The first trailer for Alejandro G Iñárritu’s Digger, described as “a comedy of catastrophic proportions”, has been released by Warner Bros.
Iñárritu’s first English-language movie since The Revenant sees Tom Cruise (64) star as Digger Rockwell, an eccentric oil billionaire and the “most powerful man in the world” who embarks on a chaotic mission to prove that he is humanity’s saviour.
In the trailer it seems the world is heading towards an ecological disaster (a melting iceberg) that will spark a nuclear war. Both events may or may not have been caused by Digger’s own company.
“Digger got us all into this mess and Digger’s going to dig us out again,” says John Goodman, portraying a frail and unwell US president.
READ MORE
Iñárritu seems to have drawn inspiration for Goodman’s character from the Trump era with the fictional president, oxygen tube under both nostrils, falling asleep as he drops missiles on the floating iceberg.
During a video introduction reel shown at Warner Bros on July 9th, Iñárritu said that he began conceiving the idea of Digger “just after The Revenant [2015], when I had an idea, not script, not a film, just a relentless recurring obsession, that has endured through all these wild years. I knew who this character was”.
“The film needed Tom [Cruise]. We wanted to work together since the beginning of the century,” said Iñárritu.
“The transformation he went through was astonishing.” Meanwhile, Cruise says “it took me 40 years to become this character”.
The four-time Academy Award-winning director has created a dark comedy for our time.
In Iñárritu’s mind, there is perhaps no greater irony than entrusting the fate of the world to the very people responsible for its destruction.
Digger opens in Irish cinemas on Friday, October 2nd
