Digger movie trailer: Tom Cruise spent days listening to Alejandro G. Iñárritu read him the script

Tom Cruise is known to be a student of cinema, the rare movie star who likes to talk at length about camera lenses and the craftsmanship behind filmmaking. But one secret to his success? Convince directors to read aloud to him so he can better understand their visions.

He says he did so with several directors, including Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the filmmaker behind Cruz’s upcoming play. digger.

“Alejandro took several days of reading the script to me and me listening to everything that was on his mind, so that I could understand it, and then know how to contribute to it and put this collaboration together,” Cruz said at a recent trailer launch. digger On the Warner Bros. Collection

He said this several times during the event digger It is the culmination of a 40-year career, and this looks set to be the selling point in the coming months as promotion ramps up in preparation for the release and final awards campaign.

In fact, the project is a departure from his recent history and a return to form for the actor, who has spent the past decade almost exclusively in the world of franchise filmmaking. Its box office revenue was $1.49 billion Top Gun: Maverick “Save Hollywood’s ass” (in Spielberg’s words), while his film Mission: impossible He pushed the boundaries of action filmmaking and made countless headlines for Cruise’s commitment to doing his own stunts.

digger She unveiled her first trailer to the world on Monday, in which Cruise is almost unrecognizable beneath the makeup and prosthetics. It’s the kind of movie Warner Bros. is hoping to make. To remind the world that in addition to being one of the last remaining movie stars, Cruis is also an Oscar-level actor and has been nominated three times for acting (1989). He was born on the 4th of July1996 Jerry Maguire And 2000 Magnoliain addition to a production label Top Gun: Maverick).

A few days before the trailer appeared online, Cruise gathered a group of journalists at the Warner Bros. Arena. for a moderated Q&A and meet-and-greet (with a giant shovel he scaled for a photo op).

Cruise revealed that he was an instant fan of Iñárritu’s 2000 film Amores PerrosHe invites people to his house to show him off, even though the two won’t meet until a few years later.

Iñárritu was not available to join Cruise at the Warners event, but sent a video from London, where he was due to finish digger. He said that after 2015 The return (for which he won his second back-to-back directing Oscar), he had an idea for it diggerShe spent years developing the film before approaching Cruise about seven years ago.

It’s Cruise’s first character role modeled after the actor since he donned prosthetics to play studio executive Les Grossman in the comedy. Tropical thunder.

“The transformation he went through was amazing. He once said to me: ‘Alejandro, it took me 40 years to become this character.’ And I think we both know what it means to transfer an entire career to one moment like this. We knew that in all our travels, we had never done anything even close to this,” the director said in the video sent to the event.

Cruise emphasized that the film is unlike anything he has made before.

“I’ve never encountered anything that could challenge me in this way, and neither did Alejandro when we walked in. And when you see this film, it’s completely original,” Cruz said.

Audiences will find out for themselves on October 2nd.