Cruise attends the world premiere of Valkyrie at the Time Warner Center on Dec. 15 in New York.

AP / Evan Agostini

A Nazi-filled Christmas is not an easy sell.

That’s just one of the challenges Tom Cruise faces with his new World War II thriller Valkyrie, which opens today. In the film, which portrays the seldom-recalled German resistance to Adolf Hitler, Cruise plays would-be Hitler assassin Col. Claus von Stauffenberg.

It’s a risky film to make and not just because of the sensitive subject matter. Cruise has been trying to rehabilitate his image — and few PR experts regularly advise donning a German army uniform to engender warm feelings.

On the other hand, Valkyrie is also a serious, suspenseful film. Can it help put Cruise back on top?

In a recent interview, Cruise and director Bryan Singer downplayed the bad pre-release buzz for Valkyrie.

The film’s release date repeatedly changed. Early ads showing the similar appearance of an eye-patched Cruise and Stauffenberg were mocked online. At one point, German Defense Ministry officials said the production couldn’t shoot at Berlin’s Benderblock memorial to the Nazi resistance because of Cruise’s beliefs in Scientology — which isn’t recognized as a religion in Germany. (The statements were quickly recanted and shooting went forward.)

Cruise, 46, is familiar with uncontrollable spirals of bad publicity — and not just in the last few tumultuous years. He has long been dogged by rumors about his personal life and has been through productions, such as 1988’s Rain Man, he points out, that seemed doomed before they were released.

“It’s nice to be able to have people talk about the film, as opposed to us reading about the film,” Cruise said. “It is what it is. And I understand it. I do understand it.”

His recent bout of bad publicity started with that fateful appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s show in 2005. Then there was the awkward interview with Today show host Matt Lauer. The following year, Paramount Pictures severed its 14-year relationship with him.

“As I’ve said, I want an adventurous life,” said Cruise. “And yet I’ve gotten a little bit more adventure than I bargained for.”

A rebound is fully in the works. Cruise revisited Winfrey — the scene of the sofa — earlier this year. Last Monday, he publicly patched things up with Lauer. He started his own Web site, too.

And last week, he also received a Golden Globe nomination for his hilarious performance in Ben Stiller’s raunchy summer comedy Tropic Thunder, in which he plays a dirty-dancing, foul-mouthed studio head.

With producer Paula Wagner, Cruise reformed the United Artists film studio as a boutique label for MGM. Their first film for UA, last year’s Lions for Lambs, was a critical and box-office failure and Wagner exited as chief executive officer in August. The more expensive Valkyrie — reportedly made for $90 million, though Singer said $75 million is more accurate — is a considerable gamble for both UA and Cruise.

He jokes at the predicament: “Go kill Hitler on Christmas!”

The film was written by Christopher McQuarrie and his writing partner Nathan Alexander. McQuarrie’s last collaboration with Singer was the widely admired The Usual Suspects (1994). After bringing Valkyrie to Singer, the two expected to make a “small” film for less than $20 million.

“I love it when he says that,” jokes Cruise. “I laugh at him. All you have to do is read the script. It has the planes, it’s in Berlin. How is this ever a small film?”

Now embracing his instinct for big movies, Singer (who also helmed X-Men, X2 and Superman Returns) said, “You sell the small film and then you go: ‘We could have cardboard or we could have the metal. I’m just saying.’ It is a bit of a shell game.”

McQuarrie is quick to acknowledge he never expected the film to get made, but believes the result is a “delightfully odd movie” in the tradition of taut World War II thrillers like The Great Escape, The Devil’s Brigade and Where Eagles Dare.

Said Singer: “We always knew that it was a thriller, we always knew that it was for the mainstream. It was not something we were gunning for awards.”

Cruise’s Stauffenberg is, like many of the actor’s roles, an embodiment of determination. With a similar steadfastness to Ethan Hunt of the Mission: Impossible movies, the striving agent in Jerry Maguire or the more demented determination of Vincent in Collateral, Cruise’s Stauffenberg is resolute.

“I think there is that part of me, there is that spirit of wanting to engage in life,” said Cruise. “Here’s a guy who worked under tremendous amounts of pressure, and still could be absolutely clear and lucid about his choices and try to push this and drive this forward.

“I’m a father,” said Cruise, who is married to Katie Holmes and has three children. “You have to choose the things you want to focus on. I make movies.”

Cruise won’t say if that means removing himself further from his mogul duties at UA, but he does state that he’d like to be making three films a year. (At the moment, he doesn’t have anything immediately lined up but is developing several projects.)

As ever, Cruise tries to remain doggedly forward looking.

“I’m an actor first and foremost,” he said. “I have the freedom to do what I want to do.”