Tom Cruise on training, using his ‘body as an instrument’ for ‘Digger’

Tom Cruise, famous for performing his own stunts in his many, many action films, said he brought the same “disciplined” training to his oil tycoon role in the black comedy “Digger,” including for a 10-minute monologue shot in a single take.

"I'm constantly training in dance and singing and music […] so that I can learn my body and know how to move it," the actor said.

Then, it's just him and the camera.

"It’s like playing jazz. It’s like playing an instrument," Cruise said.

"When the camera starts to roll, I know all the beats […] and then I’m just free […] You know the beats that you have to hit — you’re just building it, and it’s a rhythm."

Cruise discussed his process at a press conference in Seoul on Thursday, as part of a media tour ahead of the film’s theatrical release on Saturday. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, who was also scheduled to attend the event, couldn't make it because of an "unavoidable and unforeseen travel delay," according to his statement shared by Warner Bros.

The trip marks the actor’s 13th visit to Korea, making him Hollywood’s most frequent visitor to the country — a record he set himself, and has now broken again. His repeated trips and warm interactions with fans have earned him the nickname “Tom ajeossi,” or “Uncle Tom.”

“My dream as a child was to be able to make movies, to travel the world, to be here, to be in these places and understand life," Cruise said. "As an artist […] I absorb humanity, and then I want to reflect it in my movies, for other people to be able to see themselves, to see ourselves — to laugh, [feel] the drama."

"If you’ll have me, I’ll come back 30 [more] times," he said.

In Warner Bros.’ “Digger,” Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an eccentric oil tycoon who runs the world’s largest energy company from his Texas office. After the company’s sprawling fossil fuel and fracking operations trigger an ecological — and potentially nuclear — crisis, he scrambles to recast himself as humanity’s savior before catastrophe strikes.

In the film, he appears as a wizened figure with sagging cheeks and a cleft chin, transformed almost beyond recognition by a prosthetics makeup crew led by two-time Best Hair and Makeup Academy Award winner Kazu Hiro.

In a recent interview on the “New Heights” podcast, Cruise said he worked with the makeup crew to cut his time in the chair to about an hour. At Thursday’s event, he recalled sometimes sleeping in his trailer on set because of the time required for the prosthetics — though he stressed that it was only one part of the transformation, in addition to the training.

The film, which premiered in London in September, has divided critics, though many have praised its makeup and production design. It had generated Oscar buzz even before its release, particularly because of the filmmaker at its helm: Iñárritu has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director four times, winning twice in consecutive years for “Birdman” (2014) and “The Revenant” (2015).

But Cruise stressed he didn't make movies for the awards.

"However people talk or what they want to say, it’s always just a privilege to be able to make a film," he said. "What I dream of is the lasting nature of cinema, the lasting nature of the story."

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]