Denis Villeneuve Comes to the Defense of Tom Cruise’s Box Office Bomb ‘Digger’
Few films this year have been as polarizing as Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’. Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s satirical black comedy stars Cruise as Digger Rockwell, an aging oil magnate whose drilling sets off an ecological disaster, and it marked the filmmaker’s first English-language film since ‘The Revenant’. Iñárritu co-wrote the script with his ‘Birdman’ collaborators Nicolás Giacobone and Alexander Dinelaris, along with Sabina Berman.
The reception has been brutal. ‘Digger’ opened to just $8 million domestically, becoming Cruise’s lowest opening since 2007’s ‘Lions for Lambs’, and its global opening landed at just $20 million against a reported production budget somewhere between $125 million and $180 million. Critics were sharply divided too, with the film landing a rotten 53% on Rotten Tomatoes in early reviews.
Yet the movie keeps finding champions among directors. After Michael Mann, Ron Howard, Hideo Kojima and Alfonso Cuarón, ‘Digger’ has now added Denis Villeneuve to its corner. The ‘Dune’ filmmaker moderated a Directors Guild of America screening and Q&A with Iñárritu, which has since been released on the DGA’s ‘The Director’s Cut’ podcast.
Villeneuve didn’t hold back. “That’s a hell of a ride, my friend,” Villeneuve said after the screening. “It’s a comedy, but it’s a furious comedy, and it’s a very important mirror. It’s a very important movie.”
He went on to single out the film’s handmade craft, including its miniatures and practical effects, admitting a few shots completely fooled him. Villeneuve added that the theatrical, stagey framework let Iñárritu “develop a language that is quite unique,” before praising Cruise’s performance and declaring, “I think it’s a total success.”
First trailer for Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s ‘DIGGER’, starring Tom Cruise. The film follows the most powerful CEO in the world who must save the world from a disaster that he created. In theaters on October 2. https://t.co/kJFhfgcStB
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 13, 2026
What seemed to fascinate Villeneuve most was Iñárritu’s willingness to gamble. During the same conversation, he told the director that “movie after movie, you are pushing the boundaries,” adding that he always seems to put himself “in a dangerous position artistically.”
Iñárritu pushed back on the idea that he hunts for difficult productions. “I never planned the challenge,” he said in response. Villeneuve eventually wrapped up their discussion with another enthusiastic endorsement: “Extraordinary score for extraordinary movie.”
The admiration carries extra weight coming from Villeneuve, a director who has spent much of the past decade making extraordinarily ambitious studio spectacles of his own. Respect between directors who swing big tends to run deep, and a public endorsement from him certainly can’t hurt.
Ben Affleck on DIGGER backlash: “It’s like high school bullying. You see it now with DIGGER, a ambitious, interesting movie made by interesting people who have talent. If you punish movies that take risks, you’re gonna get a bunch of homogenized movies.” https://t.co/BEvgqXm2Al
— cinesthetic. (@TheCinesthetic) October 13, 2026
For Cruise, ‘Digger’ was always a bold departure. It was his first film outside the ‘Mission: Impossible’ and ‘Top Gun’ franchises since 2017, with the poster billing it as a comedy of catastrophic proportions. The ensemble also includes Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sophie Wilde and Emma D’Arcy.
Even amid the box office fallout, the film has found pockets of passionate support. On Letterboxd, it scored a 3.8 out of 5, edging past Cruise’s classic ‘Top Gun’. Some critics also praised the ambition and Cruise’s commitment even while debating Iñárritu’s deliberately eccentric approach.
Commercial disappointment and critical division don’t always define a film’s legacy, and ‘Digger’ seems to be building a fan base among the people who make movies for a living. Villeneuve’s comments add to a growing chorus suggesting this apocalyptic satire may find its audience in the years ahead.
Whether moviegoers will eventually come around remains to be seen. For now, at least one of cinema’s most respected visionaries is firmly convinced that Iñárritu and Cruise pulled it off.
Do you agree with Denis Villeneuve that Tom Cruise’s Digger is a cinematic triumph despite its box office failure?
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