Tom Cruise splits press with unrecognisable turn in Digger

Tom Cruise is almost unrecognisable in Digger, and the first journalists to see it cannot agree on what they just watched.

The film was unveiled to members of the film press, with first reactions reported on 22 September 2026 ranging from "baffling" to "unpleasant" to "fascinating stuff," according to Variety. That split verdict arrived immediately after the screening. Few star vehicles open with this much disagreement.

Digger is a satirical black comedy, a comedy that finds laughs in dark or serious subjects, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, as reported by Variety. Iñárritu previously won Oscars for Birdman and The Revenant. This time he has turned his camera on wealth, oil and environmental disaster.

Cruise stars as Digger Rockwell, a wealthy tycoon forced to try to save the world after one of his oil rigs malfunctions and triggers a global environmental catastrophe, according to Variety. The supporting cast includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons. It is an ensemble built around character actors rather than action co-stars.

The early responses pulled in opposite directions. Journalist Mike Ryan called the film "unpleasant," while IndieWire's Anne Thompson described it as a brave and gorgeous art film, as reported by Variety. IndieWire's Jim Hemphill went further on Cruise himself, calling it the actor's best performance since Magnolia. Divided. Passionate. Nothing lukewarm.

Much of the talk centres on Cruise's look. He performs under heavy makeup and prosthetics, moulded pieces applied to the face to change its shape, which originally took six hours to put on, according to Variety. He later worked with the makeup department to bring that time down to under an hour. The result leaves him far removed from his usual screen image.

What makes this stand out is how the project began. Cruise spent days listening to Iñárritu read him the script before filming, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The first trailer kept that transformation front and centre, showing an unrecognisable Cruise. For fans, this means no familiar hero shot and no easy guess at tone.

For now, the only certainty is the argument itself.