Riz Ahmed Describes Working with Tom Cruise on DIGGER - "Nothing Like That Experience I've Ever Had Before"

Academy Award winning actor Riz Ahmed (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Sound of Metal) is working on a new film from director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, The Revenant) alongside Tom Cruise, and Ahmed is singing the praises of both his talented co-star and filmmaker. The film, Digger follows Cruise as Digger Rockwell, the man responsible for unleashing a disaster upon the world, who does everything he can to redeem himself and prove that he’s humanity’s savior, not its destroyer.

In a recent interview with Collider, Ahmed stayed tight-lipped about the film’s surprises, but did recall his experience working alongside both Cruise and Iñárritu.

"Honestly, there’s nothing like that experience I've ever had before, just because of how motivated, focused, hardworking, and inspiring Tom Cruise is on set. The energy he has and the positivity is crazy. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. Then Alejandro, the attention to detail, the vision, the ambition of it, as well, every day is just like, 'Wow, this is kind of nuts.’”

Ahmed also gushed about watching cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki at work.

“I would be kind of motivated break character and go up and be like, 'What the hell are you doing? What is this that you've put up?’” Ahmed recalled. “He uses grays, and he doesn't just have one kind of gray. He has, like, 16 or 10 different shades of gray that he puts up to reflect and create different nuances. Just the level of craft and attention to detail is crazy. It just makes you want to bring your best to the table. It's inspiring. It's intense, though. It's definitely very intense.”

Ahmed and Cruise are joined in the film with cast members Jesse Plemons, Emma D'Arcy, John Goodman, and Sandra Hüller. Digger is set to hit theaters on October 2, 2026.