Simon Pegg calls Tom Cruise 'the last movie star of the old kind'

Simon Pegg has described his Mission: Impossible co-star Tom Cruise as "the last movie star of the old kind".

In an interview with E! News on Wednesday, the British actor stated that there is nobody else in Hollywood like the action star.

"Of all the mist of stuff that's around him, in the centre of that mist is a generous, sweet guy who looks after everybody," the Shaun of the Dead star praised. "He leads from the top down. And he's kind of inspiring to be around. There's no one else like him, he's the last movie star of the old kind."

Simon has been working with the Top Gun superstar since 2006's Mission: Impossible III, when he was cast as technician-turned-field agent Benji Dunn.

The 53-year-old actor also recalled the first time he met Tom, 60, nearly two decades ago.

"When I first met him, it was my first time to Hollywood," he noted. "He came to set the first day we met, he immediately made me feel very welcome, very at home, was incredibly generous.

"Over the 17 years that we've been friends, I feel lucky to get to see a part of him that everyone else wants to see, which is just the guy."

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One begins rolling out in cinemas on 10 July.