The Digger trailer revealed an unrecognizable Tom Cruise in one of the most ambitious roles of his career. The upcoming comedy movie is helmed by Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu.
How did Tom Cruise make himself unrecognizable in the Digger trailer?
The long-awaited Digger trailer finally debuted on Monday, and everyone’s talking about just one thing: Tom Cruise. Not because it’s his latest starring role, but because he appears as a completely transformed character.
It’s the first time in many years that Cruise is playing a character who transforms him as an actor in more ways than one. The last time he went through such a visual overhaul was during 2008’s Tropic Thunder, where he played Les Grossman. Nearly two decades later, Cruise appears to have surpassed himself in terms of how far he has pushed his character’s appearance and physicality.
The Digger trailer shows Cruise sporting an unkempt appearance and heavy prosthetics that make him totally unrecognizable as Digger Rockwell. While it has not been officially confirmed, Cruise may have gained weight for the role, though this remains speculation.
However, this remains speculation unless the filmmakers reveal details of his transformation. Interestingly, director Iñárritu did share several details on this particular aspect.
“The transformation he went through was astonishing. ‘Alejandro, it took me 40 years to become this character,’ he told me once. And I think we both know what it means to carry an entire career into a single moment like this. We both knew that throughout our journeys, we had never done anything even close to this,” said Iñárritu, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Speaking more of the Digger movie, it’s co-written by Iñárritu in collaboration with Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, and Sabina Berman. The official synopsis for the comedy movie reads, “The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.”
Besides Cruise, Digger also features Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Jesse Plemons. Robert John Burke, Emma D’Arcy, Burn Gorman, and Sophie Wilde will also play crucial roles.
Warner Bros. Pictures’ Digger hits theaters on October 2, 2026.
