Tom Cruise has been praised online after stopping to comfort a woman he believed was in distress, only to discover she was sitting in a corner on her phone during a work break.
Security camera footage of the brief encounter was shared on TikTok by the employee, who uses the username Klementina. The clip shows the 64-year-old actor approaching her in what appears to be a backstage area or hallway.
Cruise, dressed smartly, gently tapped her on the shoulder and asked whether she was all right. She looked up, performed a double take and appeared shocked to realise who was standing in front of her.
After shaking his hand, the woman watched as Cruise walked away and waved to her. She later explained that she was in “complete shock” and could initially only stutter his name.
When he passed her again, she had processed the encounter and asked him for a photograph.
The meeting took place during Cruise’s promotional tour for his new film, Digger. The employee did not say where she worked, although she was wearing a white shirt and apron in the footage.
Cruise has been appearing in London to promote the film, in which he plays oil tycoon and billionaire Digger Rockwell. The character accidentally triggers a global ecological crisis and is tasked by the US President, played by John Goodman, with helping to save the planet.
At the film’s premiere in Leicester Square last Tuesday, Cruise drew attention with bright red hair, having departed from his usual brunette look. He wore a tuxedo, dark sunglasses and shiny heeled boots.
The role required him to wear a bodysuit and prosthetics, including thinning white hair and a prosthetic pot belly, as well as adopt a thick Southern accent.
Digger is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, known for Birdman and The Revenant, who is also co-producing the film with Cruise. Its tagline describes it as “a comedy of catastrophic proportions”.
Fans reacting to the trailer have tipped Cruise for an Oscar, with one writing: “Finally, a movie where Tom Cruise’s most dangerous stunt is raw unfiltered acting.”
Others commented: “Seeing an old Tom Cruise is wild,” and, “I love how every once in a while Cruise does a movie that’s just ‘oh yeah, I can actually act when I feel like it’.”
Another fan wrote: “Tom Cruise looks so unrecognizable here it’s amazing,” while a further comment said: “The Tom Cruise Oscar campaign is going to be LEGENDARY.”
