From Alejandro G. Inarritu (The Revenant, Birdman, Babel), Tom Cruise stars as Digger Rockwell, a Texas oil tycoon, and "the most powerful man in the world," who "embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's savior before the disaster he's unleashed destroys everything."

Said to be in the roughly the same satirical vein as Dr. Strangelove.

And that's all anyone knows so far.

Well, except for the fact that Cruise's Oscar campaign has now officially begun, and that he is absolutely going for it. To that end, below is an incredible, retrospective teaser trailer, with the full trailer dropping July 13th...

Digger
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31450459/
October 2, 2026
Theatrical Wide

It's absolutely amazing that he's never won an Oscar. Sure he's been nominated a few times but man he should've won by now…

Kinda like Leonardo DiCaprio going as long as he did without winning one…

And DiCaprio finally won his with this director. Inarritu.

Tom Cruise rode his motorcycle through the middle of the night, straight off the Top Gun: Maverick set, to meet a director he had admired since 2000. The role he chased hides him completely: bald, pot-bellied, and unrecognizable.

The director is Alejandro Iñárritu, who made The… https://t.co/72Y04iMpnP

— Anish Moonka (@anishmoonka) June 23, 2026

Quote:

---

Tom Cruise rode his motorcycle through the middle of the night, straight off the Top Gun: Maverick set, to meet a director he had admired since 2000. The role he chased hides him completely: bald, pot-bellied, and unrecognizable.

The director is Alejandro Iñrritu, who made The Revenant and Birdman and won Best Director two years in a row. Cruise became a fan in 2000, when he saw Iñrritu's first film, a Mexican crime drama called Amores Perros, and wore out his copy. They started talking about working together in 2019. The film that came out of those talks is Digger, and the full trailer drops July 13.

Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon with a beer belly, thinning white hair combed over, and a thick Texas accent. His company sets off a disaster: a methane gas leak from an Arctic oil well that could push millions of people out of their homes. John Goodman plays the president, telling him to clean it up. Cruise's character grabs a shovel. "We can't control the course of nature," he says. "At least we can control the narrative."

Cruise built 40 years of fame on doing his own stunts: hanging off planes, climbing skyscrapers, riding a motorcycle off a cliff. Iñrritu gave him none of that. The whole performance is face and voice buried under heavy old-age makeup, the opposite of everything that made him famous. Cruise called the project the reason he wanted to make movies in the first place. Iñrritu, who already knew Cruise was fearless about stunts, said playing this man was "another kind of fearless."

They shot it on cameras most of Hollywood gave up on sixty years ago. The format is VistaVision, which Paramount built in 1954 to run 35mm film sideways and capture about double the detail. It had all but vanished by 1961. The cameras are loud, heavy, and so finicky you can only roll for about five minutes at a time, and only a few still work. The crew used them anyway, over a six-month shoot in the UK.

Warner Bros made a big bet. It put up $125 million for Digger as part of a plan to back famous directors instead of sequels and franchises. Those same bosses also paid for Sinners, which made $370 million on a $90 million budget, and One Battle After Another, which lost close to $90 million but still won Best Picture.

Cruise has four Oscar nominations and zero wins. The man who handed him an honorary Oscar last November was Iñrritu. Eight months later, the trailer for the film that might finally win him a real one arrives.

---

what should he have won with? he was out acted by Cuba in Jerry McGuire- out acted by Hoffman in Rain man - - what else has he not played Tom Cruise?

I feel like there was a time in the late 80s, through the 90s, Cruise really wanted an Oscar. Rain Man, Born on the 4th of July, Far and Away (Movie sucked, but it was Oscar bait), A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia. Probably up until Collateral. Then he just said, "F them! I'm just going to make badass movies." I hope this new movie is great, and The Academy gives him the love he deserves, but also, I hope he doesn't go chasing an Oscar. He's really found his sweet spot.

MookieBlaylock said:

---

what should he have won with? he was out acted by Cuba in Jerry McGuire- out acted by Hoffman in Rain man - - what else has he not played Tom Cruise?

---

As great as he was in Tropic Thunder, RDJ was even more over the top.

I don't know much about the competition, but "Born on the 4th of July", "Magnolia", and "Collateral" were all good atypical Tom Cruise performances. The one he really should have won for, though, was "Top Gun: Maverick." Not for his acting, but for producing. That movie was really important in getting people back into theaters after Covid.

MookieBlaylock said:

---

what should he have won with? he was out acted by Cuba in Jerry McGuire- out acted by Hoffman in Rain man - - what else has he not played Tom Cruise?

---

Vanilla Sky or Magnolia

MookieBlaylock said:

---

what should he have won with? he was out acted by Cuba in Jerry McGuire- out acted by Hoffman in Rain man - - what else has he not played Tom Cruise?

---

He got screwed on not winning an Oscar for best picture for Maverick….big time!

I would have probably given him consideration for Magnolia, Tropic Thunder, and possible Jerry McGuire. My college roommate used to say that the key to Cruise's acting was to get mad and yell **** really loud. I think he he is better than that.

I'd argue that Tom has given as good or better performances in a few of his films than these Oscar winners, it just comes down to timing and choice of projects. He hasn't starred in a lot of obvious Oscar bait, but he acts his ass off in every film he takes on.