Riz Ahmed reveals Tom Cruise stayed in character during Digger shoot

Riz Ahmed has revealed his Digger co-star Tom Cruise stayed in character during the shoot.

The Night Of actor admitted he forgot he was working with the Hollywood action man because he disappeared into his character, powerful oil tycoon Digger Rockwell.

"I kind of forgot about Tom. Because Tom was Digger, and he became Digger, and he stayed in Digger," Ahmed told Empire magazine. "Whatever people say about method acting, whether you try or not, lines blur between yourself and a character. They have to. That's the process, right?"

Ahmed, who plays a mysterious scientist called Ganesh, remembered that he joked about Cruise's method acting approach after meeting the real person at the end of filming.

"I joked, at the end of it all we had a wrap dinner, I was like, 'It's really good to meet you, but I wish my pal Digger was here,'" the British actor recalled. "It was that kind of feeling. We'd joke around like, 'Man, I've heard Tom Cruise is meant to be on set somewhere.'"

In Alejandro G. Iñárritu's black comedy, Cruise looks unrecognisable as Digger Rockwell, who is on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's saviour before the disaster he's unleashed destroys everything.

Ahmed added that Cruise's transformation - which involved prosthetics and a wig - made the Mission: Impossible star freer on set.

"Honestly, I think it was quite liberating for him as well, to be able to lose himself, lose that globally recognised face into a character. I could see that allowing him to be open, in a different way," he stated.

Digger, also starring Sandra Hüller and John Goodman, will be released in cinemas on 2 October.