Development
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu first conceived the idea of Digger following the completion of his film The Revenant (2015): "I had an idea. Not a script, not a film, just a relentless, recurring obsession that has endured through all these years. I knew who this character was. I knew how he spoke, how he survived, how he seduced reality into agreeing with him. But it took me 10 years to do this film, because I wasn’t looking for a story. I was looking for the right way of saying it." In 2019, he began discussing the project with Tom Cruise when he was filming Top Gun: Maverick; Cruise was a long-time fan, having seen Iñárritu's directorial debut Amores perros (2000) in its initial release. After turning his attention to his passion project, Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (2022), Iñárritu returned to Digger, with the project being announced and Cruise officially being cast in the lead role in February 2024 after attending a meeting with Iñárritu, following his strategic partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures. Legendary Pictures was announced to produce the film. In August, Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons and Sophie Wilde would be added to the cast, with Riz Ahmed in negotiations to also join. In early 2025, Emma D'Arcy, Robert John Burke and Burn Gorman were revealed to have joined the cast.
