Tom Cruise Says Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s 'Totally Original' Digger Is Unlike Any Film He’s Ever Made

I was among the members of the property invited to a trailer motorboat lawsuit past week for manager Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s adjacent film, Digger, starring Tom Cruise. Billed arsenic “a drama of catastrophic proportions,” the trailer – present online – shows a astir unrecognizable Cruise arsenic tycoon Digger Rockwell, whose lipid drilling cognition sparks a planetary disaster.

Both Iñárritu (in a pre-recorded intro) and Cruise, who was contiguous for a moderated Q&A, said the movie is dissimilar thing either creator had ever done before. “The movie needed Tom,” Iñárritu said. “We [have] wanted to enactment unneurotic since the opening of the century. I admired him arsenic an histrion for years, and that wasn't a astonishment for me. The astonishment was discovering that the quality being down the histrion was conscionable arsenic bonzer arsenic the performances I volition spot passim his career.”

Iñárritu added, “The translation helium went done was astonishing. ‘Alejandro, it took maine 40 years to go this character,’ helium told maine once. And I deliberation we some cognize what it means to transportation an full vocation into a azygous infinitesimal similar this. We some knew that passim our journeys, we had ne'er done thing adjacent adjacent to this.”

The filmmaker – who won back-to-back Oscars for directing Birdman and The Revenant – said, “Making this movie demanded everything I had. I person ne'er prepared a task with this level of precision. Every frame, each lens, each color, each costume, each face, each context, each object, each furniture and symbol, thing present is an accident. We changeable connected VistaVision, due to the fact that cinema deserves scale.”

After Iñárritu’s connection concluded, Cruise took the signifier and said helium had wanted to enactment with the filmmaker since helium saw his 2000 intelligence play Amores Perros. “I’d ne'er heard of him before. And helium and I didn't conscionable for many, galore years,” Cruise explained. “He came to maine with this project, Digger, which he'd been moving connected for a mates of years by then. And helium came to me, I conjecture present 7 years ago, thing similar that, arsenic helium was developing, moving connected it, and past we conscionable worked connected it together.”

Cruise was awed by “the level of detail, the skill, the layers of making this film,” adding, “He's ne'er made thing similar this before, nor person I.” Cruise remarked, “I person ne'er had thing that could situation maine successful this mode and neither has Alejandro erstwhile we went in, ever. And erstwhile you spot this film, it's wholly original.”

Digger is simply a acheronian drama – the trailer has Dr. Strangelove vibes – but, arsenic Cruise pointed out, “there's not 1 bushed oregon comedy-fits-all” attack to realizing the material. For Cruise, uncovering the quality of Digger Rockwell meant being successful sync with the code of the movie Iñárritu wanted:

“If you commencement to consciousness the musicality of the character, it has a rhythm, and it's not a bushed similar thing else. So the behaviour of a character, the question of a character, these are things that arsenic we're looking astatine the constitution side, arsenic you're developing, you got to go, is this our tone? Is it drama? Is it comedy? Is it excessively much? You're dialing it in.”

The selling astir the movie has truthful acold leaned into Digger being the pinnacle of Cruise’s 45-year surface career, with the 64-year-old histrion acknowledging the value of Iñárritu’s movie to him aft a beingness spent learning astir filmmaking from his directors and their teams.

“I'm truthful grateful. It's benignant of astonishing to beryllium present astatine this age. I deliberation backmost to that kid connected the acceptable looking into antithetic departments, and those radical that were gracious capable to beryllium capable to stock that knowledge, and I was like, ‘I cognize I don't recognize it now. One time I volition recognize it more,’ and I did. I consciousness fortunate. To beryllium determination disconnected camera and spot Paul Newman acting arsenic Scorsese is directing him. I admit however fortunate I was, conscionable absorbing it.”

Of Digger, Cruise mused, “There's thing amended than to physically and metaphorically basal connected the borderline of a cliff and go, ‘Let's bash this. And I spot you and immoderate we're going to do, I cognize this is going to beryllium a hellhole of an acquisition and let's travel unneurotic and let's bash it. Let's each bash it.’"

Warner Bros. volition merchandise Digger successful theaters connected October 2, 2026.