Tom Cruise is, barring a change of heart, done with Mission: Impossible. After eight films and three decades of death-defying stunts in which Cruise morphed from young heartthrob to action star destined to literally save cinema, the actor is putting down his mantle for now and moving back into “regular” movies. First up has always been a collaboration with Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu. Now, we know what the movie’s going to be.
Tom Cruise’s Next Film Gets a Name
For a long time, we have known that Tom Cruise was going to star in “untitled Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu film.” The Oscar-winning director hadn’t yet revealed what that movie would be, so it was anyone’s guess. Now, we know not only the movie’s title, but the genre. We also got a look at the poster.
The movie will be called Digger, and it will be a “comedy of epic proportions.” It’s coming out next October. Cruise has worked with a ton of famous directors and done a lot of different work, most of it coming before the glory days of Mission: Impossible, but he’s not really done a full-fledged comedy.
He was absolutely hilarious as Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder, but that was a small role as a side character. Now, he’ll be tasked with carrying the movie and providing most, if not all, of the laughs. Fortunately, Cruise is a highly capable actor who can pretty much do anything.
Before he became almost exclusively Ethan Hunt, Cruise was known for working with the biggest directors and doing a wide variety of projects:
- Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders
- Ridley Scott’s Legend
- Tony Scott’s Top Gun
- Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July
- Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money
- Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men
- Bryan de Palma’s Mission: Impossible
- Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire
- Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut
- Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia
- Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report
- Michael Mann’s Collateral
- Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds
- Robert Redford’s Lions for Lambs
That’s not the filmography one would expect when thinking about Tom Cruise, action star. He’s more known for his roles in Mission: Impossible, Edge of Tomorrow, and Top Gun: Maverick, but the man can act, and he can and does love working with prestige directors.
Cruise still has action movie plans moving forward. His official IMDb page lists five projects on his upcoming list. One of them is a Space X movie in which he wants to do his own stunts in space, and the other is an Edge of Tomorrow sequel, which is a sci-fi action movie.
But now that Mission: Impossible has seemingly and sadly run its course, Cruise is now open for much more business. He just got an honorary Oscar, and he had a few nominations and nearly won back in the 1990s, so he might be angling for an Academy Award again.
While action movies, especially ones with the dedication Cruise brings to them, are good movies and art just the same, the Academy tends to favor more dramatic performances, which may be the field Cruise is shifting into now. However, Innaritu’s comedy Digger doesn’t seem quite like a drama Oscar vehicle, so he could just be having fun with the remaining years of his iconic career.
Conclusion
Mission: Impossible is such a huge part of Tom Cruise’s career, and for a long time, it was hard to see past that role and that franchise. Now, it is seemingly behind him, and a rebirth of sorts can take place. That will start with Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Digger, but there’s no telling where it’ll lead Hollywood’s biggest movie star in the years to come.
