Tom Cruise cut Digger transformation time drastically

Tom Cruise got his transformation time for filming Digger down from six hours to less than 60 minutes.

The 64-year-old actor looks dramatically different as an eccentric oil tycoon in his new movie and very early into production, he realised it wasn't practical for him to spend so much time with the hair and make-up team having his appearance altered with prosthetics, so worked on "drills" to make the process faster.

Appearing on Travis and Jason Kelce's New Heights podcast, he said: “The first time we did the make-up, it took six hours.

“I gotta sleep at least six [hours]. They keep saying I need more… but OK, that’s 12.

“Now, we have 12-hour days filming. So now that’s six hours on, two hours off with the make-up.”

Tom brought in a chalkboard and someone with a stopwatch to time how long each step of the process took.

He said: “I had a guy there with a stopwatch, and I’m like, ‘OK, you see that time, six hours? By the time we’re done, we’re going to get it under an hour.'

"I’m like, ‘OK, first of all, if you say no, you can’t do it; you will never get there. So can we agree that we’ll maybe make it a little less?’ So with each piece that was going on, it was timed and then we’d drill and practice.”

The drills eventually paid off and the process took less than an hour.

Tom recalled: “They were like, ‘What?!’ And they didn’t even know it, and they didn’t even rush."

The Top Gun star admitted the experience was typical of his general approach to work.

He said: “I like going into a system, studying it and trying to figure out how I can do it better, more efficient.

"The films that I make, I’m constantly going, how can I do it better? How do I prepare better?”

He told GQ magazine: "When I’m working with people, I’m not afraid to, as I’m acting, to look foolish, to do it. It’s like: That’s not what this is about. It’s finding our tone, finding these tools together and having an experience. And look, I work hard, and people that work with me, they know. I expect a lot and I’m upfront about it.