Emma D’Arcy might be best known for playing a Targaryen princess in House of the Dragon, but when preparing their audition tape for Alejandro G Iñárritu’s , the Golden Globe-nominated actor turned to a millennial TV classic. “Initially I recorded something at home, with my phone propped up on something like a packet of crisps,” says D’Arcy mere hours before premiering the film, which stars an utterly transformed Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell, a cowboy boot-wearing oil baron whose lusty obsession with fossil fuels unleashes an unprecedented natural disaster. “The tape required something that blended comedy with theatrical size, so I read something from ,” D’Arcy adds, with a laugh.
To land the role of Digger’s long-suffering assistant, Lina, D’Arcy endured a series of “the most high security” auditions they have ever encountered. These involved learning lines with just 30 minutes to prepare “under exam conditions”, “some improv” and, finally, a face-to-face meeting with Oscar-winner Iñárritu, who never casts anyone without meeting them first in person. As for Cruise’s comic turn beneath all those prosthetics? “He’s totally spectacular,” D’Arcy says. “His performance is so total. On set, he was always in a nether land between Digger and himself. By the end I couldn’t remember what his real voice sounded like.”
For the premiere – also attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Beckham clan – D’Arcy wore a draped silk trench coat over a scarlet scarf-detail blouse and slate-grey trousers, all from Valentino’s autumn/winter 2026 collection. “The look is quite ’90s Hugh Grant,” they say. “It felt strangely appropriate for a big London premiere. The film has such a beautifully specific colour scheme, and its visual language is so thrilling, so Rose [Forde, their stylist] and I were keen to inject some colour into my red carpet looks, too.” Here was the latest coup from a cerebral creative partnership that has previously taken inspiration from Neil Jordan’s 1994 (New Romantic-leaning McQueen by Seán McGirr at the 2025 Golden Globes) and a “child prodigy at the big piano recital” (tailored Acne Studios at the 2023 ceremony). “It’s so exciting when you can exchange ideas beyond: ‘What is a good brand?’ and ‘Do you think this looks nice?’” Forde, who also styles Joe Alwyn, Cillian Murphy and Britt Lower, previously explained to British .
D’Arcy opted for a sweep of 18-carat gold and platinum Tiffany & Co jewels, including an archival Jean Schlumberger brooch and HardWear.
“I love the defiance in those pieces,” D’Arcy says of the chainlink HardWear designs.
For jewellery, D’Arcy turned to Tiffany & Co to provide “a counterpoint” to the romance of their Valentino look. A diamond-swathed Jean Schlumberger by Tiffany starfish brooch, pinned to the collar, was offset by a chunky chain-link HardWear bracelet and rings in yellow gold and platinum. “I love the defiance in those pieces,” they say. And while the actor may look perfectly at home in dazzling jewels, they feel most comfortable picking up bargains in charity shops. When we speak, D’Arcy is wearing a navy long-sleeved polo shirt that is “technically too small”, but whose proportions they love. “I think it was probably once shrunk in the wash,” they say. “It looks like it was originally bought from a supermarket.” Their top destinations for second-hand finds? Mind’s two outposts in Stoke Newington, north London.
They are equally low-key when it comes to red-carpet prep, which amounts to “lots of decaf coffee and a protein bar in my bag”. And despite the royals and Beckhams on the guest list, it’s the audience’s reaction D’Arcy was most looking forward to last night. “I’m so excited to listen to the response to the film for the first time,” they explain. A satire of ecological disaster starring Tom Cruise as a cowboy supervillain should certainly get people talking – though, as with that first -scripted audition tape, a few laughs wouldn’t hurt, either.
Tiffany & Co jewels provided “a counterpoint” to the romance of their Valentino look.
