British-Pakistani award-winning actor Riz Ahmed has praised his Digger co-star Tom Cruise for being “coach-like” on set.
Ahmed, 43, stars in the upcoming Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu film which follows a chaotic oil tycoon whose company sets off an ecological disaster forcing the billionaire to embark on a mission to save humanity from his own mess.
The film also stars Sandra Huller, Jesse Plemons and John Goodman – actors who Ahmed said were really “inspiring” and “a lot of fun” to work with.
A Unique Energy
Speaking about working with Cruise, Ahmed told Esquire: “For someone who’s so well-known and has been so iconic for such a long time, you would think that a lot of the aura around him is our projection onto him.
“But it’s not the case with him.
“He emanates an energy and a focus that is really quite unique. There’s an undeniability to his fervour.”
The actor recounted how at one of the first rehearsals for the film, Ahmed tried something a little different and it did not work out.
Instead of moving on, Cruise stopped the entire rehearsal to give him a round of applause.
Ahmed said: “That’s f****** amazing.
“As someone leading this ensemble, to be like, keep playing, keep failing – I want to see more of that. Go run at it more. That attitude — he’s almost coach-like.”
Career and Personal Life
The film will be Cruise’s first since the 2025 release of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning and marks his first time working with the Academy-award winning filmmaker who was behind 2015’s The Revenant and 2016’s Birdman.
It will add to Ahmed’s catalogue of film credits which includes 2010 political satire Four Lions, 2014’s Nightcrawler and 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Ahmed is also known for starring in the recently released Prime Video series, Bait, and a 2025 film adaptation of Hamlet set in modern London.
Over the last few years he also became a father as he welcomed his first child with his wife, American novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza.
When asked if he thinks fatherhood has changed him, he said: “I hope it has.
“A big thing that I’ve been thinking about is the power of being present.
“There’s a necessity to provide, and that means being away. There’s sometimes a male preoccupation with problem-solving, rather than being present with a feeling. I think fatherhood has taught me that.
“I very recently lost my own father. His work meant that he’d often have to be away. I saw him navigate that balance —fighting versus being present.
“I feel extremely privileged that I had him for so long, and that he was the man he was. My father was a man of great humility, dignity, warmth, humour. He was a content guy. It shifted my idea of what success is and what it looks like.”
In 2022 Ahmed won the best live action short film Oscar for The Long Goodbye.
The year prior he was nominated in the best actor category for his portrayal of a heavy metal drummer beginning to go deaf in The Sound Of Metal.
Digger will be out in cinemas in the UK from October 2.
