For much of the past 15 years, Tom Cruise has been in all-action mode. There are all his Mission: Impossible collaborations with Christopher McQuarrie, his return to the cockpit in Top Gun: Maverick, interspersed with the time-looping alien warfare of Edge Of Tomorrow and outings as the cinematic Jack Reacher. All of which might make you think, it’s been a long time since he did something like the upcoming Digger – a big, wild, out-there character performance, with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu aiming that signature Cruise charisma in a very different direction. Except, the truth is, nobody – not even Tom Cruise – has made something like Digger before.
As the star tells Empire, the process of crafting this larger-than-life character was “a real leap into the unknown,” from which all his other projects were the runway. “It took all of my knowledge, from all of the years of every film I made, to be able to play this character and fulfil the ambition of this movie,” he says. So, who is Digger Rockwell? The literal answer is, an uber-powerful oil tycoon who’s in it up to his neck. The truthful answer? Our doom, and perhaps our saviour too; the best of us, and the worst of us; an American nightmare at the apex of the American dream. Cruise knew he wanted in. “[Iñárritu] showed me, ‘Here’s kind of the character that I want,’” he recalls. “I was like, ‘Let’s fucking go.’ I couldn’t wait.”
Key to crafting that character was a very special script-read – with Iñárritu performing the screenplay aloud to Cruise across several days. “I’ve always done that,” says Cruise. “I want the writer to read me his idea, because then I can see where we’re going. We’re exploring rhythms, and I’m feeling the world. I’m literally an audience. I want to hear his voice. I want to understand, and see the world the way he sees it.” The seeds of Digger were planted there, and continued to flourish as Cruise found his way into the physicality of the character. “I can change the voice and as the make-up’s coming on, you start feeling the movement, you put the suit on, the boots, and I find my own rhythm with it,” he says. Tom Cruise has left the building; Digger Rockwell has arrived. And, action!
Read Empire’s world-exclusive Digger cover story – speaking to Tom Cruise, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed and more – in the October 2026 issue, on sale Thursday August 27. Pre-order a copy online here. Digger comes to UK cinemas from October 2.
