Riz Ahmed, the Oscar and Emmy-winning actor known for acclaimed performances in Sound of Metal, The Night Of, Rogue One and Nightcrawler, joins five-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Digger as Ganesh, a key figure in the unpredictable world of Tom Cruise’s Digger Rockwell.
Following the release of the film’s final trailer and its world premiere, Ahmed’s performance has become another intriguing element of Iñárritu’s ensemble. For Ahmed, however, the biggest draw was clear from the beginning, the opportunity to work with Iñárritu and Cruise, even as the details of the project remained closely guarded.
Speaking exclusively to Filmfare about what first attracted him to the project, Ahmed said, “Well, the nature of the project was a secret. So, what attracted me was Alejandro and Tom in the first instance. I’m a massive fan of Alejandro’s work. I love Birdman, I love The Revenant, and I love Amores Perros. And, of course, Tom. Who isn’t interested in working alongside Tom Cruise? Just to be working with someone like that was the main attraction for me.”
Having admired Iñárritu’s work before joining the film, Ahmed also found himself part of a filmmaking process that was constantly evolving. Rather than approaching the performance as fixed from the outset, Iñárritu encouraged the actors to experiment with the tone, pace and heightened theatricality of the film, allowing the world to take shape through the process itself. Speaking about working with Iñárritu, Ahmed said, “Alejandro is constantly digging, constantly trying to refine and sharpen his vision, exploring the edges of every possibility. We were part of this kind of live process, this organic process of, okay, we know what we want it to feel like. We want it to feel like it has that heightened theatricality of the performance on a stage, we want it to have a certain tone and pace. And he’s really inventing it as he goes, pushing us to run with it and do some quite bold experimentation. You know, Chivo said to me he’s like a sculptor in a way, he needs to see it to then chip away, and then see it again to chip away.”
Cruise stars in the title role alongside Oscar winner Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Oscar nominee Jesse Plemons. Robert John Burke, Emma D’Arcy, Burn Gorman and Sophie Wilde also star. With Digger, Iñárritu has directed a screenplay by himself and Oscar winners Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone and Sabina Berman, which was developed from a story by Iñárritu and Berman. The film is produced by Iñárritu, Oscar nominee Mary Parent, Tom Cruise and Michael Sharp, and executive produced by Joshua Grode, Sabina Berman, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, Jez Butterworth and Emmanuel Lubezki. Joining Iñárritu behind the camera are previous collaborators including Oscar-winning director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki; editors Conor O’Neill and Oscar winner Stephen Mirrione; Oscar-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West; Oscar-winning makeup and hair designer Alessandro Bertolazzi; and Oscar-nominated casting director Francine Maisler; alongside Oscar-winning production designer Dennis Gassner and production designer Richard Johnson, Oscar-winning prosthetic makeup designer Kazu Hiro, and composer Cosmo Sheldrake.
An Alejandro G. Iñárritu Film, Digger was shot entirely in VistaVision and will be released in cinemas across India on October 2, 2026. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Also Read: “The Makeup Was Taking So Long” – Tom Cruise On His Character In Digger
