The Guardian critic argues that Tom Cruise, despite his famed dedication to death-defying stunts and single-handedly propping up cinema attendance, is notably poor at giving interviews. The observation comes as Cruise promotes Digger, his first original, non-sequel, non-action co-starring role since 2007's Lions for Lambs, meaning he must sell himself as an actor rather than a stunt daredevil, making effective press engagement more important than usual.

The piece points to a recent 30-minute GQ interview with Zach Baron, a skilled interviewer, in which Cruise deflected nearly every probing question with vague, well-worn talking points about loving cinematography and constantly learning new skills, yielding little genuine insight. The author suggests this guardedness stems from the fallout of his 2005 couch-jumping and Scientology controversy, which reportedly led Paramount's Sumner Redstone to effectively drop him, and argues that with more promotional appearances planned, including a rumoured podcast run, Cruise needs to adapt his approach to properly engage audiences ahead of Digger's release.