Tom Cruise undergoes drastic transformation for new movie Digger

Tom Cruise looks nothing like himself in the new trailer for the satirical film Digger.

The actor, 64, has undergone a dramatic transformation for the upcoming film, where he plays the “most powerful man in the world” who must save the planet from an ecological disaster of his own making.

Cruise said the project, from director Alejandro González Iñárritu, was unlike anything he had ever worked on while speaking at a Warner Bros launch in Los Angeles.

“I have never had something that could challenge me in this way, and neither had Alejandro when we went in, ever,” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“When you see this film, it’s totally original.”

Cruise is shown in the trailer with a grey, thinning comb-over, a pot-belly and southern accent.

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He plays a mega-wealthy oil baron who “embarks on a frantic mission to prove that he is humanity’s saviour before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything,” according to IMDB.

Iñárritu pitched the movie to Cruise seven years ago, with the director reading the script to him out loud over several days.

“I’m listening to everything that’s in his mind, so that I can understand that, and then I know how to contribute to it, and bring that collaboration together,” Cruise said of the script, according to Variety.

“It was beautiful.”

He also discussed his transformation for the film, adding that he loved the idea of getting fully transformed.

“When we’re looking for characters, we’re looking for humour, drama, certain constructs [and asking] ‘How do we communicate this?’” Cruise explained.

“Whether it’s Les Grossman [in ‘Tropic Thunder’] 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.”

The film was shot in the UK and filmed over a six-month period.

Digger hits cinemas globally this October.