Simon Pegg has revealed his pal Tom Cruise refuses to accept responsibility for a mistake, a tactic he uses to maintain his authority.

The British actor, 52, explained how the Hollywood movie star, 59, 'flatly denies' any faults of his own and won't even apologise when the truth of his error is uncovered.

He told : '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.

'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 Hot Fuzz star, who struck up a friendship with Tom while filming 2006's Mission: Impossible III, detailed how swarms of fans surround the pair shouting, 'Tom! Tom! Tom!' whenever they hit the streets together. 

While Simon is able to successfully go incognito with a simple cap, the New York native attracts hundreds of devotees who once banged on their car window during an outing in Casablanca.

He said: 'I'd be so stressed out, but he's very OK with it. He understands that's the price for the level of movie star he is. He's perhaps the only movie star left.'

Whenever Simon receives a text from the Golden Globe winner, he shouts, 'Whooo-ooh!' to his unimpressed wife Maureen, who calls Tom 'his boyfriend', he joked.

Simon, who has overcome his alcohol addiction, told how he's had 'deep conversations and heart-to-hearts' with the Scientologist over the years. 

He previously revealed he would turn up drunk on set while filming his first Mission Impossible movie back in 2006.

The comedian admitted he was 'kind of a wreck' as he recalled how one time he drank his hotel room's entire mini-bar ahead of shooting scenes.

Simon portrays IMF Tech Benji Dunn in the blockbuster, while Tom plays protagonist Ethan Hunt.

Simon previously revealed his unlikely pal and gym partner Tom dubbed him 'Six-Pack Pegg', as they trained for 2018's Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

He told Mail On Sunday's Event magazine: 'We train together a lot of the time. And yes, Tom called me Six-Pack Pegg. He thought it was funny. I didn't mind. At 48, I was quite pleased that I was able to locate my abs again.'

The 'nerd do well' Brit and the American movie deity have become firm friends and, as a good mate should be, Simon was defensive about the rumours that surround Tom, regarding the superstar's Scientology beliefs and lifestyle.

He sighed: '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?'

This isn't a hollow Hollywood boast. All the stunts for Mission: Impossible - Fallout were real. No CGI, no trickery, no kidding. 'Tom's 100 per cent driven,' Simon asserted. 'He commits 100 per cent. He is doing those stunts, flying those helicopters, making those jumps.

'He likes me 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.'