Tom Cruise's 'Digger' first look unveiled at CinemaCon: Inarritu calls performance "another kind of fearless"

Washington [US], April 15 : "Tom Cruise is in the building!", and with that, Warner Bros. and Legendary unveiled the first extended look at 'Digger', a dark comedy that marks a high-profile collaboration between the Hollywood star and Oscar-winning filmmaker Alejandro G Inarritu at CinemaCon.

Long kept under wraps, 'Digger' reveals Cruise in a strikingly unconventional avatar, as per Deadline.

The actor plays Digger Rockwell, described as the most powerful man in the world, who must race to prove he is humanity's saviour before a disaster he unleashed threatens global destruction.

The trailer showcases Cruise in a transformative turn, balding and heavyset, portraying a volatile industrialist grappling with both personal absurdities and catastrophic consequences, as per Deadline.

One sequence, as per Deadline, shows Digger consulting a doctor about his cat, only to be told it has either "two weeks or five minutes" to live.

In another moment, adopting a Southern accent and clad in pajamas, he berates himself while swinging a baseball bat, shouting, "Hustle is something you sorely lack, you lazy piece of sh*t!"

The trailer blends dark humor with escalating stakes, including a Zoom call where a scientist confronts him about a "five-foot crack" caused by his operations, which he dismisses with crude bravado.

The narrative escalates as it becomes clear that Digger's business activities have triggered an environmental catastrophe, compromising "the structural integrity of the entire ice shelf", as quoted by Deadline.

President, played by John Goodman, outlines the "worst-case scenario," warning of mass displacement and trillions in economic losses, while asserting, "Digger got us into this, and Digger is going to dig us out."

Meanwhile, Digger insists, "Panic is a resource... Panic wakes people up."

Speaking at the event, Cruise described the project as "ne plus ultra," adding, "This kind of movie is why I want to make movies."

He revealed he first connected with Inarritu about seven years ago and even rode his motorcycle "in the middle of the night" to meet the director while working on 'Top Gun: Maverick.'

Inarritu characterised the film as an exploration of "the uncontrollable, delusional need to control things even when we know that we will fail," centering on "a powerful man who did not change the world but changed the way people see the world".

Praising Cruise's performance, he said, "Watching Tom Cruise becoming Digger, I was not prepared for that... I think this is another kind of fearless. This role possibly could be [his] most challenging."

Directed by Inarritu and co-written with Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone and Sabina Berman, 'Digger' is set for a theatrical release on October 2.

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