Extras Injured in 'jinxed' Tom Cruise Film

Eleven film extras playing Wehrmacht soldiers in a controversial Tom Cruise film have been injured on set in Berlin, giving renewed weight to movie watchers' claims that the project is jinxed.

Cruise's film about an officer who led a failed assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler has been criticized by the German government and members of the family of Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, who was hanged for his central role in the plot.

The actors fell out of a moving lorry when a side panel fell open on Sunday as the vehicle turned a corner close to the finance ministry. They were treated for cuts, bruises and head injuries in six hospitals around the German capital. One of the actors who received a serious back injury was in hospital yesterday.

Cruise, who plays Colonel von Stauffenberg in the film "Valkyrie", was reportedly not on set at the time. But the incident is yet another setback for him and director Bryan Singer. The project has sparked numerous clashes between the film makers and the German government, which has refused to allow access to filming on several historical sites, including the Bendler Block where Stauffenberg was hanged, due in part to Cruise's association with Scientology. The organisation is viewed as a dangerous cult by German authorities, who keep its members under constant intelligence surveillance.