If there’s anything to learn from Warner Bros. Digger, it’s that they need to start the Riz Ahmed Oscar campaign now. Like right now. Because Tom Cruise might be at the center of a lot of the promotional material, from trailers to key art. But it’s Ahmed who delivers a powerful, hopeful, intense performance that is unforgettable.
To put it simply, Tom Cruise’s character Digger is the elite class. He symbolizes the people who are slippery, manipulative, and self-centered to a degree that cannot be understood by those that don’t have billions in their bank accounts. And Ahmed’s Dr. Ganesh acts as the everyday person. The one that was sold a dream and is sick and tired of the current state of the world. He also has no illusions that this will get better. But they’re going to still try.
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Both of these characters live in a world built by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, a brilliant director who uses Digger to weave a satire that makes fun of that 1%. And he makes fun of that 1% in such an eloquent way that I’m not even sure if the people who are part of the Hollywood machine know this is about them. It’s about how they’re part of the system that has broken us and made it so we feel incapable of seeing any change, hope, or future because of that slippery 1%.
And I know Digger might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it certainly was mine. Because without spoiling anything, it really is about how entertainment gives us a reprieve from the absolute garbage that we continue to deal with day in and day out because of that 1%. Because they continue to chase money over everything else, no matter who suffers along the way. And how does the everyday person calm that ever increasing panic at the lack of control we have? The answer is: entertainment like Digger. Entertainment is the reprieve to surviving the impossible around us.
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That’s where Dr. Ganesh comes in again. In a lot of ways he feels very millennial. He knows that everything is trash and he’s not afraid to say it. It doesn’t matter if that 1% is right in front of him and could change his life for the better if he just “gives in.” He knows the reality of this world and he’s not going to fall for Digger’s manipulations. If anything, it makes him angrier, more honest, and willing to do what needs to be done when faced with someone like him.
Also, love him or hate him, Tom Cruise is a power house actor. He gives it his all, and sometimes a little too much. And oftentimes I don’t feel like movies give his co-stars the space to meet him toe to toe. Ahmed went toe to toe with Cruz to the point all I remember is Dr. Ganesh. He met Cruz at every turn with an intensity and passion for acting that helps you as a viewer disappear into the movie. You feel his character’s anger, his disbelief, and his hope. And if there’s anyone that you’re going to cheer for in this movie, it’s going to be Dr. Ganesh.
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So I really need Warner Bros. to start the Riz Ahmed Oscar campaign now. Because he’s the one character, the one actor, that I can’t stop thinking about as Digger painted a picture or powerful men who have set us on a collision course that we can’t return from.
Digger hits theaters October 2, 2026.
