The Channel Nine entertainment reporter, 70, shared an image of himself posing alongside the Hollywood superstar in London as they discussed his latest film Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

A photo shared by Richard Wilkins after a publicity interview with actor Tom Cruise has baffled fans.

‘Always a pleasure to catch up with the great @tomcruise,’ Wilkins captioned the happy snap.

‘#missionimpossiblethefinalreckoning is a beast of a movie! Bigger, faster, higher, deeper… this guy keeps raising the bar… and then jumping over it again… and again!’

What caught the eye of many is the size disparity between the two men, with Wilkins appearing to tower over the 62-year-old Cruise.

The perspective of the photo, with Wilkins more in the foreground, does exaggerate the height difference between the two, although the Today star is quite a bit taller.

Richard Wilkins (left) shared a seemingly innocent photo with actor Tom Cruise (right), but it has since baffled fans

Richard cuts an imposing figure at 1.88m (or 6’1″) while Tom stands at a reported 1.7m (5’6″).

‘Tom looks like he’s come out of a kinder surprise egg,’ one follower joked.

Alluding to the strange perspective of the image, another offered: ‘That photo doesn’t look right – I know Tom Cruise is short but the photo looks distorted somehow?’

A third jumped in with: ‘Tom would not like that photo,’ hinting at Cruise’s rumoured sensitivity about his height.

During their chat to promote the eighth and final installment of the blockbuster franchise, Cruise revealed the first stunt he ever performed.

Tom is certainly no stranger to the more dangerous side of acting, with his Mission Impossible stunts getting more and more daring.

The actor revealed to Richard that his quest for pulse-raising experiences had been with him for most of his life.

The Channel Nine star, 70, shared an image posing alongside the Hollywood superstar in London. In the photo, the pair are seen smiling together, but Richard appears to tower over the 62-year-old Top Gun star

‘What was your first-ever stunt? Sliding in on the socks, I suppose,’ Richard asked referring to Tom’s breakout performance in the 1983 comedy Risky Business.

Tom replied that he had been bitten by the stunt bug long before sliding on a hardwood floor in socks, to the strains of Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock & Roll.

‘It was probably about when I was three years old, climbing on the roof of my house in the middle of the night,’ Tom admitted.

‘I figured out if a window was open I could climb out and look at the stars. It was always just part of who I am.’

Richard then asked the actor if there was anything that scared him and Tom was philosophical with his reply.

‘It’s not that I don’t get scared, Richard, it’s just that I don’t mind being scared,’ he said with a laugh.

‘It’s not something that I worry about.’

It looks like Tom Cruise is onto another winner with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

During their chat to promote the eighth and final installment of the blockbuster franchise, Tom revealed the first stunt he ever performed

The blockbuster film – which cost almost $400 million to make – has already been described as ‘astonishing’ by early viewers.

Following a series of press screenings, movie critics took to social media to gush about the latest instalment in the franchise, calling it ‘the action film of the summer’.

‘Tom Cruise defies all odds with jaw-dropping action built only for Imax,’ wrote critic Anthony Gagliardi.

‘Every stunt, every set piece, every second is designed to blow your mind, A PULSE-POUNDING THRILL RIDE, and Cruise remains the king of spectacle,’ he added.

Fandango’s Erik Davis wrote: ‘Absolutely astonishing action moments meet a sprawling story with many nods to past MI films. It’s the biggest, wildest and most consequential Mission movie yet.’

Movie critic Dave Baldwin gushed: ‘It’s exceptionally entertaining with pulse-pounding stunts that will leave you gasping. Tom Cruise has done it again.’