Tom Cruise's 'Digger' Splits Critics, Tests Oscar Bid — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Tom Cruise stars in Alejandro González Ñárritu's "Digger" as Digger Rockwell, a tycoon racing to contain a global environmental catastrophe triggered by a malfunctioning oil rig, alongside Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons.
- Early reactions from the Venice, Telluride and Toronto festivals split critics, with many praising Cruise's performance while panning the film's execution; the social embargo lifted Sept. 22.
- Cruise has three prior acting nominations — "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989), "Jerry Maguire" (1996) and "Magnolia" (1999) — all losses, and received an honorary Oscar last year.
- Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki behind the lens puts cinematography and production design "well within reach," with makeup and hairstyling also in the awards conversation, the source notes.
- John Goodman delivers "stellar work" that could put him within reach of his first Oscar nomination after decades of acclaimed turns in films like "Barton Fink" and "Inside Llewyn Davis."
- The source draws the Paul Newman parallel: Newman won an honorary Oscar in 1986, then took the competitive Best Actor prize the next year for "The Color of Money" — a film that co-starred a then-24-year-old Cruise.
Why it matters: Cruise's three prior acting nominations all lost, and his only recent Oscar proximity was a Best Picture producer credit on "Top Gun: Maverick." The Newman precedent shows an honorary Oscar can precede a competitive win — and Cruise was literally in that winning film — making this campaign's outcome a genuine hinge point for how the Academy closes the book on the last 1990s movie star without a competitive statue.
Ask SkimNews
