Tom Cruise had to dig deep for his latest starring role – pun intended.
“I’ve never had anything that challenged me the way that Alejandro did,” Cruz said of the title role in “Digger,” a dark comedy directed by two-time Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Birdman,” “The Revenant”).
Described as a “comedy of cataclysmic proportions”, the Warner Bros. film is Iñárritu’s first English-language film since The Revenant. Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, sporting a thick Southern accent, pot belly and thinning gray hair (unconvincingly combed) to play “the most powerful man in the world,” a billionaire whose company may have caused an environmental disaster that could also trigger nuclear war.
“Things are changing,” Cruise’s Digger says at the start of the clip, which sets the stakes. “One day you’re a cat or a king. The next day you’re just ashes in a box.”
When Digger learns that his product has caused a significant shift in the glacier, he can be said to be less than concerned. “That glacier there in Greenland is moving five feet. Now this table in front of me is over five feet. My dick is one-tenth that size,” he says, growing increasingly agitated. “What? You want me to shut down a billion dollar platform over something ten times the size of my dick?” (Digger’s biggest concern is his ancient white cat, who has “two weeks to five minutes” to live.)
John Goodman portrays the ailing US President who begs Cruise’s character to fix the mess he’s created. “Digger got us all into this mess, and Digger is going to dig us out again,” Goodman bellows after learning it could cost up to $18 trillion to fix the situation. (The answer, apparently, is to drop a rocket on an iceberg.)
According to the logline, the film follows Digger as he “embarks on a mad mission to prove himself the savior of humanity before the disaster he unleashes destroys everything.” But even if Digger can’t save the world, he can at least control the narrative. “There’s a difference between facts and a well-told story,” he explains.
“When all else fails, you tell them the truth. You know the hard truth,” Digger says near the end of the clip. “Just bang-bang-bang.”
Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hueller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde and Emma D’Arcy round out the vibrant ensemble cast.
Ahead of the trailer’s launch, Cruise unveiled the highly anticipated footage to press, film critics and fans at a special presentation at the Warner Bros. lot. in Los Angeles.
“Digger” may be Iñárritu and Cruz’s first collaboration, but Cruise has been a fan since receiving an early preview of Iñárritu’s feature debut, 2000’s “Amores Perros.”
“What a brilliant movie. It was amazing,” Cruise said of the crime thriller. “I was one of the first viewers and I heard about it early, so when I saw this movie, I don’t know how y’all felt, but I was like, ‘What the fuck?’ This guy!
Cruz explained that even early in his career, Iñárritu’s “experienced eye” was evident: “I see the details of this director, what he achieved very early on, and I think, ‘How?’ Staging. Chivo (Iñárritu’s longtime collaborator, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki) and what they do with the camera. Performances. Design. Color in the film. Every aspect of this film was very thought out, very detailed, and you could feel the powerful human voice of someone who was incredibly skilled at what he did.”
For years, Cruise spread the word about the director’s genius by showing the film to friends, but it took them years to meet and even longer to find the right project to work on together. Then, about seven years ago, Iñárritu pitched the idea of ”Digger” to Cruz. Instead of mailing in a finished script based on a script Iñárritu co-wrote with Birdman co-writers Nicholas Giacobone and Alexander Dinelaris and Sabina Berman, Iñárritu and Cruz spent several days with the director reading the script to his would-be star.
“I listen to everything that’s on his mind to understand it, and then I know how to contribute to it and bring that collaboration together,” Cruz recalled. “It was beautiful.”
From the way Iñárritu described Digger, it was clear to Cruz that “this guy has one hell of a ball.” That’s all he needed to hear. He was game and ready to go. “There’s nothing like physically and metaphorically standing on the edge of a cliff and saying, ‘Let’s do this. And I trust you, and whatever we’re going to do, I know it’s going to be one hell of an experience,” Cruz added.
The actor especially liked the idea of transforming himself to play the role using makeup and prosthetics.
“When we’re looking for characters, we look for humor, we look for drama, we look for certain designs (and we ask, ‘How do we convey that?’),” Cruz said, outlining his process. “Whether it’s Les Grossman[in Tropic Thunder]or Interview with the Vampire or Collateral or Risky Business, I always ask, ‘How do I convey this?’ The physicality, the makeup, that’s what you’ll find.”
Tom Cruise in the movie “Digger”.
Warner Bros.
The film, produced by Legendary Pictures, was shot in the UK over six months with Lubetzky as cinematographer using VistaVision. Iñárritu was unable to join the launch cruise as he is still in the UK finishing the sound mix, but shared his version of the film’s backstory in a video message.
“It was right after The Revenant that I had the idea. Not the script, not the movie, but just an unrelenting, recurring obsession that went on all these wild years. I knew who this character was,” Iñárritu said in the clip. “I knew how he spoke, how he survived, how he seduced reality into agreeing with him. But it took me 10 years to make this film because I wasn’t looking for a story. I was looking for the right way to tell it. And it’s absurd, it’s dangerous, but it’s certainly comedic, because the source of great comedy is tragedy.
“People often ask me why I cast Tom as Digger. To me, it’s like asking someone why you drink water when you’re thirsty. Because that’s what you need,” Iñárritu said, before introducing the clip: “Ladies and gentlemen, get ready, because Mother Nature loves bastards.”
Digger is Cruise’s first film with Warner Bros. since signing a theatrical development and production deal with the studio in January 2024. Cruise’s last film with Warner Bros., the sci-fi action film Edge of Tomorrow, was released in 2014. He most recently starred in Mission: Impossible: Final Reckoning, the action-packed finale to his time as IMF agent Ethan. Hunt. During the conversation, Cruise reflected on his 46-year film career and explained that his performance in Digger represented the accumulation of those experiences.
“I’m so grateful. It’s amazing to be here at this age,” Cruise said, acknowledging the lessons he’s absorbed from the master filmmakers he’s worked with over time, dating back to his earliest experiences on set, such as watching Martin Scorsese direct Paul Newman in 1986’s The Color of Money or one of his first films, 1981’s Crane.
“I remember that guy on set who was learning about different departments and the people who were kind enough to share that knowledge,” Cruise said. “I thought, ‘I know I don’t understand this right now. One day I’ll understand it more,’ and I did… I realize how lucky I am to just soak it up.”
Digger will be released in theaters on October 2.