Tom Cruise is a wildly eccentric Texas oil magnate cowboy who must save the world in Digger, with a trailer dropping very soon.
Is Alejandro González Iñárritu a lucky charm for actors? In 2000, he directed his first film Amores Perros and introduced Gael García Bernal to the world (it was also his breakout). In 2003, Sean Penn was awarded Best Actor for 21 Grams while Benicio del Toro and Naomi Watts earned Oscar nominations. The same happened for Babel in 2006, which put Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi in the running for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
In 2010, his Biutiful saw Javier Bardem win Cannes’ Best Actor prize (ahead of his Oscar nomination). In 2014, Michael Keaton reclaimed his moment with Birdman (an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globes win) while Emma Stone earned her first Oscar nod. Finally, in 2015, Leonardo DiCaprio clinched the long-awaited statuette for The Revenant.
The Mexican filmmaker keeps managing to amplify his performances (even Daniel Giménez Cacho deserved the accolades for Bardo), and the next to join the list on the slate is none other than Tom Cruise in Digger. The film has been teased with new posters and Warner has also released a teaser extolling the actor.
Digger Stops Digging
“All that you are, all that you have done… has led to this.”, that is how the massive retrospective trailer for Tom Cruise closes—showing him in Mission: Impossible, Interview with the Vampire, Born on the Fourth of July, Rain Man, Vanilla Sky, Magnolia, The War of the Worlds… before unveiling fresh footage from Digger. Is that line a hint at the film’s true subject, namely Tom Cruise himself, his status as an actor and as a man in the world?
Tom Cruise has been described by his peers as Hollywood’s savior in the post-Covid era (thanks to the monster success of Top Gun: Maverick, whose release was delayed until theaters could fully reopen) and more often than not, he’s saved the day in fiction. It’s not surprising, therefore, to see him embody Digger, who, according to the film’s synopsis, is “the most powerful man in the world, who sets out on a mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he triggered destroys everything.”
According to World of Reel, this famed Digger would be a Texan oil tycoon. The plot would follow him as he’s alerted to the existence of a giant glacier threatening to plunge the world into chaos but he refuses to heed the warnings, triggering a cascade of catastrophic consequences. Convinced that destiny is calling him to save the planet, Digger would embark on a perilous mission and travel to meet the world’s most influential figures, including the President of the United States (John Goodman).
Far from your usual heroes, Tom Cruise would play an anti-hero of the downright unhinged kind in the vein of Dr. Strangelove, a line of influence the film is said to carry according to Jess Plemons (also part of the cast). The three posters Warner revealed conceals Cruise’s transformed face (a pronounced nose), leaving audiences to imagine his new look in cowboy garb with silvered hair and a paunch.
Le premier teaser de Digger n’avait fait que montrer la folie du projet : Tom Cruise tenant une pelle et dansant sur une rambarde. La bande-annonce rétro dévoile quelques images supplémentaires, notamment le chaos politique que semble provoquer l’intervention de Digger lors d’une assemblée, sur fond de Money For Nothing de Dire Straits.
Dans un autre plan, des avions de chasse et un Northrop B-2 Spirit, un bombardier furtif américain, survolent le célèbre glacier de l’intrigue (ce qui n’annonce guère rien de bon). Enfin, on voit aussi Digger performer un grand écart devant une audience étonnamment stoïque, qui semble réunie dans une maison de retraite au bord de l’eau — ce qui explique peut-être le vieillissement du personnage.
Digger remains shrouded in mystery at this stage, but curiosity-seekers will soon get more information since the official trailer will be unveiled on July 13. One thing is certain: the film should give Tom Cruise one of the most commanding performances of his career and, if Iñárritu’s star power holds, could position him as a big Oscar 2027 contender. Could it land him a statuette for the role (three years after his honorary Oscar)? Only time will tell.
For the record, alongside Tom Cruise, the cast includes John Goodman and Jesse Plemons, with Riz Ahmed, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sandra Hüller, Sophie Wilde, and Emma D’Arcy also aboard. Digger will hit theaters on September 30 in France, likely after a Venice Film Festival appearance.
