I was an extra in Digger – this is what Tom Cruise is really like on set

Speaking about Digger in any capacity feels like a Mission: Impossible. 

I make no apologies for the pun. 

So much has been said about Tom Cruise’s likely Oscars contender and yet, at the same time, so little, thanks to Warner Bros. sternly warning against any spoiler leaks to protect the big plot twist. 

Even with the exact details under wraps, critics have made their feelings clear, with the satirical black comedy being described as Marmite – you’ll either love or loathe it – and the film earning a fairly low 52% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

One person who knows Digger better than most is Umnia El-Neil, who was one of the lucky few to be an extra in the blockbuster. 

She didn’t have to audition for the small role and had no clue that cinema legend Cruise, 64, was the lead star in this mysterious film with the code name Judy. 

Even speaking to Umnia feels like a satire in itself – we’re having to note spoilers in her quotes to avoid giving away the big reveal. 

‘There had been talks for months of this film called Judy and how people were [spoiler] at Tom Cruise for days on end, and how difficult that had been,’ Umnia told Metro.

‘I was told there’s a week of filming with big [spoiler] scenes, and you can’t say anything to anyone because this is the big spoiler of the film.’ 

For Umnia, it was a win-win situation. She’d get a nice chunk of money and the opportunity to work with ‘great filmmaker’ Alejandro G. Iñárritu. 

They say never meet your heroes, but Umnia could not speak more highly of Cruise, who has earned a reputation for being incredibly intense yet courteous on set. 

‘People don’t believe me when I say this, but he’s such a consummate professional. So nice, so kind,’ the actress and singer insisted. 

‘After each take, [he’d say]: “Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate you. You guys are working so hard. You’re giving off energy, and we really feel it up here, so thank you.” He’s such a great guy to work alongside even though we were extras. 

‘He was really considerate of our time and our energy. You just got the sense he was really fun to work with.’ 

She added: ‘It was quite intense all day and Tom would get a seat off stage and sit there with his parka on and wait for the next take, sitting in the room with everyone else. It was brilliant.’ 

It’s no secret that Cruise has undergone an extreme transformation for his role as Digger Rockwell, using full prosthetics to age him. However, to stop his makeover from melting in the summer heat, the set at Pinewood Studios had to be ‘very, very cold’ and left them ‘freezing the whole time.’ 

The extras were told very little about the wider story of Digger despite their involvement in the film, causing rumours to consume the set. 

‘They never told us anything officially, but with 400 people in the room, word gets around,’ Umnia shared. ‘“Judy’s the name of an iceberg, he’s an oil guy, there’s a president…” It was a whisper network and everyone was exchanging spoilers under the table. 

‘I assumed filming it that we were the twist. So when I watched it last night, I was shocked that [spoiler] happens in the first act. 

‘[I didn’t realise] that we become less of a twist and more of a gut punch.’ 

Digger might have struggled to win over all the critics, but Umnia stands by the ‘masterpiece.’ 

‘I loved it! I actually genuinely did love the film and didn’t think I was going to. I thought it was going to end up being too on-the-nose. I thought it was a very brilliant commentary and nice to have presented in such a gorgeously shot film,’ she said. 

Aware of the scepticism, the actress insisted: ‘Warner Bros. has not got a gun to my head – I think the film benefits from a second watch knowing the ending.

‘If people just interpret it as just being a film about how terrible climate change is, or how terrible billionaires are, that’s a bit reductive.’ 

Umnia, who has also appeared as an extra in Apple TV+ series Silo, would not reveal exactly how much she was paid to be an extra in Digger, but disclosed that it was enough to pay bills and, more importantly, fund her own project. 

‘My short film series that I filmed in my kitchen, I credit being able to do that financially [to Digger],’ she revealed proudly. 

‘I tell people Tom Cruise is the reason I’m able to make short films in my kitchen. That money was instrumental enough that I was able to provide enough stability to do that with a lot of the people I’ve met on the set.’ 

Digger arrives in UK cinemas on Friday.