By Cameron Poole and Faye Mayern via SWNS
A color-blind artist said he was left ‘starstruck’ after meeting Hollywood actor Tom Cruise to give him a charcoal portrait.
Wilf Elliott, 21, met the “Top Gun Maverick” star last month after contacting the star’s management to see if he wanted to keep the portrait Wilf had created.
Elliott, from Clacton, Essex, is colour-blind and has made charcoal drawings of celebrities like Gareth Bale, Zara Larsson and Sam Ryder.
Wilf created the artwork dedicated to a scene from the 2022 action film, Top Gun Maverick which stars the Mission Impossible actor eighteen months ago.
After sharing the drawing of Tom in the cockpit of a jet from one of Elliott’s favorite films, he was able to reach out to Tom’s management through a client.
The portrait travelled through multiple people when it was given to Tom Cruise who said he wanted to meet Elliott.
The pair finally met last month after nine months of planning and the pair spent 20 minutes together.
Elliott, who began creating portraits in 2020, said: “He asked me about my career and said it was so impressive. I shook hands with him multiple times.
“The people I have met before have all been big and incredibly lovely, this has been way above any expectations I’ve ever had.
“He approached me first and said my name.
“Him knowing who I was before meeting him was just absolutely ridiculous.
“He was probably one of the nicest guys I have ever met, and he wanted to know about my career.
“Over the next 20 minutes I was very grateful for his time and I was very red in the face.
“I was completely starstruck. It was the most surreal moment of my life.”
Wilf had also completed a second artwork to gift to him, but during the chat, Tom insisted on Wilf keeping it as a memory and they took some photos together.
The cockpit drawing was then taken away by Cruise’s management and Elliott immediately called his parents on the drive home.
He said: “They are incredibly proud, looking back at the pieces so far they have been adding up to something like this.
“Looking back at the pieces so far each one has been adding up to something like this,.
“I think everyone was blown away by it – including myself – but for Tom to follow through and organise everything is something I’ll never forget.
“I’m very grateful for everyone involved in making this happen. This was the best day of my life.”
Some of Wilf’s dream choices would be musician Post Malone, and actors like Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler.
