Tom Cruise has gotten a boost for his role as a Nazi assassin in new movie Valkyrie - after the grandson of the soldier he is playing defended the controversial film against his family's own criticism.

Cruise plays injured World War II Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who led a plot to assassinate Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, in the film. The history-making Colonel's children voiced objections to Cruise playing their father.

But Philipp von Schulthess, the soldier's grandson who has a small role in the controversial war drama, insists the actor represented his grandfather "wonderfully."

Von Schulthess tells the New York Daily News, "Most of them (von Stauffenberg's children) haven't seen it. They're crossing their fingers this turned out well. I think it did, and hope they agree."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)