'Innovation unlike anything in 46 years': Tom Cruise returns as a pot-bellied oil tycoon in 'Digger'

Tom Cruise, 64, who has spent 46 years sprinting across rooftops and leaping from cliffs as Hollywood's seemingly indestructible action star, has shed his perfect physique. In "Digger," opening Saturday, he plays Rockwell, a greedy oil tycoon with a paunch, a receding hairline and weathered skin — a character who spouts sophistry at every turn. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, the film marks one bold departure after another for Cruise.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon at Conrad Seoul in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Cruise said he makes films regardless of awards or public opinion. "Making films is itself a privilege for me," he said, laying out his conviction that the work matters more than any trophy.

Cruise made his screen debut in a minor role in "Endless Love" in 1981 and has held his place at the top of Hollywood for nearly half a century since. "Being able to make films across so many different genres for 46 years is itself an honor and a privilege," he said, reflecting on his long commitment to the craft.

This year marks Cruise's 13th visit to Korea — his first since "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" in May last year, a gap of about a year and five months. The trip sets a new record for the most visits to Korea by any Hollywood actor.

Arriving by private jet early Thursday morning, Cruise greeted reporters in fluent Korean before expressing his affection for the country. "I really wanted to be here. Korea feels beautiful every time I come," he said. He added that he was honored to be visiting for the 13th time and hoped to return at least 30 more times. "I'm very curious to see how Korean audiences will receive 'Digger,'" he said with a smile.

Director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who had been scheduled to attend the event alongside Cruise, was unable to make the trip due to personal reasons. In a letter delivered through distributor Warner Bros. Korea on Thursday, Iñárritu said he was deeply moved by the remarkable love and enthusiasm Korean audiences have shown, and expressed sincere regret at missing the chance to be with them.

"Digger" centers on a global climate catastrophe triggered by a crack at a Greenland glacier drilling facility run by Texas oil tycoon Rockwell. Even as the glaciers collapse and the world faces annihilation, Rockwell and White House officials focus not on containing the disaster but on propping up share prices and calculating political gains — fabricating a false narrative to bury the truth. The film is the result of nine years of development by Iñárritu, who swept the Academy Awards with "Birdman" (2014) and "The Revenant" (2015).

What sets the film apart from a conventional environmental disaster movie is its radical formal experiment. Every crisis and power struggle in the story unfolds through a play-within-a-film structure: the events on screen are, in fact, a rehearsal for a stage production. The film upends the boundary between reality and fiction, instantly dismantling the voyeuristic safety the audience thought it had. Cruise described it as "a work that completely changes the grammar of cinematic structure and storytelling."

Cruise, who said Iñárritu personally approached him about the collaboration during the filming of "Top Gun: Maverick" in 2019, joined the project as both lead actor and producer. "I had never read anything like 'Digger,' and I had never seen or heard of a character like Rockwell," he said. "The night I received the offer, I went to the director's office and we talked through the night. I dare say it was on a completely different level in every respect."

Rockwell is a self-absorbed tycoon who puts capital above human life and sees only what he wants to see. "What drew me in was human nature," Cruise said. "Beyond the joy of playing such a bold character, I wanted to look back at our lives together with the audience through the countless stories beneath the surface." He went on to say that "the film also expresses all of our responsibility for disaster — it offers a lens through which to examine many themes on multiple levels."

Instead of the death-defying stunt work that has defined his career, Cruise's weapon of choice this time was rigorous physical preparation and the ability to deliver demanding dialogue. To inhabit the character of Digger Rockwell, he said he slept in a trailer on set and immersed himself in character study.

The intensity of that preparation reaches its peak in a 10-minute long-take speech near the end of the film. Even as Rockwell is vilified as the architect of a global catastrophe, he overwhelms the crowd with a chilling truth: that it is all of us who have enjoyed the conveniences that oil has provided.

"The long-take scene was originally scheduled for four days of shooting, but after thorough preparation we finished it in a single day with just three or four takes," Cruise said. "When I said I wanted to keep going, Iñárritu hugged me and said, 'That's enough.'" He also drew laughs from the assembled press by shouting "Bang bang bang" — one of Rockwell's lines from the film.

Cruise, who has worked with Steven Spielberg on "War of the Worlds" (2005) and the late Stanley Kubrick on "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999), placed Iñárritu in the same company of masters. "He is a director who brings out the natural rhythm of a film," Cruise said. "Iñárritu is a historic master and an extraordinary artist."