‘Digger’ Star Tom Cruise Responds to Turning 64 in His Signature Style

Avatar photoHrvoje Milakovic
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Tom Cruise has made a name for himself by making the impossible seem effortless, whether he’s hanging off the side of a plane or scaling the tallest buildings for stunts. However, there’s one topic he tends to avoid discussing on camera: himself.

This is why a recent interview that’s circulating online has fans intrigued. Cruise doesn’t often engage in lengthy sit-downs these days, so when he does, every word is scrutinized, and this particular exchange has already gained significant attention.

The moment in question comes from an extended on-camera conversation with GQ’s Zach Baron, where Cruise was directly asked about reaching a milestone birthday. “You turned 64 last week. Does that mean anything to you?” Baron inquired, and Cruise’s response has since been widely shared for perfectly encapsulating his persona.

Instead of brushing off the question, Cruise leaned into his characteristic intensity. “It means I’m 64,” he replied, challenging the notion that the number should alter his perspective on life. “I’m an all-in kind of guy… I don’t know what to say. Life, I’m coming right at it. It’s coming at me, and I’m coming right at it. I am not a halfway kind of person,” he shared with GQ.

He further dismissed the idea that turning 64 signifies a career peak or a natural stopping point. “I never want to be like: ‘You hit that peak.’ There’s always a new dream,” Cruise emphasized, portraying age as irrelevant to his ambition.

This interview marks Cruise’s first GQ cover appearance in 20 years, highlighting the significance of this press run for him. It coincides with the promotion of ‘Digger,’ his first collaboration with filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and reportedly one of the most transformative roles of his career.

In ‘Digger,’ Cruise portrays Digger Rockwell, an eccentric oil tycoon known as the most powerful man in the world, who races against time to prove he’s humanity’s savior before the disaster he unleashed obliterates everything. His physical transformation includes a pot belly, thinning combover, prosthetics, and a thick Southern drawl, drawing comparisons to his unrecognizable role as Les Grossman in ‘Tropic Thunder.’

Iñárritu revealed at CinemaCon that he had been developing the film for nearly a decade and had discussions with Cruise about it for around seven years before production commenced. The two have wanted to collaborate since the early 2000s, with Iñárritu reading the script to Cruise over several days as part of their creative process.

Filmed in the UK using VistaVision with Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, ‘Digger’ marks Iñárritu’s first English-language feature since 2015’s ‘The Revenant.’ The film features a stellar ensemble cast, including Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Emma D’Arcy.

Cruise has described this role as drawing from unexpected aspects of his four-decade career, referencing everything from ‘Taps’ to ‘Jerry Maguire,’ even as many comparisons are made to his Les Grossman character. At a Warner Bros. event unveiling the film’s trailer, Cruise expressed that it felt as if every skill he developed throughout his career had led him to this specific performance, calling the collaboration with Iñárritu something neither had ever attempted before.

‘Digger’ is set to hit theaters on October 2, and if this birthday exchange is any indication, Cruise’s promotional tour for the film promises to be just as memorable as the performance itself.

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