Key Takeaways
- Alejandro G. Iñárritu says Tom Cruise’s satire ‘Digger’ was nearly titled “Blah, Blah, Blah,” a reference to the tongue’s power to distort reality.
- Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a Texas oil baron trying to cast himself as humanity’s savior after unleashing a global catastrophe, alongside John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, and Riz Ahmed.
- The $125 million Warner Bros. and Legendary film opens in Mexico on Oct. 1 and reaches North American theaters and IMAX on Oct. 2.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu is revealing that the Tom Cruise satire arriving in theaters this week, Digger, nearly went out under a title built entirely out of noise.
The director told IndieWire in an interview published Wednesday that the film was set to be called Blah, Blah, Blah before it took the name of Cruise's character, Digger Rockwell.
His reasoning for the seemingly random title was blunt. Iñárritu framed the tongue as a weapon capable of bending how people perceive reality.
“[Blah, Blah, Blah] was a reference to this incredible, terrible, terrifying weapon that we as humans have, which is the tongue,” Iñárritu said. “It can change your perception of the reality that your body is experiencing. It can make you believe in something that you don’t see.”
That idea runs straight through a movie about language and self-delusion. The official trailer sets the premise around the most powerful man in the world, scrambling to prove he is humanity's savior before the catastrophe he set loose wipes everything out.
Cruise, beneath heavy prosthetics, plays the potbellied, thinning-haired Texas oil baron. Goodman plays the U.S. President, with Sandra Hüller as Digger's half-sister, and Riz Ahmed appearing as Ganesh, the scientist delivering bad news.
Elsewhere in his IndieWire interview, Iñárritu commended Warner Bros. and Legendary for taking a chance on the expensive film, which has a budget of $125 million.
“In the world of fear we are living in, everybody wants certainty,” Iñárritu said. “This film is not any of that. For it to be made and to nail the tone was a big bet. But to their credit, Warner Bros. and Legendary were really bold. They never hesitated. They believed in this film — the urgency, the absurdity, the humanity, the nowness that it has.”
Digger opens in Mexico on Thursday, Oct. 1, before landing in North American theaters and IMAX on Friday, Oct. 2.
