Naman Shrestha
In the Alejandro G. Iñárritu (known for ‘The Revenant’ and ‘Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)’) directorial, ‘Digger,’ Tom Cruise dons the garb of Digger Rockwell, the most powerful man in the world, with a successful oil business. When his business becomes the reason the world is on the brink of collapse and directly affects Greenland, the wealthy oil tycoon embarks on a mission to save humanity and convince the world that he is the sole hope for humanity’s survival. Besides Cruise in the lead, the dark comedy-drama movie also stars Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, John Goodman, and Michael Stuhlbarg. The satirical tale unfolds in a fictionalized world facing a disastrous fate due to Digger’s company, with the futuristic visuals of the titular character’s home and office serving as a direct contrast to the planet’s state.
Digger Filming Locations
The shooting for Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ was conducted entirely in England, particularly in Buckinghamshire and Surrey. According to reports, principal photography for the satirical comedy film commenced in November 2024 under the working title ‘Judy.’ In March 2025, John Goodman, who portrays Compson, sustained a hip injury after reportedly slipping on set. He was rushed to the hospital and received immediate medical attention, causing the shoot to be halted for a couple of days. A couple of months later, in early May of the same year, the production was finally concluded after about six months of shooting.
Buckinghamshire, England
A major chunk of ‘Digger’ was lensed in the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, located in South East England. In order to bring the grand narrative to life through grand visuals, the makers utilized the amenities and talents of Pinewood Studios and constructed the environments required for the story and to match their vision. Situated on Pinewood Road near the village of Iver, the film studio served as an ideal production location due to its 30 state-of-the-art sound stages, multiple workshops, and production offices. It is also home to two backlots, Paddock Lot and North Lot, capable of building new worlds seamlessly.
During a conversation with Deadline, the filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu described it as “a very challenging film, you will see.” He added, “It’s many borders of many things. Every film challenges me. I don’t like doing things that I’ve done already. This is something that we’ve never done and it’s exciting as well.” As part of Tom Cruise’s preparation for the titular role, he wore a fat suit and initially sat for about six hours with the hair and makeup team. In order to streamline the process, the ‘Mission Impossible’ actor challenged the makeup team to get it down by starting timing how long each piece of prosthetic took to put on him.
While on Jason Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ podcast, Cruise explained, “I had a guy there with a stopwatch and I’m like, ‘OK, you see that time, six hours? By the time we’re done, we’re going to get it under an hour.’ They were like, ‘No, I’m not doing that, it will never happen.’ I’m like, ‘OK, first of all, if you say no, you can’t do it, you will never get there. So can we agree that we’ll maybe make it a little less?’ So with each piece that was going on, it was timed, and then we’d drill and practice.” Ultimately, it worked, and from then on, the prosthetic routine was completed under an hour.
Surrey, England
For shooting purposes, the production team of the Alejandro G. Iñárritu directorial also reportedly set up camp in Surrey, a ceremonial county bordered by Greater London to the northeast. In particular, the cast and crew members took over the unlicensed airfield, Dunsfold Aerodrome, and transformed it into an expansive film set to tape many pivotal sequences for ‘Digger.’ It is situated on Canada Avenue, with half of it extending to the village of Dunsfold. Riz Ahmed, who portrays Ganesh, shared a few words about his experience of sharing the set with Tom Cruise.
He told ABC News, “For the first few days, I didn’t have to act. It was intimidating to be on set. With him as Digger Rockwell, there was this hurricane, this kind of operatic character coming at you 100 miles per hour…He wants to know what other people think. We could collaborate on that very much, so we were creating things together. The mood on set was so special and always positive and playful. It could have gone on forever. That’s my memory of it. We really had a lot of fun. I really had a lot of fun.”
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