The World Cup finale was in full EGOT mode on Sunday, parading out a host of A-list award winners and nominees from across the global entertainment spectrum for the opening and halftime performances: Madonna, Jennifer Hudson, Justin Bieber, BTS, Shakira, Chris Martin and Coldplay, Nicole Scherzinger, Robbie Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Laura Pausini, Burna Boy, Gustavo Dudamel, and even the Muppets. But they had nothing on Digger.
Tom Cruise and his latest big-screen alter ego took center stage early on in the broadcast. First, Cruise introduced the final match between Argentina and Spain and paid tribute to beautiful game. But appearing on the world’s most-watched sporting event also provided an ultimate promotional opportunity. Warner Bros. used the platform to release a soccer-themed Digger spot, featuring an in-character Cruise explaining why he plays with a “a much, much bigger ball” compared to the all-time greats, while showing off some slick skills. Watch below.
“You want to know what separates a legend from everybody else? Well, it ain’t luck. It ain’t even speed. It’s control. Hey, the greats — Pelé, Maradona, Cristiano, Messi — they don’t chase the ball. The ball answers to them. For me, Digger, I play with a much, much bigger ball, and I don’t play just to win. I play to dominate,” Cruise says in the promo. “We legends. See, we can make you believe just about anything, even that gravity doesn’t exist. … Olé, olé, olé, olé, olé, olé.”
Digger is the Mission: Impossible franchise mastermind’s highly anticipated comedic collaboration with two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu. The World Cup shenanigans comes just a few days after first trailer arrived.
The trailer
The trailer for Digger hit the internet on July 13, giving viewers their first full look at a very different version of Cruise. The actor plays Digger Rockwell, an aging, corpulent energy tycoon who causes a looming apocalyptic natural disaster that he needs to find a solution for.
Scored to a re-orchestrated version of the Talking Heads classic “Burning Down the House,” the two-and-a-half minute spot shows how Digger’s capricious decision making leads to his $18 trillion dollar bad call. “Digger here got us into this mess, and Digger’s going to dig us out again,” says the U.S. president, played by John Goodman.
“If we can’t control the course of narrative, at least we can control the narrative,” Cruise confides to co-star Sandra Hüller, playing a yet-to-be-named character that seems poised to aid him in his quest. Digger is one of four 2026 movies that could propel the previous Best Actress nominee back into Oscar contention this year.
“When all else fails, you hit ’em with the truth,” Cruise’s loud-mouth cowboy character shouts at the end of the trailer. “Hit ’em with the hard truth. Just bang, bang, bang!” The movie star disappears into the quirky role, similar to what he did nearly two decades ago in Tropic Thunder, and will undoubtedly be an Oscar contender at next year’s ceremony.
At a trailer launch event over the weekend, Cruise said that he had been following Iñárritu’s career since his breakout debut, Amores Perros in 2000. “There’s nothing better than to physically and metaphorically stand on the edge of a cliff and go, ‘Let’s do this. And I trust you, and whatever we’re going to do, I know this is going to be a hell of an experience,'” the actor said of how their Digger collaboration started.
Cruise and Iñárritu previously came together April 14 at CinemaCon 2026 to present a first look at the film to theater owners and distributors. “I think I’ve worn out all of his films [watching them],” said Cruise of his Oscar-winning partner. “I’m so honored to work with you and inspired by what you create, my friend.” Iñárritu confirmed the movie filmed “in VistaVision,” the same format that Paul Thomas Anderson used for One Battle After Another.
Read on for everything to know about the first collaboration between these two Hollywood titans.
The cast
Cruise leads the cast as a character named Digger Rockwell. The ensemble also includes Hüller, Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde, Riz Ahmed, Emma D’Arcy, Robert John Burke, Burn Gorman, and Pip Torrens. A previously released retrospective trailer featured a montage of Cruise’s many iconic performances over the decades, culminating in a first peek at Digger.
The plot
First announced in February 2024, the movie labels itself as “a comedy of catastrophic proportions.”
“I started having the idea for this film nine years ago, and two years after that Tom and I started talking about the possibility of him becoming Digger Rockwell,” Iñárritu said at CinemaCon. “We know he is fearless, but embodying this character is another kind of fearless.”
“I have to say, it was inspiring working with him,” Cruise added. “When you see this film it is the ne plus ultra across the board in terms of writing, production, and performance. This kind of movie is why i wanted to make movies. It took 40 years for me to put on the boots of Digger Rockwell… and I’m very grateful to Alejandro for this. … Also, the movie is wild. It’s funny, and I can’t wait for you to see it.”
Based on both the new trailer and the extended teaser screened exclusively at CinemaCon, Digger appears to be something of a cross between Dr. Strangelove and Citizen Kane with a darkly comic tone balancing its grand visual scale.
“I have never had something that could challenge me in this way and neither has Alejandro when we went in, ever. And when you see this film, it’s totally original,” Cruise emphasized at the trailer launch event.
The poster
On Dec. 18, Warner Bros. released the first one-sheet for the film. “Tom Cruise is Digger,” it reads alongside the tagline, “A Comedy of Catastrophic Proportions.” The six letters of the movie title are in the shape of a person holding a shovel and wearing cowboy boots, all over an orange background.
The teaser
Also on Dec. 18, the studio unveiled a 49-second video introducing the world to Digger Rockwell, aka Cruise. The character’s shovel and cowboy boots open the teaser, and then he begins dancing strangely atop a railing at the beach. Hmm, anyone else getting Joker vibes? (A full trailer will be released at a later date.)
The creatives
Iñárritu directed and co-wrote the film from a screenplay that’s also by Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, and Sabina Berman. Iñárritu, Cruise, and Mary Parent are the producers. Artisans include cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, film editor Conor O’Neill, casting director Francine Maisler, and costume designer Jacqueline West.
The filming
Filming took place in and around the United Kingdom’s Pinewood Studios between November 2024 and May 2025. Lubezki shot the project on 35mm film using VistaVision. Reportedly, production was briefly halted in March when Goodman had to be hospitalized for a minor hip injury, though he returned two days later.
This post was originally published on April 15 and updated on June 23 with the Cruise retrospective trailer, July 12 with the new trailer, and July 19 with the World Cup promo.
