Tale of two Toms: Cruise and Hiddleston on ‘Digger,’ ‘Tenzing’

LOS ANGELES – Tom Cruise, in a Q&A a few days before his “Digger” opened, was optimistic: “My hope is always that the films would do well enough that I’d have that opportunity to do it again, that everyone would do well, and make enough money to have other people make movies. It’s a privilege to be here with you all.”

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise at ‘Diggers’ Q and A | Photo by Ruben V. Nepales

Cruise spoke on a panel with his “Digger” director Alejandro Iñárritu, costars Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Huller and Michael Sthulbarg and casting director Francine Maisler after the film’s screening at the David Geffen Theater in the Academy Museum in LA.

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Sadly, moviegoers did not respond to “Digger” as Cruise had hoped. When I first saw Iñárritu’s darkly comic satire at the Warner Bros. lot, I loved it, but I predicted it would split the critics. Now and then a film comes that people either love or hate it – not in between.

When I saw “Digger” for the second time at the Academy Museum, I admired it even more – it’s bold, audacious and virtuosic. Tom can’t make a “Top Gun” each time.

And he delivers one of his career-best performances. His Texan oil tycoon – paunchy, brash and eccentric – is a daring achievement.

I side with Justin Chang, The New Yorker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic, who praised “Digger”: “I’d venture that ‘Digger’ is actually a better, more fluid film than (Iñárritu’s) ‘Birdman’ – less contrived and constrained in its staging, more mysterious in its intentions and effects.”

Tom Cruise as eccentric Digger Rockwell and his decrepit pet cat, Maggie | Photo from Warner Bros

So, when I reviewed the Q&A transcript as “Digger” began tanking at the box office, Cruise’s words sounded more poignant and, to others, quixotic. He alluded several times to how “Digger” was made without AI:

“I’m very grateful to everyone here to be able to have this opportunity. I just want to say that this film is ‘handmade.’ It’s that kind of investment.

“I always wanted to be an actor and I wanted to have this opportunity. It’s a real privilege to be able to make this film. I was very successful since I was a kid, but it’s always like pushing and learning these skills and constantly applying, constantly going, okay, the door is open. I want to push it again.

“And I know the time that we’re in. I know that as artists, we’re here. People want to see real things. I’m just saying that you have to work, all of these things, these career things we have to work to do it. It was never handed to any of us.

“I want you to know that and kind of artistry that we have. And what Michael (Stuhlbarg) said in terms of the joy every day. It’s not like I don’t have challenges. But I really choose to be joyful about creating. I’m out here for you all and all of us. People want real things and they want real experiences.

“And we were all there on the set together. I made sure that every day we took a moment and just looked around at each other, we looked at the sets and really appreciated the skill that went into it.

“I just want us to put our attention on what we give life and I promise you, they want real things. We’re seeing it. We look at the box office where it is now. So just keep creating and let’s enjoy doing it. Let’s come together and really make some great stuff.”

Bittersweet words in light of “Digger’s” paltry box office performance. Especially since in Iñárritu’s apocalyptic farce, we don’t see Tom Cruise and his star persona. We see a fully fleshed character.

He enthused about his silk pajamas and boots-wearing oligarch (warning – spoiler alert): “I’ve never read a character like it. It’s three characters that I’m playing. Digger A, and then the end, the last part of the movie, Digger B and then Curtis. As an actor it’s like, what a gift to be able to have this, this wonderful challenge.

“And then, the monologue that we did. That was a 10-minute monologue, one shot all the way through. I have to say, as an acting stage voice, like, it’s perfect. I loved his (Iñárritu’s) framing.

“I don’t understand all that stuff, but most definitely, I’ve been fortunate to have very verbal characters. And the rhythm, I just want to absorb everything and then find those moments.

“I like taking characters and then finding that you’ve got a grounded truth and find that emotional reality. And then from that, we can still, even as Digger, find in those moments that we were able to share with the brother, sister and the cat.”

Give “Digger” a chance. Cruise’s ten-minute single-take monologue before a Parliament session of angry politicians and scientists is bravura acting. Iñárritu’s inventive direction and the rest of the cast – Ahmed (bravo), Goodman (a Trump-esque US president), Stuhlbarg and Huller – are commendable.

Tom Hiddleston

Tom Hiddleston as Sir Edmund Hillary in ‘Tenzing’ | Photo from Apple Original Films

Here’s hoping that another Tom – Hiddleston – will be more successful at the box office with his new movie, “Tenzing.” Hiddleston stars as Sir Edmund Hillary, with Genden Phuntsok in the title role as the two men who made history in 1953 as the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Directed by Jennifer Peedom, “Tenzing” chronicles the relatively unknown story of Tenzing Norgay, a Himalayan climber who, alongside Hillary, finally reached the peak of the highest mountain on Earth.

With a cast that includes Willem Dafoe and Catriona Balfe, the biographical drama narrates the exciting journey to finally reach literally the top of the world amid the forbidding beauty and vastness of the Himalayan mountain range.

In my in-person video interview with Tom at The London Hotel in West Hollywood, I asked him about his physically grueling trek with Genden, a charismatic Chinese actor of Tibetan descent who gets a big break in the film, to the Mount Everest base camp as part of their preparation.

Tom Hiddleston at ‘Tenzing’ press conference | Photo by Ruben V. Nepales

“It’s a place of such extraordinary beauty, serenity and peace,” answered the star of “The Avengers” and “Thor” movies and “The Night Manager” series (as Jonathan Pine). “And it gave Genden and me a time to walk, talk, sometimes to share our sense of shared responsibility about playing these two extraordinary men. Sometimes just to appreciate the landscape and the nature itself.

“And then after a few days, the mountains appear, the 8,000-meter-plus peaks, which seem like goddesses in the sky. They have such magnificent scale and inspire awe in both of us.

“Genden and I bonded together. We saw Everest at the same time for the first time with our own eyes – its magnificence, majesty, power. It created a bond between us, which we carried through to the rest of the experience. It was very special. And once in a lifetime.”

Earlier, in a press conference, the British actor shared some more about bonding with Genden, including, funnily but aptly enough, singing a Motown classic:

“Mister Amazing, Tenzing Norgay. We shook hands and had a hug under this sign that said Tenzing-Hillary Airport. And there’s a big statue of the two of them. It felt like the most auspicious beginning. And we went and had a cup of tea. 

“And we talked about the shared privilege and honor of carrying the duty and responsibility of representing the story of these two great men who changed history and made the impossible possible.

Genden Phuntsok, Tom Hiddleston, Willem Dafoe and Benjamin Hoetjes in ‘Tenzing’ | Photo from Apple Original Films

“There’s a place called Namche, the last place on the trek to base camp where you can buy supplies and last-minute things you might need for any attempt on Everest.  And there was a coffee shop called Yak Buck.  And we were sitting there having a cup of coffee. 

“The speakers started playing Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ (laughs). Genden wasn’t familiar with this tune.  So, I decided to teach him ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.’ I was Marvin Gaye, he was Tammi Terrell. And it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

Asked about the crisis over trash left by climbers and campers, Hiddleston began answering with these words, “I’ve never had an experience like this before, and I may never again. To have the honor and privilege of being in those high mountains is to experience the power and majesty of nature, which is eternal.

“It’s similar to the feeling that those who spend time in the ocean speak about. People who dedicate their lives to surfing or diving.  You are in an environment which is older and more kind of eternal and powerful than a human life.

“And you feel that both the ocean and the high mountains can bestow awe and humility on you.  To be in the Himalayas is to be reminded that a human life is very brief and small. And the practice of going to the mountains is a spiritual one. 

“And the ordinary simplicity of the challenges of climbing them means the mind goes very quiet. The body is active. And there’s a serenity and a peace that can be afforded by being among them.

“It’s our duty to protect that balance. You speak about the trash on the mountains. It’s our duty to preserve the duty of those mountains because they have so much to teach us spiritually.

He praised his director, herself a mountain climber and has made acclaimed films on the Himalayas, “Sherpa” and “Mountain”:

“When I was at drama school, a great acting teacher summarized the business of acting in five words: being truthful in imaginary circumstances.  If you work for Jen Peedom, it goes down to four words: being truthful in circumstances.  And those circumstances are extreme, wild, free, beautiful and deep.  And we’ll never forget it.”

On playing Hillary in the mountains of New Zealand, where the explorer and philanthropist was born and where the mountaineering action scenes were filmed, the actor also known for playing Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe said:

“The extraordinary, tantalizing prospect for me was that I got to play Edmund Hillary in New Zealand.  His face is still on the five-dollar bill.  He’s a legend of that nation and that culture.”

Back to my filmed chat with Hiddleston, I asked him what the Mount Everest in his life is. The father of two children with his partner, British-Ugandan actress Zawe Ashton, replied:

“For me right now, as a father, my Everest is a meaningful and happy life for my young children. I have not achieved that yet. They’re very small. They are my purpose, my meaning. It’s the biggest role I’ll ever play. That’s it.”

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