Tom Cruise has built a career on total commitment, whether performing extreme stunts as Ethan Hunt or playing the wildly inappropriate film producer Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder. His next major change of pace is Digger, a broad comedy that puts Cruise inside one of his most unusual transformations yet.
Digger follows Digger Rockwell, an immensely wealthy oil tycoon portrayed by Cruise. After Rockwell’s oil rig explodes near Antarctica, the incident triggers a global environmental catastrophe. Although he caused the disaster, his enormous wealth and resources apparently make him the only person capable of resolving it, leading the president, played by John Goodman, to ask for his help.
Tom Cruise’s striking transformation
The film’s wider story remains largely mysterious, with its trailers concentrating on Cruise’s appearance as Rockwell. The character has thin grey hair, a prominent belly and a deeply wrinkled, sagging face, creating a dramatic contrast with the 64-year-old action star’s familiar screen image.
Rockwell’s voice is equally distinctive. He speaks like an extravagant Southern tycoon, combining elements of Colonel Sanders, Foghorn Leghorn and the Rich Texan from The Simpsons.
Digger comes from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, whose previous films include the 2014 Michael Keaton film Birdman. That movie attracted attention for appearing to unfold in a single continuous shot, and Iñárritu won the Academy Award for Best Directing. The available footage suggests that Digger does not use the same technique, but it does share an appetite for oversized characters and energetic comedy.
Why Digger is an unusual Cruise project
Cruise does not often headline deliberately broad comedies, making Rockwell an intriguing successor to Les Grossman. The character’s exaggerated look, voice and personality have already prompted comparisons with Cruise’s memorable Tropic Thunder performance.
With the film due in three weeks, viewers will soon discover whether Digger Rockwell can become another lasting Cruise character. Its combination of environmental disaster, oil-industry satire and absurd comedy gives it a very different flavour from the actor’s usual action roles.
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