Tom Cruise is known to be a student of film, the rare movie star who likes to speak at length about camera lenses and the crafts behind filmmaking. But one secret to his success? Getting directors to read to him aloud so he can better understand their visions.
He says he’s done this with multiple directors, including Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the filmmaker behind Cruise’s upcoming prestige play Digger.
“Alejandro took several days during which he was just reading the script to me and 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, and bring that collaboration together,” Cruise said at a recent trailer event launch for Digger on the Warner Bros. lot.
During the event, he said multiple times that Digger is the culmination of his 40-year career, and it seems that will be the selling point in the coming months as promotion ramps up in preparation for release and an eventual awards campaign.
Indeed, the project is both 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. His $1.49 billion box office grossing Top Gun: Maverick “saved Hollywood’s ass” (to quote Spielberg), while his Mission: Impossible pushed the boundaries of action filmmaking and generated countless headlines for Cruise’s commitment to doing his own stunts.
