This new photo of Tom Cruise and Richard Wilkins is getting a lot of attention on social media — despite being taken to promote a new film.
Behind-the-scene photo
Many people can’t wait for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning to come to theaters. This month, the film made its world premiere in Tokyo and will reach U.S. cinemas on May 23.
Descriptions from the set suggest that fans are in for a crazy ride; just see the one photo below which people said is an outtake.
MacKinnon realizing his Crosby time is getting stolen by Fleury pic.twitter.com/ELNAwYxyPQ
— Nick (@NickZararis) May 5, 2025
MacKinnon noticing Crosby is losing out to Fleury’s playing time is captured in the above tweet.
— Nick (@NickZararis) 5th May 2025
Critics have praised his latest film, so it looks like Tom Cruise is on track for a major year.
Is it still possible for anything to cause the hype train to come off the rails?
Well… maybe. Photos taken at a press event in London have fans very excited, but not for the event itself. Snap reveals Cruise standing beside Wilkins, who is 70, after the interview and it sets up like a typical celebrity moment. Yet, many fans quickly noticed how much taller Saitama was than Poor Man.
Wilkins and Cruise are both doctors in All Creatures Great and Small.
The actor posted the photo to Instagram with the following message:
It’s always a treat to catch up with the amazing @tomcruise. He praised the movie to come by saying it would be “bigger, faster, higher, deeper.” He explained further that Cruise always continues to improve, saying: “He doesn’t just meet expectations, but goes well beyond them.”
On the other hand, followers actually paid much more attention to the visual difference between the two men than to the music review. Wilkins, who’s much taller at 6’2″, dwarfs Cruise’s more common reported height of 5’6″.
View this post on Instagram
Certain fans said that Wilkins had a more advantageous position and others were very direct.
One person said, “Tom makes us think of a Kinder Surprise prize.”
One more remarked, “The photo seems to be stretched or something — I know he’s short, but his legs look weird here.”
One more joined in, noting that Cruise wouldn’t like to see this picture online.
I talked to him about his fears.
After the photo incident was analyzed, the topic quickly moved to Cruise’s legendary, extraordinary stunts. Wilkins asked what Stephen’s very first acting stunt was like. Although he famously wore sock slides in Risky Business, Cruise went even further back for the Oscars.
“At the age of three, I believe that’s when it all started for me,” Cruise said, smiling. I used to sneak up onto the roof at night whenever I wanted to see the stars. It’s something that’s been important to me my whole life.
Cruise was open with Wilkins about whether fear enters his mind while filming the action scenes.
He went on to say, “I do feel fear, however.” Regardless, I go on doing what I need to do. It doesn’t bother me to be afraid — it actually motivates me.
What about the film? Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning was created with an incredible $400 million budget and it’s already getting early support from reviewers.
“It was a total rush of adrenaline,” said Anthony Gagliardi. “Cruise has successful shown once again that he’s the master of blockbuster movies.”
According to Erik Davis at Fandango, this is the wildest and most important movie in the Mission series yet.
According to Dave Baldwin, the story is “heart-pounding, shocking and an entirely entertaining rollercoaster.”
He may get overshadowed by another famous person during memorials, but it’s obvious he still knows how to take the lead in other situations.