Cruise "brings down the house" in cameo

Tom Cruise's cameo in the upcoming comedy Tropic Thunder was reportedly met with a "rapturous reaction" at an industry screening.

The New York Times reports that Hollywood agents, managers, publicists and journalists attended a screening for a rough cut of Ben Stiller's comedy, which revolves around a group of actors whose big-budget jungle war film heads into a real conflict zone, and Cruise's brief appearance "brought down the house".

Cruise cameos in the film under heavy prosthetics as a bald, foul-mouthed studio head. The role may be a dig at Sumner Redstone, the Paramount mogul whose spat with Cruise resulted in the actor departing the studio in 2006.

Ironically, Tropic Thunder, Stiller's first directing effort since Zoolander, is a Paramount film. Stiller had planned to keep Cruise's role a secret but photographs of the actor in make-up appeared on the web last year.

Robert Downey Jr's turn as a method actor who changes the colour of his skin pigment to play an African-American Vietnam soldier was also met with praise.

Tropic Thunder is scheduled for release on August 15 in the US and September 19 in the UK.