Tom Cruise has spent decades convincing audiences to watch him run, jump, fight, and hang from increasingly impossible places. Now, at 64, the actor has given fans something very different to look at — and the reaction to his latest magazine cover has been anything but unanimous.
Cruise is the cover star of GQ’s October 2026 issue, marking his first GQ cover and longform interview in 20 years. The occasion comes as Cruise prepares for the release of Digger, his upcoming film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
According to GQ’s cover announcement, the actor sat down for two rare conversations with the magazine’s Zach Baron — one alongside Iñárritu and another one-on-one.
A fan shared a candid reaction to Tom Cruise’s GQ photoshoot. | Source: Instagram/gq
Cruise Returns to GQ After Two Decades
The issue is also part of what GQ described as its biggest global cover ever, appearing in 20 editions around the world. For Cruise, the timing is closely connected to Digger, a project he describes as “the culmination of all my skills.”
“When I look at Digger, and finally after 25 years to be able to work with Iñárritu,” Cruise says, “everything’s led to this.”
The film represents a notable turn for an actor who has become synonymous with action franchises. Digger is Cruise’s first non-action, non-franchise movie since American Made in 2017, according to The Daily Beast.
The Movie Behind the Big Comeback
In Digger, Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a fictional billionaire oil tycoon whose project sets off a global disaster. The character is a considerable departure from the near-indestructible heroes Cruise has played in recent years.
Rather than another physically unstoppable leading man, Digger Rockwell is portrayed as a flawed billionaire with a potbelly and receding hairline, adding another unexpected dimension to Cruise’s return to more unconventional material.
The contrast is particularly striking because Cruise has spent the last decade-plus cementing his modern action-star image through movies such as Mission: Impossible, Edge of Tomorrow and Top Gun: Maverick.
GQ’s profile places that evolution in a much broader context, pointing back to Cruise’s work with filmmakers including Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann and Francis Ford Coppola.
Cruise has described filmmaking as something much deeper than a job. “Making films is not what I do. It is who I am.”
That commitment is evident throughout his conversation with Baron, who spent time with the actor on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California, where Cruise spoke enthusiastically about everything from set construction to lighting, lenses, and the people working behind the scenes.
He Still Talks About Movies Like He Just Started
At 64, Cruise told GQ that he has lost none of his fascination with the mechanics of filmmaking. He recalled arriving in Hollywood as a young actor and studying everything around him, from individual departments on movie sets to the way people responded to one another.
“I was always moving around. So I saw different cultures, even within America and Canada where I lived. And you could see people, how they reacted, and why did they react that way?”
Cruise also reflected on growing up moving between schools and said those experiences shaped the way he observes people and approaches his work. “I had a secret thing I had for myself, which was always: Leave something better.”
Tom Cruise smiles during an appearance in 2008 before he reflects on his lifelong fascination with filmmaking and the experiences that shaped his approach to his work during the GQ interview. | Source: Getty Images
That philosophy, he said, extended beyond his career and into the way he approached rented homes, classrooms and eventually movie sets. His career may have become defined by enormous productions, but Cruise insisted that his choices have always been deliberate.
“It’s always an evolution. And for me, it’s been something where it’s a constant challenge of one step to the next.”
‘Digger’ Took Years to Reach the Screen
The new film has also been a long time coming. Cruise said he and Iñárritu had been talking about the project since 2018 or 2019, while Iñárritu spent roughly a decade preparing it.
That lengthy preparation fits Cruise’s own description of how he spends his time away from cameras. When asked what he does on a random Tuesday when he is not filming, Cruise gave an answer that was very much on brand:
“You know what? I’m preparing for the next. I’m always studying something. I’m always learning something, always.”
He also revealed that his phone is generally kept as far away from him as possible, saying he prefers talking to people directly rather than communicating through lengthy emails. “I like to talk to people.”
The actor’s intense approach to filmmaking was something Iñárritu experienced firsthand while making Digger. The director described Cruise as the center of a complicated cinematic “ballet,” explaining how a scene involving Cruise, Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, Riz Ahmed, and hundreds of extras required extraordinary precision.
Iñárritu recalled giving Cruise seven notes after a difficult sequence and watching him absorb them before immediately returning to the scene. “And then he said, ‘Yes, I got it.’ ‘Are you sure?’ ‘I got it.’ ‘[expletive] camera!’ And then, ‘Take!'”
Iñárritu said he was struck by Cruise’s ability to understand the physical space, silence, dialogue, movement, and emotional demands of the scene simultaneously.
Cruise Doesn’t See Himself as the ‘Last Movie Star’
GQ also addressed the familiar description of Cruise as “the last movie star.” Cruise did not embrace the label. Instead, he pointed to other actors, including Brad Pitt, whom he praised as a “great actor, great star, great charisma.”
He also emphasized how much he has learned from other filmmakers and performers throughout his career, describing cinema as a generational exchange of knowledge.
That philosophy extends to his relationship with younger actors. Cruise said he has tried to help younger performers understand the technical side of filmmaking, including lenses, framing, and the relationship between an actor and the camera.
He said his approach when mentoring someone is to listen first. “What do they want? It’s not me. I’m more interested in: What are their goals? What do they want?”
Cruise also spoke about actor Glen Powell, who has previously discussed watching a lengthy instructional video Cruise made about screen acting. According to Cruise, the material was designed to give actors a basic understanding of how lenses and frames work so they could eventually stop thinking about the mechanics and concentrate on the performance.
His Approach to Risk Hasn’t Changed
Naturally, a conversation with Cruise eventually returned to risk. After years of performing notoriously dangerous stunts, including riding a motorcycle off a cliff and hanging from aircraft, Cruise was asked directly whether he fears death.
His answer was characteristically straightforward. “Do I fear death? No. I don’t.” Cruise clarified that this does not mean he is incapable of fear. Instead, he said he is comfortable confronting it.
“There’s stuff where you want to feel that. You want to feel that uncertainty. But I’m not afraid to feel afraid. I don’t know how else to say it. I’m not afraid to go, ‘Okay, I know this is a leap, and let’s take the jump. Let’s go.’ And I try to recognize things that I don’t know, and I don’t pretend to know things that I know and things that I don’t know. So that’s how I feel about it.”
For Cruise, uncertainty appears to be part of the attraction. “I like standing on the edge of a cliff physically and metaphorically.” Iñárritu, meanwhile, compared Cruise’s role in Digger to the central force around which an entire production revolves, saying that when Cruise is performing, “if Tom fails, everything collapses.”
Cruise’s response to that pressure is essentially to embrace the challenge. “It’s just who I am. That’s my theory.”
Turning 64 Didn’t Change His Outlook
Cruise turned 64 shortly before the interview, but he wasn’t particularly interested in treating the milestone as a major turning point. When Baron asked what being 64 meant to him, Cruise answered: “It means I’m 64,” he said with a laugh.
He laughed when Baron pressed him on whether the birthday had changed the way he thought about his career. “Zach! It’s just like: No! [Laughs.] Zach’s like, ‘Does it change anything? When you’re looking at this, does it, like….’ Man, I’m just saying: It doesn’t at all. What changes things is I love seeing people do well.”
Instead, Cruise said he remains focused on new dreams, new skills, and what comes next. “I’m an all-in kind of guy, Zach. I don’t know what to say. Life, I’m coming right at it. It’s coming at me, and I’m coming right at it.”
The interview may have been about filmmaking, Digger and Cruise’s enduring relationship with cinema, but the photoshoot had a very different effect online.
A fan reacted to Tom Cruise’s GQ October 2026 cover. | Source: Instagram/gq
Then Came the Cover That Stopped the Scroll
Photographed by Mario Sorrenti and styled by George Cortina, Cruise appears in a striking black-and-white image that immediately became the focus of the conversation surrounding the issue.
Tom Cruise attends an event in a classic black suit and tie, offering a glimpse of the actor’s longtime Hollywood image before his latest GQ photoshoot. | Source: Getty Images
And yes, the 64-year-old actor is showing considerably more skin than fans may have expected from a GQ cover. The reaction was immediate and sharply divided. Some viewers were impressed by Cruise’s appearance, while others were far less comfortable with the pose.
One commenter said, “The way I stopped scrolling! 🔥🔥🔥” Another viewer remarked, “He looks like he’s in his 40s.” A third commenter admitted, “I’m uncomfy.” Another person asked, “What are you doing? 😂.” One viewer went even further, saying, “This makes me very uncomfortable.” There was also a more approving reaction, with one commenter declaring, “Unc still got it.”
Another person simply reacted, “Unrecognizable!” And one particularly curious viewer focused on a very specific detail, asking, “What happened to his belly button?”
Fans Couldn’t Quite Agree on the Pose
The conversation continued across Facebook, where the response was similarly mixed. One commenter said, “Well, he looks good for 60 something. Get it, Tom🤷🏽♀️.” Another viewer thought the pose was less successful, saying, “Looks very awkward.”
A third commenter said, “I like Tom, but I’m not sure about this pose.” But there was also a defense of the actor amid the criticism, with one commenter saying, “Wow, so many critical people on here. I didn’t expect that for Tom. He’s amazing.”
The split reaction makes the cover particularly notable: the image has managed to create a conversation that has little to do with the movie itself.
And that is quite a feat for an actor whose entire career has been built around controlling the frame — whether he’s sprinting through a city, hanging from an airplane, or standing in front of a camera.
The Image Is a Sharp Contrast to ‘Digger’
The cover also creates an amusing visual contrast with the character Cruise plays in Digger, according to the Daily Beast. On screen, Rockwell is deliberately presented as an aging billionaire oil magnate with a potbelly and receding hairline. For the magazine, however, Cruise appears in a dramatically different presentation that puts his physique front and center.
That contrast is part of what makes the photoshoot such an unexpected companion to the film’s promotional campaign. Cruise himself remains focused on the work rather than the image surrounding it.
Reflecting on his career, he told GQ that he sees each project as part of an ongoing process rather than something that reaches a final peak. “There’s always a new dream.”
And when it comes to Digger, Tom Cruise and Iñárritu appear equally committed to taking that next creative leap. “We put everything in it. Whatever you think, it’s all there. This is all I got, man. It’s all I got.”