Leonardo DiCaprio dodged ‘Digger’: he was in talks for the lead role before Tom Cruise took the $150 million flop

Hollywood – Leonardo DiCaprio was in talks to play the lead role in “Digger”, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s satire, before Tom Cruise took his place — as ComingSoon reports, citing sources close to the project. The Oscar winner’s casting was never finalised because of decisions by the director and the producers.

“Digger” opened with only $8 million in U.S. cinemas and $20 million globally after its release on October 2, putting Warner Bros. in front of a loss that analysts say could reach around $150 million.

According to the same reporting, Iñárritu first developed the film at Netflix at the time when DiCaprio was attached to the project. But after the streaming platform released “Don’t Look Up” — with a similar premise — the director moved the film to Legendary, where Cruise then joined. Warner Bros. chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy gave the green light to the $125 million budget relying on the Cruise–Iñárritu duo.

DiCaprio and Iñárritu had previously worked together on “The Revenant” (2015), the film that brought DiCaprio his first Oscar for Best Actor. The cast of “Digger” includes, among others, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Robert John Burke, Emma D’Arcy and Burn Gorman.