Cruise and Diaz return to Austria
Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz have been on a top secret trip to Salzburg, it has emerged.The A-list celebrities flew into the picturesque citys airport in separate private jets yesterday morning (Mon). “Mission: Impossible” star Cruise was accompanied by his wife Katie Holmes and their daughter Suri.The actors and their entourage stayed at the five-star Hotel Schloss Mönchstein before attending an exclusive preview of their latest film “Knight and Day”.Cruise and Diaz were on location in Salzburg last year shooting scenes including a wild chase on the ancient city centres roofs of the action movie which will premiere in Seville, Spain, tomorrow. The lead actors of the film directed by James Mangold are expected to leave Salzburg tonight for the Spanish city.Shooting of the film was overshadowed by controversial revelations in Austria.Opposition politicians attacked Peoples Party (ÖVP) Deputy Governor Wilfried Haslauer after he announced the province subsidised Hollywood production company 20th Century Fox.Haslauer who handles Salzburgs tourism and marketing issues said the project was of “immense value” for the city, which is most famous for being the birthplace of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.Critics however stressed that the 300,000-Euro support bid was out of proportion.Salzburg police confirmed in December two photographers complained they had been temporarily blinded when a laser was fired at them as they took pictures of the filming of the movie. Both the snappers suffered eye damage as the laser shot through their camera lens and straight into their eyes. The men had to be hospitalised and treated for reduced vision.Fans who tried to catch a glimpse of the Hollywood stars meanwhile claimed security staff punched their fingers as they held on to barriers set up around the shooting locations in Salzburg city centre.Local media claimed a helicopter cut a connection cable of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) while filming landscape footage for the movie. Papers reported at that time that service between the Tyrolean towns of Reith and Scharnitz were delayed for around an hour after the incident.One film enthusiast revealed he found a folder with the stars personal numbers and details about the movies script in a bin in the city centre of Salzburg after the crew had moved on. Producers reportedly considered rewriting the end of the film despite the fans decision to return the files.News of Cruise and Diaz returning to Austria come only days after Viennese dailies claimed “Pulp Fiction” director Quentin Tarantino will visit the province of Lower Austria this summer to look for a location for an upcoming film about Dracula.Oscar winner Nicolas Cage spent some weeks in Austria to shoot supernatural thriller “Season of the Witch” in Lower Austria and Styria in 2008. The film is currently in post-production and expected to hit the screen later this year.Kreuzenstein Castle in Lower Austria one of the locations picked by “Season of the Witch” director Dominic Sena has been tipped as a possible location for Tarantinos new project.