We Speak Actors

Riz Ahmed Joins Tom Cruise in “DIGGER,” Chosen as the 73rd Royal Film Performance

Published

2 months ago

August 18, 2026

Riz Ahmed’s next big screen will be a royal occasion. Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures and The Film and TV Charity have announced that Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s DIGGER — starring Tom Cruise in the title role, with Academy Award winner Riz Ahmed in the ensemble — will be the 73rd Royal Film Performance, with its world premiere in London’s Leicester Square on 22 September 2026.

Ahmed stars alongside John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons. The Royal Film Performance is the charity’s flagship fundraiser for UK film and TV workers, delivered in its 100-year history — and this year’s choice carries a home-soil logic: DIGGER was filmed and post-produced in the UK, which Iñárritu and the producers cite as a reason the London premiere is especially meaningful.

Warner Bros. releases the film in the UK and Ireland on 2 October 2026. For Ahmed — one of Britain’s most decorated screen actors — it’s another marquee role at the centre of a very British celebration.

We Speak Actors

Tom Cruise Named 52nd Recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award

Published

2 days ago

October 23, 2026

Royal Jones

Tom Cruise is set to receive American cinema’s most prestigious career honor. The American Film Institute has named Cruise the 52nd recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award, recognising a career that has defined the modern blockbuster for more than four decades.

Few actors have shaped the theatrical era the way Cruise has. From his breakout in Risky Business and the phenomenon of Top Gun, through dramatic heavyweight turns in Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men and Jerry Maguire, to the Mission: Impossible franchise — where his commitment to practical stunt work became the industry standard — Cruise has remained the defining movie star of his generation.

The AFI Life Achievement Award, established in 1973, is presented to a single honoree whose body of work has made a lasting contribution to American culture. For Cruise, the tribute caps a run that has consistently championed the big-screen experience, drawing global audiences back into cinemas and setting box-office benchmarks that few performers in history can match.

He joins one of the most exclusive honor rolls in film — a recognition, four decades in, that the mission is far from over.

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