The mayor of an Essex town was left stunned to receive a phone call from Tom Cruise congratulating him on his ‘great town’.
Will Russell, who is civic leader of Brentwood, claims the Hollywood star called him on an unknown number as he was picking his son up from school.
The film star is currently in the area to film the latest instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise.
Cruise was spotted filming in Thorndon Country Park earlier in the week, and the 55-year-old was snapped getting out of a helicopter on the grounds.
The mayor of Brentwood, Will Russell (left), was stunned to receive a phone call from Hollywood actor Tom Cruise (right)
Cruise was spotted filming in Thorndon Country Park, Essex, earlier in the week, and the 55-year-old was snapped getting out of a helicopter on the grounds
Mr Russell said the actor wanted to thank residents for being so understanding of the production, as several major roads had to be closed while filming was underway.
‘He didn’t ring to say, “It’s Tom Cruise,” the mayor said.
‘He asked if I was the mayor and went on to say that I did know him, and he wanted to say he had a wonderful time in Brentwood and it was a great town.
Mr Russell said the actor wanted to thank residents for being so understanding of the production
‘He asked about what I did as mayor, and said it was important to have such a great community and I should be proud to have the position of mayor.’
Mr Russell, who also owns a salon, said: ‘I asked who he was and he told me it was Tom Cruise.
‘I didn’t quite believe it at first and I became very guarded. Then I thought that I had no reason to doubt it.
‘It sounded like him and he wasn’t being ridiculous.
‘He wanted to thank the people of the town. He wanted to say what a lovely forest we have.’
Cruise returned to filming on Tuesday for the first time since he broke his ankle when a tricky stunt went wrong.
At the time of his injury back in August, images taken showed a tethered Cruise leaping to a building, hitting its side and then crawling over the top and running away.
Cruise returned to filming on Tuesday for the first time since he broke his ankle when a tricky stunt went wrong
Cruise tried his hardest to leap as far as he could from building to building on the shoot in London
After he finished the take, Cruise was seen limping, though he was able to rappel back to the building he jumped from.
The accident took place on the roof of Baynard House, which is an office block in the Blackfriars district of London.
At the time it was not known if Cruise was only bruised up or if he had a more serious injury. It took days for anyone to learn that he was in bad shape and need weeks of rest.
Mission Impossible 6 is set to be released in 2018.