“None of that is me”: Tom Cruise gets candid about disappearing into his Digger look

Tom Cruise is no stranger to transforming himself for the screen but Alejandro G. Iñárritu's upcoming satirical black comedy Digger takes that up a notch.

From Tropic Thunder to Born on the Fourth of July and Interview with the Vampire, Cruise is known for his commitment to every character he brings to the screen. However, Alejandro G. Iñárritu's upcoming film brought one of the most demanding physical transformations for Cruise, as he transformed into Digger Rockwell, the wealthy oil tycoon, at the heart of the film's narrative. As seen in the film's teasers and trailers, Tom Cruise relies on heavy prosthetics and makeup to transform into the titular character.

On his latest appearance on The Graham Norton Show, when asked by the host about how much of the character is actually him, Cruise gave a hilarious reply:

"None of that is me."

Cruise also opened up about the demanding makeup process, revealing how he worked with his team to cut the transformation time from six hours to less than one.

How Tom Cruise helped cut down his Digger makeup time

Speaking on The Graham Norton Show, Tom Cruise revealed the behind-the-scenes of getting into his Digger look. The actor revealed that the makeup team initially took 6 hours to put on all the prosthetics. But for a 12-hour shoot day, the time proved to be a challenge for the actor. In between his tight schedule of filming Mission: Impossible and getting at least 6 hours of sleep, sitting in the makeup chair for six hours was a challenge, which is why the actor was determined to make the process efficient.

Tom Cruise recalled that his Digger makeup team was initially unsure about getting the prosthetics time to under an hour:

"We're going to get it down to an hour. And these are brilliant makeup artists by the way. And they all just looked at me. I was like no we can do it. They were like I don't think so. I said, 'Well first of all let's say maybe. Let's agree to maybe because if you say you're not going to do it, you're not going to do it.'"

While the Digger makeup team was unsure, Tom Cruise came up with an interesting idea to make the process of applying prosthetics efficient: a chalkboard and a stopwatch. The actor added:

"I put on each part every day and they did it faster and faster. So eventually, and they kind of practiced behind, and it became a ballet how they worked. Everything was in place and we got it in under an hour without compromising the quality of the film and their exceptional makeup."

Speaking on Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast, Cruise revealed that he brought his filmmaking approach to the Digger makeup process, helping make the lengthy transformation more efficient. Through meticulous study, research and practice with his exceptional team, the time was brought down from six hours to one hour:

"I like going into a system, studying it and trying to figure out how I can do it better, more efficient. The films that I make, I’m constantly going, how can I do it better?"

Tom Cruise's revelation offers a glimpse into how the Digger team created the striking appearance and what it was like for him to see himself transformed. In addition to Cruise, the film stars Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Robert John Burke, Emma D'Arcy and Burn Gorman.