Tom Cruise is greatly known for two things. One of those is his sheer love for movies, and the other is his ability to perform massive stunts in order to entertain the masses. As a result, Cruise has put himself through the wringer, injuring his foot and breaking his ankle while working on the Mission: Impossible franchise alone. While the A-lister didn’t have to perform any major stunts for his 2026 movie release, Digger, he did have a physician on set. And we now know that due to details about co-star John Goodman’s wild injury.
Over a year ago, it was reported that the incomparable Goodman hurt himself while shooting Alejandro Iñárritu’s latest film. At the time, it was said that the Roseanne alum had suffered a hip injury and that he was doing fine. Goodman is now sharing his personal perspective on what happened that day on set, and the beloved actor’s take honestly sounds brutal. Nevertheless, he apparently had some serious support, thanks to Cruise’s crew:
I was stupidly wearing stockinged feet, no shoes. I went past Tom, my feet slid out and I went down parallel on my left hip. Tom’s physician was on set and one of his best friends is an osteopath, so I was operated on the next morning.
While it was unfortunate that Goodman ended up hurting himself while on set, he apparently got the support he needed right away, thanks to Cruise’s people. Many of Cruise’s co-stars have talked about how he’s had their backs at one point or another, and we can now add Goodman to that list. At the time, Goodman’s situation led to a delay in filming, and he recently explained that he had to do rehab in London for two weeks. As he recalled to The Times:
In a medical facility. Actually, an old-age home. Yeah. Then I went home and hit it every day, physically pushed it and got it done.
The film sees John Goodman play the role of Compson, the eccentric and easily influenced President of the United States who leans on Tom Cruise’s Digger Rockwell for guidance. As Goodman said during his interview, he “had a ball” working with Cruise, who went method to portray the film’s titular character. This makes just another instance in which Goodman has spoken highly of his time working on Iñárritu’s movie, and they came in the aftermath of polarizing reviews.
Early reactions to Digger were mixed, and that continued to be the case when full critic reviews began to be posted. The movie earned Tom Cruise his lowest Rotten Tomatoes score in almost a decade, and it holds a 52% critics’ score on RT, as of this writing. It does, however, hold a 77% audience rating on the aforementioned site as well. The movie did, however, flop at the box office and has amassed $49 million worldwide against a reported production budget between $125–180 million.
John Goodman shared his belief that reviews and bad buzz “killed” the movie before it even hit theaters. Still, it’s evident that even after the reactions and on-set injury, he’s still proud of the work, and Tom Cruise appreciates his collaborators’ efforts as well. As for me, I just appreciate that Cruise has medical staff on hand to tend to his colleagues’ needs.
Digger is still playing, so head to your local cinema if you’d like to check it out.
