Riz Ahmed (right) and Tom Cruise have many wonderful scenes opposite each other in "Diggers". (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)
[Reporter Xu Shiying/Taipei-London Connection Exclusive Interview] The seven-day series of "Diggers" has reached its third day. Today, we continue to dig into the movie in the eyes of actor Riz Ahmed, and the two amazing energies he felt when he collaborated with "Tom Cruise" and director Ariando González Inarritu.
Ritz, who plays the scientist "Dr. Ganesh" in the film, is probably one of the people who knows best that "you can't say much" in "The Diggers". The film has been kept highly confidential from the early stages of production. When interviewed, he even laughed and said that he had just started to answer questions when he suddenly realized that "there is really too little I can say." He even couldn't help but ask, "How on earth am I going to go back from here now?"
Please read on...
Even how he got the role, Ritz was unwilling to reveal too much. The only thing that is certain is that this was his first formal audition for a movie role in about 10 years. For an actor who has already accumulated many important works, sitting back at the audition scene is quite special in itself, and he believes that this is also related to his attitude towards performance along the way. "I have been obsessed with breaking categories and preconceived notions since I was a teenager."
Riz Ahmed plays the scientist "Dr. Ganesh" in "Diggers". (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)
Ritz believes that even if the outside world has already formed a certain impression of him, he still hopes that he will not be stereotyped by any one role or established image. In the film, he plays Ganesh Bo, who is aware of the environmental crisis caused by Diggle (played by Tom Cruise) and tries to warn the president and the core of power. However, what really fascinates him is not just the character setting, but the way Iñárritu created the entire movie.
When talking about the director, Rizzi described Iñárritu as "constantly digging, constantly revising and polishing, to make his creative vision more precise." This almost never-ending working method also allowed him to gradually understand the really interesting part of the title "Digger".
Because Iñárritu never seems to be satisfied with “almost enough.” After a scene is finished, he will continue to look for a better way; after a performance is completed, he will still wonder if he can take another step forward. For Ritz, this attitude also bears a striking resemblance to Tom Cruise.
Ritz described: "For someone who is so well-known and has been an icon for so long, you might think that a large part of his halo is just projected by us. But that is not the case. He himself exudes a very unique energy and focus, and that enthusiasm is impossible to ignore."
And this energy cannot be felt only from a distance. The first time he actually rehearsed with Tom, Ritz got a first-hand feel for how he works. Once, he made a very bold attempt in rehearsal, which resulted in a "complete failure." When ordinary actors encounter this kind of situation, they may quickly take it back and try a safer version again, but Tom Cruise's reaction was completely the opposite. He stopped the rehearsal directly and started applauding Ritz.
Riz Ahmed recently attended the world premiere of "Diggers" in London. (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)
"This is great," Cruise said at the time. Ritz later understood that what Tom was praising was not a perfect performance, but the moment when he was willing to take risks and fail. "He was almost like a coach." He described Tom as encouraging him to keep trying, keep failing, and not be afraid to make things bigger and crazier, and try again.
This encouragement is especially important for "The Diggers," because the film itself doesn't take a safe path. Drama, humor, absurdity and emotion are intertwined with each other. If an actor only chooses the most reasonable and conservative performance method, he may lose the sense of danger that Iñárritu wants. Therefore, what Tom Cruise gave Ritz was not a standard answer, but a working method of "keep digging".
What impressed Ritz even more was that Tom almost never stopped. During the filming of "Diggers", one time when other actors were exhausted from rehearsals, Tom suddenly said: "Okay, I'm going to go to the sink now." Riz was stunned on the spot and asked: "What?"
Because it was not a scene from "Diggers", but Tom Cruise's stunt training for another work. For Ritz, the most incredible thing is not how much this superstar can do at the same time, but that he always seems to be preparing "the next thing." Even though the filming in front of him has not ended yet, his next challenge has already begun.
Therefore, Riz’s deepest impression of Tom Cruise was his almost unstoppable enthusiasm. What he saw was not an actor who had to maintain a star image, but someone who was always willing to try again, take new risks, and even not be afraid of failure. Because of this, as the filming progressed, he gradually no longer regarded the other party as "Tom Cruise".
"I forgot Tom, I only remember Digger." This sentence may be Ritz's most direct affirmation of this performance. Because what "Diggers" really needs is never just "Tom Cruise playing Diggle", but to make the character of Diggle strong enough to cover the face that is familiar to audiences around the world. When an actor can make his collaborators forget who they are, the characters on the screen truly begin to come to life.
In Ritz's eyes, Tom Cruise has obviously done this.
"Diggers" will be released in Taiwan on October 2. The 2D, IMAX, Dolby Cinema and Dolby Vision Atmos versions will be released simultaneously. A limited word-of-mouth screening will be launched on October 1.
~The third day of the seven-day series of exclusive interviews with "The Digger", to be continued~
※News related to the series:
(Exclusive) "Diggers" Serial 7-1/Tom Cruise hides himself! Challenge the most "impossible" role in your acting career
(Exclusive) "The Digger" Serial 7-2/It took 10 years just to find one sentence! Gold Award-winning director reveals the secret behind the birth of "The Digger"
