Tom Cruise looks unrecognizable in new role as eccentric billionaire in ‘Digger’
Tom Cruise is completely unrecognizable in the first look at his upcoming film “Digger.”
The trailer for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s satirical black comedy film was released Monday and shows the actor transformed into an eccentric billionaire named Digger Rockwell.
The 64-year-old has gray hair and prosthetics to look older and heavier than his normal appearance.
In the movie’s official poster, Cruise wears a suit and a cowboy hat while holding a shovel and standing on a globe.
Cruise shared the image on social media, writing, “Digg. Or Die. DIGGER. Only in theaters October 2.”
Social media users insisted “that can’t be Tom Cruise” in the comments section, with one adding, “Ain’t no way.”
“Digger” is Cruise’s first non-“Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun” movie since 2017’s “American Made,” in which he played commercial airline pilot-turned-drug smuggler Barry Seal.
Directed by four-time Oscar winner Iñárritu, “Digger” stars Cruise as a Southern oil baron who races to stop a massive global ecological disaster that he caused.
Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emma D’Arcy and Robert John Burke make up the rest of the cast.
At a Q&A event for the film in Los Angeles on Thursday, Cruise spoke about how “Digger” is the most unique project he’s tackled in his career.
“I have never had something that could challenge me in this way and neither has Alejandro when we went in, ever,” he stated, per The Hollywood Reporter. “And when you see this film, it’s totally original.”
Iñárritu, 62, noted at the event that Cruise was his top pick for the lead role.
“The film needed Tom. We wanted to work together since the beginning of the century,” the filmmaker explained. “I admired him as an actor for years, and that wasn’t a surprise for me.
“The surprise was discovering that the human being behind the actor was just as extraordinary as the performances I will see throughout his career,” he continued of Cruise.
At CinemaCon in April, Cruise told the audience it “took 40 years” for him to be able to portray the “many layers” of his “Digger” character.
“The movie is wild, it’s funny, and I can’t wait for you all to see it,” he teased.
“Digger” will be released in theaters on Oct. 2.
