A Meltdown in Slate Gray, Ed Ruscha Unveils His Digger Poster at LACMA
Tom Cruise and Alejandro G. Iñárritu pulled back a black velvet curtain on the Pop artist’s poster for their new film.
On Sunday, September 27, Tom Cruise and Alejandro G. Iñárritu made what the Los Angeles Times called a clumsy attempt at a countdown at LACMA, then whipped aside a black velvet curtain. Behind it was Ed Ruscha’s poster for Digger, the Iñárritu film starring Cruise that opens in theaters and IMAX today.
The Times described the poster as a very Ruscha, text-heavy work on a slate gray background with a beige border. A looming ice shelf sits at its center, ringed by phrases including “A Man. A Plan. A Meltdown” and “Comedy equals tragedy plus time.” The lettering is Boy Scout Utility Modern, the font Ruscha designed himself and has used exclusively since around 1980.
Ruscha first saw the film at a screening about six months ago, alongside LACMA director Michael Govan. “Well, the movie blew my hair back,” he told the brunch crowd, according to the Times. “And not only that, it parted it down the middle. It has since grown back.” In remarks released by Warner Bros., he added, “And Tom did talk like a Texan, man. You’ve got to see this movie just to watch him.”
“When Alejandro told me that Ed was going to do this, I couldn’t believe it,” Cruise said in the same release. Iñárritu, who was blown away by Ruscha’s 2024 exhibition at LACMA, said, “It’s an extraordinary honor to have Ed Ruscha bring his eye to the film.”
The admiration runs back decades. Twenty-four years ago, the Times reported, a nervous Iñárritu visited Ruscha’s Venice studio to offer him the role of the gynecologist in 21 Grams. The schedules never worked out. Both men have since been honored at LACMA’s Art + Film Gala, Ruscha in 2012 and Iñárritu in 2015, and this year’s gala on November 7 honors Denis Villeneuve and Vija Celmins.
Digger cast members John Goodman, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg and Ross Hatt attended, along with Benedikt Taschen, Wolfgang Puck, Jonas Wood and Alex Prager. The film, a satirical black comedy about an oil tycoon whose Greenland drilling rig sets an ice shelf adrift, was shot entirely in VistaVision. Read about its Westwood premiere.
