Tom Cruise in 'Digger' Revealed, with Upcoming Release Marking Actor's 50th

Tom Cruise is known for being the quintessential movie star, particularly in the action and adventure genre. His upcoming movie, Digger, which releases this year, marks a major milestone for the actor's storied career as his 50th film, as well as the 10th movie in which he stars and executive produces.

According to ScreenRant, the upcoming movie represents a shift in genre for Cruise, who will be trying his hand at black comedy. While Digger will be Cruise's 50th movie, he nearly reached the milestone in 2025, with Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning as the last movie in the beloved franchise. However, with a much-anticipated project between Cruise and director Alejandro González Iñárritu, many remain curious about what Cruise plans to do for the film as his 50th project.

Cruise's Role Revealed

Details surrounding Digger have been scarce until recently, when Deadline reporter Justin Kroll revealed in an episode of the My Mom's Basement podcast what Cruise will be portraying in the film. Warner Bros had only announced an upcoming movie starring Cruise and directed by Iñárritu in December, and the film's official poster and a teaser trailer have only recently been released.

Kroll hinted that audiences may not recognise Cruise when he appears in the movie. The reporter also said that rather than a black comedy, Digger is more of a 'multi-genre' type of picture for Cruise's fans. This aligns with another bit of information about Cruise's role and appearance in the upcoming movie: the Top Gun star is reportedly going to be in heavy prosthetics as he appears in the film.

The official synopsis reveals more about what kind of character Cruise will be playing: 'The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's saviour before the disaster he's unleashed destroys everything.' As the titular character Digger Rockwell, the role is described as similar to a previous character Cruise portrayed: the foul-mouthed and unhinged Hollywood studio boss Les Grossman in 2008's Tropic Thunder. Iñárritu previously revealed that Cruise will 'surprise the world' with his performance in the upcoming movie.

A Crazy On Set Experience

Riz Ahmed, who is also starring in Digger, shared what it was like to work with Cruise on what he described as a challenging project. 'Honestly, there's nothing like that experience I've ever had before, just because of how motivated, focused, hardworking, and inspiring Tom Cruise is on set,' Ahmed said in his interview with Collider. 'The energy he has and the positivity is crazy. It's like nothing I've ever seen before.'

'Then there's Alejandro, the attention to detail, the vision, the ambition of it, as well, every day is just like, "Wow, this is kind of nuts",' said the Rogue One star.

Digger is set to premiere on 2 October 2026. Aside from Cruise and Ahmed, the movie also stars Jesse Plemons, Emma D'Arcy, John Goodman, and Sandra Hüller.