They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity – and the team behind Digger clearly agrees.
Before most of us even had the chance to watch it, the critical reaction to Tom Cruise’s new disaster movie has been completely polarised, with some praising its audacity and ambition, while others have called the film “unfunny”, “pointless” and “empty”.
Days before its release, a new marketing campaign for Digger has now been released, highlighting its reputation for being brutally divisive.
The latest marketing campaign for Tom Cruise’s satire highlighted the brutally divided reviews, using both positive and negative pull quotes.
Released by production company Warner Bros. on Tuesday evening, the new ad features both praise and scathing critiques of the film that were posted on social media earlier this month, encouraging audiences to “decide for yourself” by seeing the film when it hits cinemas later this week.
The reactions included in the new Digger promo mostly came from social media, posted by film influencers and critics who attended early screenings.
Beginning with a quote stating that “Digger is an ambitious film sure to polarise audiences”, the rest of the ad contrasts both positive and negative reactions to the film, flipping between “unpleasant”/“masterpiece,” “baffling”/“brilliant” and “insufferable”/“magnificent”, before concluding: “Same film, different truth.”
It also includes cuts a clip from the film featuring Tom’s character, Digger Rockwell, saying: “You know what? Fuck those people!”
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Digger stars Tom as an oil tycoon who accidentally sets off a catastrophic environmental crisis.
The film co-stars Riz Ahmed as scientist Ganesh, Sandra Hüller as Digger’s half-sister Emma, John Goodman as President Compson, Michael Stuhlbarg as the vice president and Jesse Plemons as a TV producer.
Before these divisive reactions, many film critics and influencers had predicted Digger would help Tom Cruise land his fourth acting Academy Award nomination and possibly his first win – though whether or not this will still be the case come awards season next year remains to be seen.
Digger opens in cinemas on Friday 2 October.
