Riz Ahmed reveals what his mom thought of Tom Cruise after meeting him at ‘Digger’ premiere

Mumbai: British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed has shared his mother’s amusingly understated reaction after meeting Hollywood star Tom Cruise, stating that she simply described the superstar as a “nice boy”.

Ahmed appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where the host asked the actor about his mother.

Riz said: “She's the best. It's so funny because I look at that and I think like I'm trying to give blue steel and she's just laughing at me. That's that's what actually is happening. She leaves such a good impression on people.”

He added: Actually, it was funny because the Digger premiere, she met Prince William. She met Kate. She met Tom. I said, how do you like Tom Cruise? She said, ‘nice boy’.”

Riz then recalled a moment about Tom Cruise’s reaction to his mother on stage before presenting the movie to the world.

“And when we were just about to go on stage to present the film for the first time to the world in front of the royal family and everyone, this whole moment, us, the whole cast, crew, director, producers were waiting in the wings. Tom turns around, he draws a deep breath,” Riz recalled.

He added: “Everyone thinks, ‘oh, he's going to give a speech, say something inspirational’. He just points me and goes, Riz. Everyone looks at me and he goes, ‘your mom, amazing. Love your mom. Fantastic. Beautiful.’ That was the last words we heard before presenting the film to the world.”

Cruise’s next with Alejandro González Inarritu’s has been titled “Digger”, which is to release on October 2, 2026. It will have the icon play the ‘most powerful man in the world’.

The actor stars as Digger Rockwell. The cast also includes Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde, Riz Ahmed and Emma D’Arcy. “Digger” is Cruise’s first film since signing a deal to develop and produce theatrical films with Warner Bros. Discovery in January. His last project with the studio was “Edge of Tomorrow” a decade ago.

“Digger,” which shot in the U.K. for six months, marks Iñárritu’s first English-language film since “The Revenant.” The film will be produced and directed by Inarritu, with a script he co-wrote in 2023 with “Birdman” co-writers Nicolas Giacobone and Alexander Dinelaris, along with Sabina Berman. “Digger” is produced by Cruise and Iñárritu.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

IANS

[email protected]