Tom Cruise’s big 2026 movie release, Digger, is here, and for once we’re not talking about the actor’s daring stunts and action set pieces. This time it’s all about Cruise’s performance as a wealthy oil tycoon, and I had to ask the movie’s co-stars about what it was like to see the movie star take on the character in real time.
In Digger, Cruise plays an aggressive, egotistical and eccentric fictional character – which is very unlike Tom Cruise’s own reputation. I mean, he famously gives out coconut cakes to just about everyone he knows during the holiday season. During CinemaBlend’s interview with Riz Ahmed and Sandra Hüller, I asked Ahmed if Cruise was checking in with him in between takes, because during their scenes there’s a lot of intense yelling in his direction. In Ahmed’s words:
Oh my God, yeah. He literally once stopped the rehearsal to give me a round of applause for screwing something up. Like, he's so encouraging. He wants you to keep trying. He wants you to be unafraid of failing. He's that guy who's used to jumping off a cliff, and so he's kind of like leading by example and encouraging other people to do the same. So it was kind of almost insanely positive and encouraging. I've never been around that kind of energy, and I think it affected everyone.
It sounds like Tom Cruise absolutely lived up to his name on the set of Digger despite his very different leading role. As Riz Ahmed told us, the actor gave him a round of applause even though he had just messed up. Ahmed also went as far as to say his co-star was “insanely positive”. Hüller shared her own take on working with Cruise with these words:
And, he had to try and find his character himself, but he never made it about himself in that moment. So, it was always about us together finding how this is working, and that is something really special.
In Digger, Tom Cruise completely changes his typical on-screen persona by wearing prosthetics, a bodysuit and going for a Southern accent. The performance has inspired some polarizing reactions, which Warner Bros. has been embracing head-on for its marketing.
Riz Ahmed plays Dr. Nirav Ganesh, who is Digger’s head of environmental safety. When Digger’s offshore drilling rig located near Greenland cracks a massive glacier that threatens to cause environmental disaster, Ganesh is the one to share the bad news and advise him on what to do next. As you can imagine, Digger doesn’t listen to the doctor much. Hüller plays the role of Emma Rockwell, Digger’s half-sister and business partner.
Tom Cruise came to Digger with a storied career already under his belt, but it sounds like one of the reasons for his continued success is the way in which he treats the others around him. It’s great to hear from Riz Ahmed and Sandra Hüller that he was a pleasure to work with even when he was playing a real piece of work on set.
The movie also features the talents of John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jessa Plemons, Emma D’Arcy and Sophie Wide. You can check out Digger yourself in theaters now.
