Eight years later, McQuarrie co-wrote (with Nathan Alexander) and co-produced "Valkyrie", which opened on December 25, 2008, and is based on the real-life July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. While researching the screenplay, the writers had access to members of the Stauffenberg family; consulted a book written by Fabian von Schlabrendorff, a conspirator who survived; and spoke with Hitler's surviving bodyguard. The film, starring Tom Cruise and directed by Bryan Singer, received the BMI Film Music Award and the Bambi Award for Courage. In 2009, McQuarrie was hired to pen the script for the then-untitled "The Wolverine".