Tom Cruise is known to be a film student, the rare movie star who loves to talk in detail about camera lenses and the craft of filmmaking. But what is the secret of his success? Make directors read aloud to him so he can better understand their vision.
He says he’s done this with many directors, including Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the director of Cruz’s upcoming prestigious play. Excavator.
“It took Alejandro a few days where he just read the script to me and I listen to whatever is on his mind to figure it out, and then I know how to contribute to it and put that collaboration together,” Cruise said at the film’s recent trailer launch. Excavator on the Warner Bros. lot.
During the event, he stated several times that Excavator it’s the culmination of his 40-year career and looks set to be a major selling point in the coming months as promotion picks up steam in preparation for release and a possible awards campaign.
Indeed, the project is both a departure from his recent history and a return to form for an actor who has spent the last decade almost exclusively in the world of franchise filmmaking. Its box office gross was $1.49 billion. Top Shot: Maverick “saved Hollywood’s ass” (to quote Spielberg), and he Mission: Impossible pushed the boundaries of action filmmaking and spawned countless headlines about Cruise’s quest to do his own stunts.
Excavator on Monday presented the world with its first trailer, in which Cruise is almost unrecognizable under makeup and prosthetics. This is the type of film Warner Bros. hopes will remind the world that Kruis is not only one of the last remaining movie stars, but also an Oscar-caliber actor who has been nominated three times for acting (1989 film). Born on the fourth of July.1996s Jerry Maguire and 2000s Magnoliain addition to the production permit Top Shot: Maverick).
A few days before the trailer went online, Cruise gathered a group of journalists in the Warner Bros. parking lot. for a moderated Q&A and meet-and-greet (complete with a giant shovel that he scaled for a photo op).
Thank you for spending the day with me and sharing our mutual love for the cinematic storytelling of the iconic Warner Brothers Lot. pic.twitter.com/ufQGBs0wYQ
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) July 12, 2026
Cruz said he immediately became a fan of Iñárritu’s 2000 film. The dog lovesinviting people to his home to view it, although they did not meet until several years later.
Iñárritu wasn’t able to join Cruise at the Warners event, but he sent a video from London where he’s finishing up Excavator. He stated that after 2015 Survivor (for which he received his second directing Oscar in a row), he had an idea Excavatorand spent years developing the film before approaching Cruise about seven years ago.
This is Cruise’s first character acting role since he donned prosthetics to play studio executive Les Grossman in the comedy. Tropical Thunder.
“The transformation he went through was amazing. ‘Alejandro, it took me 40 years to become this character,’ he told me one day. And I think we both know what it’s like to fit an entire career into one moment like that. We both knew that in all our travels, we’d never done anything even close to this,” the director said in a video sent to the event.
Cruise reiterated that the film is unlike anything he has done before.
“I’ve never had anything that challenged me as much as Alejandro did when we came in. And when you watch this movie, it’s completely original,” Cruz said.
Viewers will find out for themselves on October 2.