Tom Cruise reduced his Digger makeup from six tedious hours to under sixty minutes. The Mission: Impossible star plays oil tycoon Digger Rockwell in the upcoming film.
Cruise recently made an appearance on NFL stars Jason and Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights. Elaborating on his routine, the 64-year-old revealed that his team initially took six hours to apply his prosthetics.
While doing the math, Cruise found out that such a prolonged makeup routine would hamper his day-to-day schedule. “I gotta sleep at least six [hours]. They keep saying I need more… but OK, that’s 12,” he continued. “Now, we have 12-hour days filming. So now that’s six hours on, two hours off with the makeup,” the Hollywood star said.
Trying to resolve the matter, Cruise decided to take note of the timing required to put each prosthetic on. “I had a guy there with a stopwatch and I’m like, ‘OK, you see that time, six hours? By the time we’re done, we’re going to get it under an hour,’” Cruise added.
The Top Gun star added, “They were like, ‘No, I’m not doing that, it will never happen.’ I’m like, ‘OK, first of all, if you say no, you can’t do it, you will never get there. So can we agree that we’ll maybe make it a little less?’ So with each piece that was going on, it was timed and then we’d drill and practice.” And just like that, Cruise’s ploy worked, and the entire six-hour toil was cut down to less than an hour.
What else do we know about Tom Cruise’s Digger movie?
Digger is a satirical dark comedy directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu where Tom Cruise plays the role of the titular lead. Digger Rockwell is an aged, powerful oil tycoon. The story follows Rockwell as he attempts to prove he is humanity’s savior after a disaster he unleashed threatens to destroy everything. As the disaster threatens to spiral out of control, save the world from an impending environmental catastrophe.
Alongside Cruise, the cast also includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Emma D’Arcy, Robert John Burke, Burn Gorman, and Sophie Wilde.
Digger is scheduled to hit theaters on October 2, 2026.
