In the exclusive CinemaCon footage for “Digger,” Tom Cruise needs to save humanity from his own mess.
Cruise came out with director Alejandro Inarritu to a roaring, standing ovation from movie theater owners. Cruise has long been a champion of movie theaters and has appeared at the event many times to promote his “Mission: Impossible” films.
“As we all know, we’re up 23% this year, and this is going to be a great year for everybody, and I’m here for all of you,” he told attendees.
But this time, Cruise was here to show off a performance far different than Ethan Hunt. Inarritu praised Cruise for embracing what he believes might be the most “challenging” role of his career and a high-wire act: Digger Rockwell.
“It took me 40 years to be able to put on the boots of Digger and to reveal the many, many layers of this character,” he said.
“I think this film is about all of us, about humanity and human folly. I think it is funny how we have this delusional need to control everything even though we can’t,” said Inarritu. “Tom plays this character, Digger. He was a powerful man, who did not change the world, but changed the way people see the world.
In the new trailer, we see Digger limping around his mansion, getting dressed and petting his white cat, who is dying of an unknown illness. He wanders around his house talking about his father called him lazy, even when he hit home runs in Little League.
The trailer then reveals that Digger is a huge oil magnate and gets a message from one of his employees who tries to warn him that one of their Arctic oil wells is about to explode because of a methane leak. But when the employee says Digger “doesn’t understand what is happening,” Digger snaps.
“I know perfectly well what’s going on there! You know how I know? Because I’m paying for it! I’m paying for the whole thing! I’m paying for your fucking 90% Hungarian goose down winter jacket!” he bellows.
But when Digger refuses to heed the warnings, all hell breaks loose. The well explodes and sheers off a chunk of ice roughly the size of Connecticut, starting a chain reaction that leads to millions of Scandinavian refugees, an international crisis, and potential nuclear war.
And now it is up to the egotistical Digger to undo the apocalypse he started.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu directs “Digger,” which he wrote alongside Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone and Sabina Berman. Alongside Tom Cruise, the cast consists of Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Jesse Plemons, Riz Ahmed, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sophie Wilde and Emma D’Arcy.
“Digger” has been a long-anticipated film from Iñárritu, particularly because of where it sits in Cruise’s filmography. This marks the first time Cruise has starred in a where he wasn’t playing an action hero since arguably 2017 (if you don’t count “American Made” as an action hero part) or 2012, when he played Stacee Jaxx in “Rock of Ages.”
But Cruise’s days as the action star could be slowing down. In May 2025, he led “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” thought to be the grand finale for the stunts-heavy spy franchise. Through Cruise still has another “Top Gun” movie on the way, “Digger” could mark the start of him transitioning back into dramatic or comedic roles outside of blockbuster franchises.
Eyes are particularly on “Digger” to see if it can bring Cruise his fourth acting nomination at the Academy Awards, fueled by Iñárritu’s strong track record at the Oscars (winning Best Director twice in back-to-back years). After getting nominated for Best Actor in 1990 (“Born on the Fourth of July”) and 1997 (“Jerry Maguire” and Best Supporting Actor in 2000 (“Magnolia”), Cruise has gone more than 25 years without another Oscar nomination for acting. The movie star picked up a Best Picture nomination in 2023 for producing “Top Gun: Maverick.”
He was also given an Honorary Academy Award in 2026. This could set the stage for Cruise to follow in Paul Newman’s footsteps, as the legendary actor was given an honorary Oscar in 1986 before getting his first acting win one year later. The movie Newman won Best Actor for? “The Color of Money,” in which Newman played Cruise’s mentor.
