Iñárritu’s Tom Cruise Movie Promises to Upend the Blockbuster Playbook
Alejandro González Iñárritu and Tom Cruise are finally joining forces on a secretive new film the director says will surprise the world — and it could be next year’s most explosive release.
Tom Cruise teaming up with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is one of those 'did not have that on my bingo card' pairings, and apparently the set was a lovefest. Also, surprise: Inarritu says they made a wild comedy. Yes, that Inarritu.
Inarritu on Cruise: devotion, prep, and a promise
Inarritu sounds borderline giddy about working with Cruise. He talks about their on-set dynamic like it was unexpectedly warm and low-ego, and he really leans into Cruise being obsessive in the best way: manners, prep, passion, integrity, the whole package. He says they built a lot of mutual trust, and he keeps hinting that Cruise is going to show a different gear this time.
"He will surprise the world. People will see a new kind of thing."
That 'new kind of thing' is, per Inarritu, a wild comedy. Not exactly where I thought this would go, but here we are. He also says the shoot was challenging, they laughed a lot, and the whole cast brought it.
What we actually know right now
- No title yet. The movie is still untitled.
- Cast: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Huller, John Goodman, and Jesse Plemons.
- Tone: Inarritu calls it a wild comedy. He emphasized how much everyone laughed on set.
- Release: Expected to hit theaters next year.
- Format: Shot for 35mm VistaVision, which says 'big, clean, old-school film texture' in a very loud voice.
Why this combo is a big deal
Inarritu is one of the very few directors with multiple Best Director Oscars, and he did the extremely rare back-to-back thing with Birdman and The Revenant. Only John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz had pulled that off before him. Cruise, meanwhile, has not been back in the Oscars acting race in 25+ years, but he did ride Top Gun: Maverick to a Best Picture nomination as a producer. Awards aside, he is still Tom Cruise: the guy who treats every movie like an Olympic event.
The vibe here
There is some fun, inside-baseball weirdness to all this. Inarritu, a director known for stylistic rigor and existential misery, is out here making a 'wild comedy' with Tom Cruise and a knockout supporting cast, on 35mm VistaVision. Add in Inarritu raving about Cruise’s discipline and promising something we haven’t seen from him before, and this suddenly feels like one of next year’s must-watches.