Tom Cruise and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s New Movie Is a Massive Swing Hollywood Rarely Takes Anymore

• Collider's Steve Weintraub talks with John Goodman, Jesse Plemons, and Michael Stuhlbarg for Digger.
• The trio discusses how Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Tom Cruise deliver a bold, unusual blockbuster.
• They also discuss the use of VistaVision and Cruise's surprising performance.

What Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu is doing in film is almost unheard of in Hollywood right now. Pair his visionary direction with Tom Cruise as the lead in Digger, and you have an unusual duo going toe-to-toe with the type of blockbusters audiences have come to expect from Cruise — and according to co-star Jesse Plemons, this performance is “going to be a surprise for a lot of people.”

In the movie, Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon whose drilling project in Greenland sets in motion a disaster that will wreak havoc across the globe. But before that, Digger is hell-bent on saving face and proving he’s humanity’s savior. Digger's ensemble lineup also stars John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, Plemons, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

In this interview, Collider’s Steve Weintraub speaks with Plemons, Goodman, and Stuhlbarg about the most ambitious scenes, the use of VistaVision, and what surprised them most about working opposite Cruise. Don’t miss the full conversation in the video above, with a transcript provided below.

Jesse Plemons Pinpoints the "Significant" Scene That Blew Him Away

"I can't believe this is happening."

Image via Warner Bros.

COLLIDER: I can't believe this movie exists and that the studios made it, and I just want to thank all of you for making this film, and Warner Bros.

JESSE PLEMONS: I remember saying that while we were there: “I can't believe this is happening.” Really, that was the feeling.

It's a big swing, and this is the kind of movie that, for me, is why I love movies. I don't want to see the same shit again and again. This movie has something to say, and it's different. I'm just curious for the three of you, when you were reading the script, what was the scene that you read and you thought to yourself, “How are Alejandro [G. Iñárritu] and Tom [Cruise] actually going to pull this off?”

JOHN GOODMAN: No one scene suggested itself like that. Oh, man. The whole goddamn thing.

PLEMONS: That's how I felt, yeah.

MICHAEL STUHLBARG: Really.

PLEMONS: The big speech in the middle. I felt like the script painted that so well that it was already so vivid in my mind, and I was so excited to see that, because there are many shifts in the story, but that one feels pretty significant.

That speech is fantastic.

John Goodman Says Filming in VistaVision Feels Like "a Talking Painting"

"There's a weird, I don't know, weight, presence to it."

You three have worked on so many different projects. This was shot in VistaVision, and I'm just curious, does shooting in that format add any sort of energy to the set and the way people are getting ready or performing?

GOODMAN: It’s another thing to go back and look at the monitor and go, “Whoa! This is gorgeous.” It’s like a talking painting.

STUHLBARG: Yeah. I guess the negative is larger than usual negatives by four times, so it can capture every nuance of what it's being directed at, and everything is in focus as well. So it's like looking at a painting in every single frame of the thing. Plus, it runs quite loud so that you have to, in some ways, compensate sound-wise for it. They had to spend a lot of time kind of erasing some of that in post. But it captures things as vividly as I imagine they can be captured, so it's unique.

PLEMONS: And I feel like there's a presence there with the camera. It's large, it's emitting this sort of hum that is maybe intimidating in the beginning, but then, weirdly, I kind of found it almost comforting. There's a weird, I don't know, weight, presence to it. You kind of feel like, “Okay, it's time to go,” you know? “It's time to do something.”

"There's nothing like it."

Image via Warner Bros.

I, of course, have to ask about Tom. I'm so blown away by what he does as an actor and the stunts that he's pulled off. Was there anything that you watched him do or anything just working with him that really surprised you, or something you'd like to share with audiences?

GOODMAN: I think it's been said before: It's his innate curiosity. He wants to know more about everything, and it rubs off, and it turns into a joy of working. His own exploring and searching, it makes you want to jump on the bandwagon.

STUHLBARG: Not a lot of surprise there, because he's brought so much joy to our lives over the course of years. To be in the room with him and to watch him want to engage about every aspect of what it is we're doing together as a group, it's very welcoming. He's having as much fun as the rest of us, and he's encouraging it in all of us, as well. There’s nothing like it. Really, really thrilling to be with him and to create with him.

PLEMONS: I think, again, not necessarily a surprise, but for me, the takeaway is I've never seen him play this character before. That's going to be a surprise for a lot of people because we've grown accustomed to his commitment in various movies throughout the years, but this really reminds everyone what a remarkable actor he is, and I just can't wait for people to see that.

Digger opens in theaters and IMAX on October 2.