With the Mission: Impossible franchise wrapped up (for now, at least), Tom Cruise is doing something very different, teaming with Birdman and The Revenant director Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Digger, a film that has been described as “a brutal, wild comedy of catastrophic proportions.” We don’t know much about this one just yet, other than the fact that it’s set to reach theatres on October 2, 2026 – but now, Cruise’s co-star Jesse Plemons has told Variety that Digger has elements that are reminiscent of another comedy that deal with catastrophic events: the 1964 Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Strangelove
We don’t have a synopsis for Digger, we’ve only heard reports that it may be about the most powerful global figure who tries to convince everyone he’s a savior. Dr. Strangelove, on the other hand, told us the following story: A deranged U.S. General, Jack D. Ripper, launches a unilateral nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a frantic, darkly comedic effort in the War Room by American leaders and a Russian ambassador to prevent total nuclear annihilation, all while dealing with the bizarre, wheelchair-bound ex-Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove, highlighting Cold War paranoia and the absurdity of Mutually Assured Destruction.
Cruise is joined in the cast of Digger by Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed, Emma D’Arcy, Sophie Wilde, Michael Stuhlbarg, John Goodman, and, as mentioned, Jesse Plemons, who previously worked with Cruise on American Made.
Plemons
Plemons couldn’t tell Variety much about Digger, but he was able to say, “It’s one of the strangest, funniest, most tragic scripts I’ve read. There’s a kind of modern-day Dr. Strangelove thing, and then it becomes something else entirely. 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.“
Although Cruise was just given an honorary Oscar, some fans are hoping that this film will land him an actual Best Actor win. This is quite a prestigious project, as Iñárritu is one of just a handful of international filmmakers to win the Best Director Oscar more than once, taking it home for Birdman and The Revenant. Those were consecutive wins, something Iñárritu achieved for only the third time in AMPAS’ history, joining legends John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Are you interested in seeing Digger and finding out what the “Dr. Strangelove thing” is? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
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