Berlin Says "Impossible" to Tom Cruise

A month after Tom Cruise arrived in Berlin to check out possible locations for the third part of his spy thriller "Mission Impossible" -- the Hollywood hunk has been given the cold shoulder by the German parliament.

Cruise was apparently fascinated by the Reichstag's spectacular glass dome and wanted to shoot there. But the idea of a Hollywood crew trampling through the hallowed corridors of the seat of German democracy was, it seems, too much for parliamentary president Wolfgang Thierse to bear. Earlier this week, he shot down Cruise's wish. "It's about preserving the dignity of the parliament," Thierse's spokesman Hans Hotter said.

But the issue continued to simmer on Thursday after politicians from the Greens and Free Democrats bemoaned Thierse's decision. The parliamentarians said Germany had missed a chance to raise its international profile. "It's great if such films don't just play against the backdrop of Los Angeles or New York, but also in Berlin or Paris," Greens deputy floor leader Volker Beck said.

"If such a blockbuster can make the Reichstag building an international star, then the parliament shouldn't be so parochial," Free Democrats chief Guido Westerwelle said, adding it was a "brilliant chance to spark worldwide interest in Berlin and to lure visitors to Germany."

President of Berlin's city-state parliament, Walter Momper insisted that Cruise could still film in Berlin and offered his own office, the former Prussian assembly building, as an alternative location. "Mr Cruise should show us the screenplay, and if it fits with the dignity of the building, then he can film here by paying a small fee," Momper told daily Berliner Kurier.

But, as it turns out, the outcry may be hugely overestimating what's at stake. A source at the Babelsberg film studios near Potsdam told news magazine Spiegel that all director Joe Carnahan wanted was to "shoot a really simple dialogue scene in the dome of the Reichstag," not a sophisticated one with special effects and the works.

Babelsberg spokesman Felix Neunzerling too added it wasn't a big deal. "Naturally you can also simply build a copy of the dome," he said.