Simon Pegg spills on Tom Cruise's biggest showbiz secret. Photo / Getty Images
Simon Pegg spills on Tom Cruise's biggest showbiz secret. Photo / Getty Images
Simon Pegg has revealed his pal and Mission Impossible co-star Tom Cruise maintains his authority by refusing to accept responsibility for his mistakes, the Daily Mail reports.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Pegg, 52, explains how Cruise, 59, "flatly denies" having any perceived flaws and won't even apologise when confronted over an error.
"If something goes wrong and it's his fault, he'll flatly deny it. And then if someone corrects him, instead of saying sorry, he'll just say, 'Yeah,' and wink at me," the Hot Fuzz star says.
"I admitted f***ing up once and he said – with a wry smile, I hasten to add – 'Simon, don't do that.' He maintains his authority by never being to blame for anything."
The pair struck up a friendship while filming 2006's Mission: Impossible III. Photo / Getty Images
The British actor - who became close with Cruise while filming the third Mission Impossible film in 2006 - goes on to detail how whenever the pair went outside together they would find themselves quickly surrounded by mobs of fans shouting: "Tom! Tom! Tom!"
Pegg says while he'd be stressed out if he ever reached a similar level of fame, Cruise is "very okay with it".
"He understands that's the price for the level of movie star he is. He's perhaps the only movie star left."
Pegg said he jokes how whenever he receives a text from the Golden Globe winner he yells, "Whooo-ooh!" to his unimpressed wife who has begun calling Cruise his "boyfriend."
"If something goes wrong and it's his fault, he'll flatly deny it. And then if someone corrects him, instead of saying sorry, he'll just say, 'Yeah,' and wink at me". Photo / Instagram @simonpegg
The comedian also opened up on his struggles with alcohol addiction over the years, even revealing he would turn up drunk on set during the filming of Mission Impossible III.
"I was kind of a wreck," Pegg admits, recalling how he once drank the entire mini-bar of his hotel room ahead of shooting a scene. However, in the years since, the comedian and the Scientologist have had many "deep conversations and heart-to-hearts".
Pegg plays tech-whiz Benji Dunn in the blockbuster series, while Cruise stars as IMF agent Ethan Hunt.
The pair are unlikely pals and even gym partners, and Pegg had previously revealed in an interview with Mail On Sunday's Event magazine that Cruise had dubbed him "Six-Pack Pegg" during their training for the sixth Mission Impossible movie.
Pegg explains how swarms of fans quickly surround them whenever he hits the streets with Cruise. Photo / Getty Images
In that interview, the Brit also opened up on Cruise's relationship with the church of Scientology.
He said: "He is the subject of so much speculation and conjecture and he just lets it go. People have these opinions about him, which are based entirely on gossip and he doesn't really do anything to combat that.
"When I hear people speculating about his weird religion and making assumptions about who he is as a person, I say, 'You know he risks his life for his audience?"
Pegg says Cruises likes him because "I make him laugh. I'll pull him up on stuff and I can be frank with him. But he's still Tom Cruise. When you're on set, he's the boss. I've never seen him just be a p****. If he's in a darker mood, there's usually a reason for it.
"When his ankle was hurting and he was running on it a lot, he was quieter and a little bit more spiky, but normally we're laughing a lot."
