Tom Cruise says Ben Stiller is his inspiration. Cruise, who has a cameo as a fat balding studio executive in Ben?s new comedy ?Tropic Thunder?, loved working with the comic star and has praised his achievements in Hollywood. He said: "One can't fully appreciate what Ben has accomplished in acting, writing, directing, producing, and starring in a film like ?Tropic Thunder? without recognising that any single one of these functions alone is a full-time job.? Cruise, who worked with Stiller on 2000 mockumentary ?Mission: Improbable?, has also revealed he didn?t hesitate at the chance to team up with him again after Ben described the movie as his ?dream project?.

The 46-year-old ?Top Gun? star added to Men?s Vogue magazine: "To make a long story short, I read it, I loved it, and we started working on it."

Meanwhile, Ben has praised Tom?s comic timing in ?Tropic Thunder? and insists he was prepared to do anything to raise a laugh.

Stiller said: "He said, 'I want really big hands playing this guy.' I said, 'Really? Big hands?' He had these hands made, and then I said, 'Well, it'd be really cool if you were bald too.' Then we did this make-up test where he got bald.

?Then he said, 'It'd be interesting if this guy danced.' He started dancing. I was loving it. I asked him if he'd be up for dancing in the end credits and he said, 'Yeah, let's do it.' "