Warner Bros. has released the first full-length trailer for Digger, the highly anticipated comedy-drama directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu. The film, which hits theaters on October 2, 2026, features a radical physical transformation for star Tom Cruise, who appears as Digger Rockwell—a powerful oil tycoon struggling to avert a global ecological catastrophe.
Cruise’s appearance in the trailer—characterized by a potbelly, a thinning grey combover, and a distinct Southern accent—marks his most significant departure from his traditional action-hero persona since his role in 2008’s Tropic Thunder. According to the official logline, the film follows the “most powerful man in the world” on a desperate mission to rebrand himself as humanity’s savior after a disaster he inadvertently unleashed threatens nuclear war.
A Collaborative Process
Speaking at a launch event at Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles, Cruise revealed that the project was the result of a long-term, intensive collaboration with Iñárritu. The actor noted that the director spent several days reading the script aloud to him seven years ago, a process Cruise described as essential for understanding the director’s vision. “I’m listening to everything that’s in his mind, so that I can understand that, and then I know how to contribute to it,” Cruise told reporters.
Iñárritu, who co-wrote the film with his Birdman collaborators Nicolás Giacobone and Alexander Dinelaris, as well as Sabina Berman, described the project as a “relentless, recurring obsession” that began shortly after he finished The Revenant in 2015. The director emphasized that the film leans into the absurdity of its premise, noting that “the source of great comedy is tragedy.”
Technical Ambition
The production of Digger is notable for its use of VistaVision, a high-definition analog cinematography process from the 1950s. This choice reflects the film’s prestige ambitions and follows a recent industry trend toward utilizing classic large-format techniques. The supporting cast, which includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde, and Emma D’Arcy, joins Cruise in what the actor describes as a uniquely challenging project that forced him to “physically and metaphorically stand on the edge of a cliff.”
For Cruise, whose recent career has been defined by the record-breaking success of Top Gun: Maverick and the high-stakes stunts of the Mission: Impossible franchise, Digger represents a pivot toward character-driven satire. The film’s release in October will serve as a definitive test of whether this high-profile pairing of an auteur director and a global superstar can successfully translate complex, dark humor into a broad commercial success.