Tom Cruise has unveiled the first full trailer for his upcoming film, Digger, but many fans may do a double take because of his dramatic on-screen transformation.
On Monday (July 13), Warner Bros. released the two-and-a-half-minute trailer for Cruise’s highly anticipated dark comedy. Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the film stars Cruise as billionaire business tycoon Digger Rockwell, who races against time to convince the world he is humanity’s savior before the $18 trillion catastrophe he set in motion wipes out everything.
The 64-year-old Hollywood star looks almost unrecognizable in the role, sporting gray hair, facial prosthetics, and a noticeable potbelly that gives him a much older and heavier appearance than fans are used to seeing. Check out the trailer below.
The trailer begins with Digger anxiously worrying about his cat’s condition before quickly shifting to a heated confrontation with an employee attempting to shut down one of his projects. A reimagined version of the Talking Heads classic “Burning Down the House” provides the soundtrack for the unfolding chaos.
John Goodman, who stars as the U.S. President alongside Cruise, delivers an optimistic message, saying, “Digger here got us into this mess, and Digger’s gonna get dig us out again!”
Cruise’s character also tells co-star Sandra Hüller, “If we can’t control the course of narrative, at least we can control the narrative,” before wrapping up the trailer with a bold three-part declaration: “When all else fails, you hit ’em with the truth. Hit ’em with the hard truth. Just bang, bang, bang!”
The trailer was released to the public after an exclusive preview event on July 9 at the Warner Bros. studio lot in Los Angeles, where Iñárritu presented footage from the film and Cruise posed for photos with reporters while standing atop a giant shovel.
The same footage also helped launch Cruise’s official TikTok account over the weekend. Fueled by two additional Digger promotional clips, the account has already surpassed 1.4 million followers. Together, the three videos have generated more than eight million combined views.
Digger marks Tom Cruise’s first leading role outside of a franchise since American Made in 2017. It also serves as his first heavily prosthetic-driven performance since portraying the unforgettable Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder.
The film also stars Jesse Plemons, Riz Ahmed, Sophie Wilde, Emma D’Arcy, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Robert John Burke. Digger is set for an exclusive theatrical release on October 2.
