Overview
- Empire ran a world‑exclusive cover package this week, with stories and images published Aug. 20–21 that show Cruise nearly unrecognisable as Digger Rockwell and detail the film’s premise.
- Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu describes Digger as a disaster movie in which the catastrophe is human caused and the story explores grief, power and responsibility.
- Cruise says he prepared through an intensive script‑read process with Iñárritu and that the role required deep physical and vocal work to become the oil tycoon character.
- The production lists a high‑profile creative team and ensemble cast, including writers Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone and Sabina Berman, plus Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons.
- Digger was shot in VistaVision and is scheduled for an international rollout beginning Sept. 30 with a theatrical and IMAX release on Oct. 2, 2026, and Empire will publish a subscriber cover by poster artist Dawn Baillie on Aug. 27.