Tom Cruise looks unrecognizable with stark white hair and facial prosthetics
Recognizing Tom Cruise with *that* hair? Mission impossible.
The Gist
- Tom Cruise debuted a bold transformation in the first trailer for Digger.
- The actor sported graying, fading hair and prosthetics for the role.
- Of his decision to transform, Cruise said, “There’s nothing better than to physically and metaphorically stand on the edge of a cliff and go, ‘Let’s do this.’”
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to spot Tom Cruise in the new trailer for Digger. Because if you didn’t know he was starring in the film, you probably wouldn’t recognize him. Cruise, who stars as the titular Southern oil magnate Digger Rockwell, is sporting a very new look in the role — as shown in the July 13 trailer. Namely, he’s ditched his iconic brunette hair in favor of a stark white look, complete with a receding hair line and gray eyebrows to match.And it’s not just the hair that’s making Cruise look—well—like a completely different person. He also reportedly wore both facial and body prosthetics to complete his transformation for the film.
Speaking during a Q&A about his dramatic new look as Digger, he said, “There’s nothing better than to physically and metaphorically stand on the edge of a cliff and go, ‘Let’s do this. And I trust you and whatever we’re going to do, I know this is going to be a hell of an experience and let’s come together and let’s do it. Let’s all do it.’”
He went on, “You really have to understand the tools, it’s not one size fits all. You have to find the communication, the lenses, the color of the makeup. The level of detail of making a film like this is… Color of the cowboy boots. What are my shorts like? The sets, the color of the sets. They’re beautiful on every single level, and it’s all very… You look at the taste of [my character]. It’s very special.”
Meanwhile, director Alejandro G. Iñárritu called Cruise’s transformation “astonishing,” adding that it wasn’t just physical. “‘Alejandro, it took me 40 years to become this character,’ [Cruise] told me once,” the director said. “And I think we both know what it means to carry an entire career into a single moment like this. We both knew that throughout our journeys, we had never done anything even close to this.”