Artist who met Tom Cruise features in film teaser
Henry Godfrey-Evans
BBC News, Essex
Wilf Elliott
The art took “between 60 and 80 hours” to complete, Wilf Elliott said
An artist said he was delighted after his charcoal portrait of Tom Cruise featured in official promotion for the actor’s latest film.
The Instagram page for Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning posted a time-lapse video of Wilf Elliott drawing his artwork.
The 21-year-old, from Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, said his collaboration with producer Paramount Pictures was “the most incredible opportunity I have ever had”.
Mr Elliott met Cruise in person on set last year to deliver some of his other charcoal drawings of the Hollywood actor.
Mr Elliott, who works as a tattoo artist, said he was “blown away” when he was told his artwork would be used as a movie teaser, which was eventually posted on Wednesday.
Wilf Elliott
Tom Cruise asked to meet Mr Elliott in person after being sent the artwork
“If it wasn’t for the handover with Tom, then this opportunity wouldn’t have come about,” he explained.
“I just wanted the day to come around so quickly, I’ve been holding it to myself for so long… so I just could not wait to get it out there.”
Mr Elliott said the A1 canvas took somewhere in the region of 60 to 80 hours to complete.
He cast the original Tom Cruise photo on to canvas, created a stencil and then filled in the charcoal and some red paint for the lettering.
He said he drew the picture in December to get ahead while discussions were still ongoing for the collaboration.
Earlier in the year, he flew to Sweden to deliver a portrait of the late DJ Avicii to the musician’s father, Klas Bergling.
