Tom Cruise And Alejandro Iñárritu Team Up For A Wild, “Terrifying” Comedy

Get ready to see Tom Cruise like you’ve never seen him before — laughing, wild, and maybe even a little unhinged. That’s the promise Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the Oscar-winning director of Birdman and The Revenant, is making about his upcoming film Judy, a project he calls “a brutal, wild comedy of catastrophic proportions.”

Yes, you read that right. Tom, 62, and Alejandro, 61, are trading explosions and survival epics for something completely unexpected: a dark comedy that the director describes as both “insane” and “beautiful.”

“I know comedy is not what people expect from me, or Tom, and making this film was terrifying for me, but I don’t like to repeat myself, and every film should scare you a little,” Alejandro admitted during a chat with The Hollywood Reporter at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. 

Filming has just wrapped in London, and Alejandro says editing begins next week. The movie, still officially titled Judy, is already creating buzz as a major shift for Tom, who’s spent the past decade headlining massive action blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick and the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise. His next big action outing, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, hits theaters this week.

But while Tom might be known for running from explosions, Alejandro discovered something else behind the action star’s polished surface: razor-sharp comedic timing.

“And Tom makes me laugh every single day,” the director said. “He has this total commitment, this total madness.”

Judy isn’t just a two-man show, either. The star-studded cast includes Anatomy of a Fall’s Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, Riz Ahmed, Emma D’Arcy, Sophie Wilde, Michael Stuhlbarg, and John Goodman. With a lineup like that, plus a director known for pushing boundaries, it’s no wonder people are already calling Judy one of the most anticipated films of 2026.

For Alejandro, this kind of challenge is nothing new. He dominated the Oscars in back-to-back years with Birdman and The Revenant, winning Best Director for both and sweeping up awards for screenplay and Best Picture along the way. And while Birdman dipped into dark humor, the filmmaker says Judy takes things even further.

“I felt Birdman was a comedy, a dark comedy, and this one was challenging like that,” he said.

Tom, meanwhile, seems to be embracing this new direction while still respecting the action-packed legacy he’s built. At the Mission: Impossible premiere in New York, he reflected on the franchise with no regrets.

“I did the best you can,” he told PEOPLE, “and it represents all the efforts of everyone involved at that particular moment.. I really see what it takes to make these movies and what I’ve learned about storytelling [in] this genre.”

But storytelling in comedy? That’s a new mission entirely—and one Tom is clearly ready to accept.

Judy is set to hit theaters in fall 2026. And if Alejandro words are anything to go by, audiences should brace themselves for something completely unexpected.