Yes, I know. Yet another "Digger" article. I can't help it, but guess what? This is a film that's sparked more conversation over the last week than just about anything else out there, and not just because of the box office carnage. I couldn't be happier about it.
"Digger" absolutely deserved a better fate than the one it got, and that's coming from someone who isn't exactly the biggest Alejandro G. Iñárritu fan. I still think his best film is his very first one, "Amores Perros," released 26 years ago.
So, here's the thing. Let's forget about Cuarón and del Toro for a second, though del Toro's "Love the arts. Fuck the charts" post on X is about as perfect a summary as you'll get. They're both besties with Iñárritu, even though I do believe their passion for the film is genuine.
No, what's more interesting is that plenty of other names have come to the film's defense, to the point where the sheer industry passion has led some Oscar pundits to stop writing it off completely. You just never know. It's gotten to the point where Variety has written a piece about all these stars coming out of the woodwork to support the film: "Hollywood Defends “Digger.'"
It rarely happens, but this much-maligned box office bomb has somehow turned into a rallying cry.
Anne Hathaway took to Letterboxd and gave it a 10/10, calling it "smart, trippy, aggressive, funny and ambitious" and urging people to see it and decide for themselves. Mandy Patinkin went even further, calling it an "instant classic" and "one of the greatest films" he's ever seen, practically begging people to run, not walk, to a theater. Jane Fonda praised Cruise for taking a “big, brave risk and going all-in on the role,” and said the film finds an “original, risky way to wake us up about the climate crisis.” Her message to Cruise and Iñárritu: “keep being brave.” Glen Powell has also joined the chorus, but he's buddy-buddy with Cruise. Ron Howard wrote that Cruise's work in "Digger" has to be seen, thought about and discussed to be fully appreciated, calling the performance "one of those rare ones." And Michael Mann, who directed Cruise in "Collateral," called the performance "EXTRAORDINARY."
The Daily Beast is annoyed by what's going on: "Tom Cruise Flop Has Become Hollywood’s Weirdest Hollywood Test." They believe this movement isn't organic at all. Pre-organized, if you will, and it does make sense. Awards season has run on this kind of choreography for decades. Still, so what? Even if some of this was coordinated, I don't buy that it's fake. Nobody's forcing Michael Mann or anyone else to go to bat for a movie they think is mediocre.
If it takes a little orchestrated cheerleading to get people talking about an original, expensive, swing-for-the-fences studio movie that isn't a sequel or a superhero thing, then fine by me. I'll take it.
Audience members will be encouraged to text in their questions before, during and after the screening, with Coppola answering the best ones live.