The Alejandro González Iñárritu film is scheduled to release on Oct. 2.

Tom Cruise’s unrecognizable new look revealed in Digger footage at CinemaCon

The Alejandro González Iñárritu film is scheduled to release on Oct. 2.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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April 14, 2026 9:24 p.m. ET

Tom Cruise in New York City on May 18, 2026. Credit:

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

- Warner Bros. debuted the first proper look at Tom Cruise's wild prosthetics from *Digger*.

- The film is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and also stars Jesse Plemons, Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sophie Wilde, and Emma D'Arcy.

- *Digger* hits theaters on Oct. 2.

Tom Cruise doesn't quite look like himself in his new movie.

During Warner Bros.' presentation at CinemaCon 2026 on Tuesday, Cruise and director Alejandro González Iñárritu arrived in person (and to a standing ovation) to unveil our first proper look at the *Jerry Maguire* star's radical prosthetics-forward transformation for *Digger*, his wild new comedy from the *Birdman* auteur.

Digger Rockwell appears to be significantly older than the actor playing him, and Cruise is covered in old-age makeup and a hairpiece to give him thinning white hair. He looks *way* more like Garry Marshall than like Ethan Hunt. He also acts like a massive jerk to everybody he interacts with, except his frail old cat.

The trailer opens with Digger tending to the cat in a lavish baroque mansion.

"Come to daddy. That's my girl," he tells his pet.

"Everything changes. You know, one day you're a cat," he says. "Or a king. Next day, you're just ashes in a box."

He then goes on a bizarre tangent, recalling a memory of his grandfather discussing baseball, which is our first real taste of Digger's foul mouth. "My granddaddy said, 'I don't give a s--- about your home run, Digger,'" he says. "'Triples is what's impressive. Triples requires hustle. And hustle, Digger, is something that you sorely lack, you little lazy piece of s---."

Digger then takes a video call from one of his employees, named Sandy Clarkson, who tells him that there's still an issue with a "five-foot crack" in a glacier that Digger's company is drilling into in Greenland.

"My dick is a tenth of that size," Digger says of the crack. "What do you want me to do, Sandy? Shut down a billion-dollar platform over something that's ten times the size of my dick?"

Sandy tries to explain that drilling has caused water to bubble, disrupting the "structural integrity of the entire ice shelf." But Digger refuses to shut down his operation, claiming that thousands of jobs depend on this particular project.

Later, Digger has a chat with the President of the United States (John Goodman) as advisors establish the stakes, which include "millions of displaced people" and "18 trillion dollars."

"Digger here got us into this mess, and Digger's gonna dig us out again," the president insists.

We also see Digger dancing with an old shovel in shots featured in the film's brief teaser.

The glacier crisis seems to trigger a war (or something close to a war, at least). "All that matters is who's got the balls to win this war," Digger says. "Panic is a resource. Panic wakes people up."

There's also a shot of a missile with the message "Suck it, nature" written on the side.

"The story has yet to be told," Digger says.

The trailer ends with a shot of Cruise's character washing his cat in a sink. "That feels good, doesn't it? That's my girl," he says.

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Cruise received a thunderous standing ovation when he took the stage at the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas to introduce the clip alongside Iñarritu. "This kind of movie is why I wanted to make movies," the *Mission: Impossible* star explained.

"We know that he is fearless, the stunts, the planes, the jumps, but I have to say, embodying this character, I think this is another kind of fearless," Iñarritu opined.

Cruise also praised Iñarritu's artistry. "His voice in cinema is extraordinary, and I'm so honored to work with you and inspired by what you create, my friend."

Tom Cruise in 'Digger'.

Warner Bros. Pictures

*Digger* will mark Cruise's first non-franchise film since 2017's *American Made*. Jesse Plemons, who worked with Cruise on that film and also appears in *Digger*, shared his perspective on the new project in an interview with *Variety*.

"It's one of the strangest, funniest, most tragic scripts I've read," the *Game Night* star said of *Digger*. "There's a kind of modern-day *Dr. Strangelove* thing, and then it becomes something else entirely."

Plemons added, "Getting to see Tom just go for it — not in a death-defying action way but fully showing what an incredible actor he is — that was thrilling."

Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sophie Wilde, and Emma D'Arcy also play supporting roles in the film.

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Iñarritu previously reflected on his relationship working with Cruise in a conversation with IndieWire. "It was the most amazing, unexpected, sweet, gentle relation that I have had on a set," the *Revenant* director said. "His manners, his understanding, his passion, and his integrity, and the way he prepares. He loves the process. Filmmaking has been his life for 40 years. I have never seen somebody so devoted."

The filmmaker continued, "I was happy to share with him that passion. And at the same time, we built an incredible relation of mutual trust. He will surprise the world. People will see a new kind of thing."

*Digger* will debut in theaters on Oct. 2, 2026.

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