Simon Pegg Reveals How Tom Cruise 'Maintains Authority'

Simon Pegg is opening up about his friendship with Tom Cruise and sharing some of the life lessons he's learned from the superstar over the years.

Pegg, 52, and Cruise, 59, formed their 16-year friendship after starring in "Mission: Impossible III" together in 2006.

During a recent interview with The Times U.K., the British actor revealed that his pal isn't the type to apologize when he makes mistakes.

"The best thing [Cruise] taught me is never to accept responsibility for a mistake," he told the publication. "But in a funny way. Like 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."

Pegg recalled admitting to "f--king up once" and Cruise telling him with a wry smile, "Simon, don't do that."

"He maintains his authority by never being to blame for anything," Pegg said.

The actor added that he likes the "Top Gun" star as a person and that their shtick is that he is an "ordinary guy" while Cruse is a "big Hollywood idol."

Pegg recalled hundreds of people gathering, holding up their phones and calling out Cruise's name within minutes of his friend's appearance during a shoot at a subway in Vienna, Austria.

"But he loves it. I mean, I would f---ing hate that," Pegg said.

He also recounted an incident in Casablanca, Morocco, where several men surrounded Cruise's car and banged on it as they yelled the "Jack Reacher" star's name while the two actors were inside.

"And I'm looking at Tom and he was f---ing laughing his head off," Pegg 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. Everyone else who comes near has probably done TV. I can guarantee you will never see Tom Cruise on a TV show. Because he's about movies. Movies are his passion."

Despite his success, Cruise continues to face scrutiny about himself and his personal life, but according to Pegg, the actor 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," he said. "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?'"

Cruise's latest film, "Top Gun: Maverick," recently gave him the biggest opening weekend of his career and is set to cross the $550 million mark at the worldwide box office.

Cruise and Pegg's tandem will return to action next year in "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One."