Tom Cruise is revealing the secret to one of his most dramatic transformations for a movie.
Speaking at a recent Warner Bros. press event in Burbank, California, the Hollywood star explained how makeup, prosthetics and even a new set of teeth helped him disappear into his latest role as the eccentric oil baron Digger Rockwell.
The first trailer for Digger, released Monday, showcases Cruise sporting a gray combover, a pot belly and a thick Southern accent as he plays “the most powerful man in the world” racing to stop an ecological catastrophe.
“My process is: I’m absorbing, I’m absorbing, I’m absorbing,” Cruise said, per Entertainment Weekly. “With the body, we’re communicating a story… I want people to be immersed in a story.”
“You really have to understand the tools — it’s not one-size-fits-all,” he continued. “You have to find the communication, the lenses, the color of the makeup.”
The Mission: Impossible star revealed that one unexpected detail helped him fully become the character.
“I put the teeth on, and it’s like, ‘Let’s f**kin’ go,’” he said, slipping into Digger’s distinctive accent.
The Oscar nominee compared the transformation to some of his most memorable performances, including Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder. “Whether it’s Les Grossman or Interview With the Vampire, Collateral, or Risky Business, I’m always asking, ‘How do I communicate this?’ The physicality, the makeup, that is stuff that you find as you are learning how to communicate.”
The 64-year-old also described Digger as unlike anything he or director Alejandro González Iñárritu had tackled before, saying, “I have never had something that could challenge me in this way… When you see this film, it’s totally original.”
