Screenwriter of one of 2026 most anticipated films is Armenian

Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s new film, starring Tom Cruise, is titled Digger and is set to be released on October 2, 2026.

One of the film’s screenwriters is Alexander Dinelaris, who has Armenian roots. Dinelaris previously won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Birdman and wrote the book for the Broadway musical On Your Feet, which tells the story of Gloria Estefan’s life and career.

Among Dinelaris’s most personal works is the play Red Dog Howls, dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. In interviews, the screenwriter emphasized that through the character of an Armenian grandmother, he sought to make the pain of the Armenian people understandable to a wide audience, erasing the boundaries between “us” and “them.”