Satirical black comedy Digger is out now in theatres.
Starring Tom Cruise, the story follows Digger Rockwell, a wealthy oil tycoon deemed as the most powerful man in the world. After offshore drilling operations trigger massive water displacement and a devastating tsunami, he races to prove he is humanity’s saviour before the global environmental catastrophe he unleashed destroys everything.
In an interview, director Alejandro Iñárritu opened up about the inspiration behind his project, calling the world a reality show where everything is performative.
“It’s hard for every human being, having so many narratives in our phones and fragmented realities, to figure out how to tell ourselves the story of where we are now, how to really talk about the common reality,” he said.
“I found that it’s through humour and separation. The representation of reality is framed in a way in the film that we can totally separate ourselves and see ourselves and laugh at ourselves to find a common ground about a very complicated thing. It has to do with how we tell the story of ourselves and have to approach something like that without fighting each other,” he added.
Hollywood superstar Tom recalled the process of crafting his character, which included the director performing the screenplay to the actor across several days.
“I’ve always done that. I want the writer to read me his idea because then I can see where we’re going. We’re exploring rhythms and I’m feeling the world. I’m literally an audience. I want to hear his voice. I want to understand and see the world the way he sees it,” he explained.