopefully it will communicate with the audience,” the actor said. “It has certainly influenced my life, just knowing that there were people who tried to stop him (Hitler).”

From Reuters

I swear I’m not being nit-picky. I totally understand what Tom Cruise is trying to say – something along the lines of “When I was in school, studying the history of WWII, I never understood why people couldn’t see through Hitler’s crap and try to take him out.” That’s what he should of said. Instead, Cruise sounds like he wants to be a time-traveling Highlander or something. And as far as this repetition of “hating” Hitler – well, duh. We all hate Hitler, Xenu! It’s not as if Cruise is blowing our minds with profundity. As if he ever is.

Note by Celebitchy: Cruise arrived in Berlin last night, where he will be attending the premiere of Valkyrie on Tuesday.

Tom Cruise is shown on 1/19/09 arriving for an interview in Berlin and on 1/18/09 at the premiere of Valkyrie in Korea with director Bryan Singer. Credit: WENN