Tom Cruise’s next movie, Digger, isn’t a big action film, sci-fi mystery, or some other variety of typical summer blockbuster. Instead, his next film has him playing what sounds like a villainous role in what appears to be his big push to finally win an Oscar. And Warner Bros.’ first trailer for the movie is centered entirely around hyping us up for Tom Cruise, one of the last true movie stars. It’s weird.
On June 23, WB released the first trailer for Digger. (That’s not counting a short “title announcement” video that was released about six months ago.) But if you were expecting two to three minutes of scenes from the upcoming movie starring Cruise, well, you’ll be disappointed. Despite being around three minutes long, this first teaser trailer for Digger only contains about 30 seconds of footage from the upcoming movie, which was directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and which stars Cruise as a powerful oil tycoon trying to save the world from the “disaster he unleashed.” Here’s the trailer, which WB is calling the “Tom Cruise Retrospective Trailer.”
Weird, huh? Anyway, I’m actually pretty pumped to see Digger. I think Cruise is a more versatile actor than people give him credit for, and this role and film seem designed around letting him try something totally different. Maybe it all falls apart and it’s a disaster, but even that sounds more interesting than Tom Cruise doing another safe action movie sequel. He’s done so many of those, most of which I enjoyed, that it feels like it’s time to try something different.
Alongside Cruise, Digger‘s cast includes Jesse Plemons, Riz Ahmed, Sophie Wilde, Emma D’Arcy, and John Goodman. You put Goodman and Plemons in a movie, and I’m ready to show up day one. Cruise is just a fun bonus. Digger is out this October in theaters.