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The Mummy star John Hannah was so unimpressed by Digger that he walked out of the cinema.
Tom Cruise’s satirical gamble is this year’s most marmite movie, bowling some over with its A-list cast, bold choices and absurd humour, while others felt it just didn’t have the impact or vision needed to justify the hype.
The bombing box office numbers proved another blow for the movie centring on an oil tycoon thrust into the middle of an environmental catastrophe, which also stars Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, Emma D’Arcy and Jesse Plemons.
After spending over $160million (£120m) to create the movie, it has so far only limped to a poor $35m (£26m) at the global box office, according to Variety.
But beyond general audiences, it also doesn’t seem to have made much splash with certain celebrities either, including John.
In a new interview, the 64-year-old screen star shared that he had gone to see Digger on the big screen.
When asked if he ‘enjoyed’ it, he responded with an immediate ‘no’, in a tough blow for the black comedy.
He continued to Cinema Kai Nation: ‘I don’t think I’ve left a film before. I just can’t believe what they were thinking. I don’t know what they were thinking there.’
When pressed about his specific gripes, he added: ‘I think it was just trying to be too many different things. You know, it was a play within a film. I mean, it was a film of a play within a film with kind of theatrical quarters. It was a mess.’
Digger review
Metro’s two-star review of Digger…
If I were being charitable, I’d call ‘a bit of a slog’.
But I don’t feel like being charitable to this pretentious, pompous and smug jumble of half-baked ideas.
Watching this film is like listening to your dad’s middle-aged mate tell you why Queen are the best band in the world. Yeah, his pre-rehearsed speech has its moments, but for the most part you’re just nodding along, hoping to God it’ll all be over soon.
On the flip side, Odyssey star Anne Hathaway attempted to come to the film’s defence.
‘”I loved this brilliant movie. It’s smart and trippy and aggressive and funny and ambitious. It’s worth making the time see and decide for yourself what you make of it,’ she said, hailing it a ’10/10′ and bestowing it five stars.
Last week, the Mission: Impossible icon, 64, shared a defiant response just before opening weekend at any speculation it may not do well.
‘When I am making [movies], I’m not going, ‘Opening weekend!’ I feel very much like we’re going to make something that is a lasting piece of cinema,’ the actor said on the On Film With Kevin McCarthy podcast.