Death-defying stunts are part of Tom Cruise’s on-screen persona. Emotionally charged moments are unusual territory for him. But as he shot for auteur Alejandro G Iñárritu’s black comedy Digger, the action superstar embraced its high emotional points. That included doing take after take for a crucial 10-minute monologue. 

Sharing with mid-day his experience of filming it, Cruise said, “There is this rhythm in Alejandro’s communication and creation that you have to feel, and it’s so much fun when you’re living in it. I couldn’t wait to do that 10-minute monologue, just to play the character in that way with Alejandro’s staging and Chivo’s [Emmanuel ‘Chivo’ Lubezki, cinematographer] camera movements. It was a tightrope act for all of us. It wasn’t daunting. I loved the intensity and the level of creativity.”