Midlife DYE-sis! Tom Cruise, 64, debuts bright red hair and heeled boots at Digger premiere after wearing bodysuit and prosthetics to age him for latest role

Tom Cruise unexpectedly debuted bright red hair at the star-studded Digger premiere in London on Tuesday night.

The Mission: Impossible icon, 64, was showing off the bold new look as he arrived at Leicester Square, having ditched his usual brunette style.

It comes after he had to wear a bodysuit and prosthetics to age him for his role as an oil tycoon and billionaire who accidentally sets off a global ecological crisis in the Alejandro González Iñárritu directed film.

He cut a dapper figure for the premiere in a tuxedo and dark shades as well as a pair of shiny heeled boots to boost his height as he posed for the cameras.

Also at the premiere were a series of Tom's co-stars including Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Riz Ahmed and Sophie Wilde. 

Tom underwent a huge transformation for his character Digger Rockwell. The trailer showed Tom with thinning white hair, a prosthetic pot belly and a thick Southern accent. 

Digger is tasked by the US President (played by John Goodman) to save the planet in the film. 

Tom Cruise unexpectedly debuted bright red hair at the star-studded Digger premiere in London on Tuesday night

It comes after he had to wear a bodysuit and prosthetics to age him for his role as an oil tycoon and billionaire who accidentally sets off a global ecological crisis in the film

He added shiny black heeled boots to his look that boosted his height as he arrived to the premiere 

Reacting to the trailer, fans have tipped Tom for an Oscar as they wrote: 'Finally, a movie where Tom Cruise's most dangerous stunt is raw unfiltered acting.'

'Seeing an old Tom Cruise is wild.'

'I love how every once in a while Cruise does a movie that's just 'oh yeah, I can actually act when I feel like it'.'

'Tom Cruise looks so unrecognizable here it's amazing.' 

'The Tom Cruise Oscar campaign is going to be LEGENDARY.'  

Tom previously filmed the movie in the UK during the six-month production. 

The tagline on the movie poster refers to Digger as 'a comedy of catastrophic proportions'. 

Digger is directed by four-time Oscar winner Alejandro, who is known for his work on Birdman and The Revenant.

He is also co-producing the movie with Tom. 

Alejandro previously said of Tom's transformation: 'The transformation he went through was astonishing. 'Alejandro, it took me 40 years to become this character,' he told me once. 

'And I think we both know what it means to carry an entire career into a single moment like this. We both knew that throughout our journeys, we had never done anything even close to this.'

Join the discussion

What do you make of Tom Cruise's dramatic new look at 64?

What's your view?

The Mission Impossible icon, 64, was showing off the bold new look as he arrived to Leicester Square, having ditched his usual brunette style

He cut a dapper figure for the premiere in a tuxedo and added shades as he posed for the cameras

Tom underwent a huge transformation for his character Digger Rockwell. The trailer showed Tom thinning white hair, a prosthetic pot belly and a thick Southern accent

Digger is tasked by the US President (played by John Goodman) to save the planet in the new film

Digger is directed by four-time Oscar winner Alejandro, who is known for his work on Birdman and The Revenant

Digger is a diversion for Tom, who has become known for his incredible stunts in high-action films

The tagline on the movie poster refers to Digger as 'a comedy of catastrophic proportions'

Tom previously filmed the movie in the UK during the six-month production

He looked in great spirits at the premiere on Tuesday night

Tom added a pair of dark shades to his look as he looked every inch the Hollywood icon

The first trailer of the new film saw Tom swap his action hero status for a whole new look

Tom's co-star Sandra Huller wore a dramatic gold dress

Meanwhile Sophie Wilde who also stars in the film wore a ruffled black dress 

Jesse Plemons gave a friendly wave as he arrived

Michael Stuhlbarg also looked smart in his tux

Mexican cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and his wife Lauren Strogoff posed at the premiere

Riz Ahmed arriving for the Digger royal film performance and world premiere

Tom posed with American film producer Mary Parent

Digger is a diversion for Tom, who has become known for his incredible stunts in high-action films. 

These include scaling Dubai's Burj Khalifa skyscraper for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, dangling from an Airbus 400 during take off for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and driving a motorcycle off a cliff for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. 

The actor started his death-defying stunts when he was just two-and-a-half years old.

During an appearance on the New Heights podcast, Tom explained: 'I was doing them since I was a little kid. It started out, I was a little kid and I opened the window and I climbed out onto the roof.

'I'm, like, two-and-a-half or three years old. But I liked to look at the stars. The neighbour called and was like: 'I think there's a child on your [roof] …'

'And my mum was like: 'Oh my goodness.''

He went on to add that as a child he liked to climb tall trees on windy days because he 'liked the feel of it' but his exploits left him with a lot of broken bones.

Tom said: 'I did so many things and I didn't do it well. I'd break bones. I'd end up in the hospital.'

The actor's mother tried to lure her son back indoors and keep him out of trouble by baking him cakes.

He explained: 'My mum never said: 'Don't do it.' She'd bake a cake and be like: 'It's really windy, why don't you come down here? I've got some cake for you.''

Tom also revealed he used to drive cars when he was too small to see over the steering wheel. He said: 'I used to sit on a phone book and race the car out on the streets. I was so small, I had to get the phone book. I didn't have my licence.'

As an adult, Tom learned to wing-walk on the side of a plane for a stunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and he confessed he had been thinking about that particular stunt since he was a child.

He added: 'The first time I got on an aeroplane, I was about five or six and I'm sitting next to the window. As we're taking off, I looked at the wing and I thought: 'How cool would it be to be out there?' I don't know why.'