Tom Cruise spent two-and-a-half hours pressing flesh and signing autographs in London last night, prior to the British premiere of his new movie, Collateral.

As has become his trademark, Cruise posed for pictures, chatted with many of the 3,000 fans assembled in Leicester Square, and talked to their relatives and friends over their mobile phones.

In the process, Cruise managed to beat his previous record of two hours, established at the British premiere of The Last Samurai in January.

Some fans even tried to muscle in on the job of the showbiz journalists: a teenage fan put Cruise on the phone to his mum, who asked whether the American actor would get back together with ex-wife Nicole Kidman.

"My Mother complimented him on his voice and suggested he get back together with Nicole," said embarrassed Aran Burk, 17, from Surrey. "He complimented her back on her voice but he pretended he didn't hear the Nicole comment."

Eventually, with a wave and a smile, the Cruise missile was off inside the cinema.

In Collateral, a Michael Mann thriller set in LA, the American actor plays his first villain role as an assassin fulfilling his contractual obligations.