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Tom Cruise: Tom Cruise is taking on one of the toughest characters of his career. The film is "Digger," a black comedy from two-time Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Cruise says the project pushed him in ways nothing else has. He credits Iñárritu with bringing the same level of challenge to the table.
"Digger" marks Iñárritu's first English-language film since 2015's "The Revenant." Warner Bros. is billing it as "a comedy of catastrophic proportions."
Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a billionaire businessman with a thick Southern drawl, a pot belly and a thinning combover.
The character is described as one of the most powerful men in the world.
His company's actions may have triggered an ecological disaster with the potential to spark a nuclear war.
The story follows Digger as he scrambles to prove he can save humanity from the crisis he caused. John Goodman co-stars as an ailing U.S. president who leans on Digger to clean up the mess.
The ensemble cast also includes Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde and Emma D'Arcy.
Cruise unveiled the film's trailer during a special event on the Warner Bros. lot in Los Angeles.
He used the appearance to reflect on his long-standing admiration for Iñárritu, dating back to the director's 2000 debut, "Amores Perros."
Cruise called it a brilliant, detailed film that revealed the director's talent from the very start.
Their partnership almost didn't happen. Cruise and Iñárritu didn't meet for years, and it took even longer to land on the right project.
About seven years ago, Iñárritu pitched Cruise on "Digger." Rather than sending a script, the director spent several days reading it aloud to his prospective star.
Cruise said the process let him absorb Iñárritu's vision directly, which shaped how he approached the collaboration.
The script traces back to 2023, co-written by Iñárritu alongside "Birdman" writers Nicolas Giacobone and Alexander Dinelaris, with Sabina Berman.
Legendary Pictures produced the film, which was shot over six months in the United Kingdom.
Emmanuel Lubezki served as cinematographer, filming in VistaVision. Iñárritu was unable to attend the Los Angeles event in person, as he remains in the U.K. finishing the film's sound mix.
He appeared instead via a video message, describing Digger as a character concept he carried for roughly a decade before finding the right way to tell his story.
"Digger" is Cruise's first film with Warner Bros. since he signed a deal with the studio in January 2024 to develop and produce theatrical films. His last Warner Bros. release was 2014's "Edge of Tomorrow."
He most recently appeared in "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning," which closed out his run as Ethan Hunt.
During the event, Cruise looked back on his 46-year acting career.
He pointed to early experiences on set, including watching Martin Scorsese direct Paul Newman in 1986's "The Color of Money," as formative moments that shaped his craft over time. "Digger" opens in theaters on Oct. 2.
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