Tom Cruise thinks 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' is the "most challenging" movie he's ever made.

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise

The 55-year-old actor returns as spy Ethan Hunt for the sixth time in the upcoming movie - on which he broke his ankle while filming a stunt - and he has praised the "hardworking" cast and crew on the film for pushing themselves on the project.

He said: "I work with people that I respect, and I want to work with fun people and hardworking people. Making 'Mission: Impossibles' - they're not easy. They're the hardest.

"This is definitely the most challenging film I've ever made, because it's producing, it's acting, and we do all our own action work."

Tom hailed his co-star Henry Cavill a "committed professional" and franchise newcomer Angela Bassett a "powerful artist".

He added of the whole team: "These guys are so talented. We have a good time. We work really hard."

Though the actor has played the character a number of times in his career, he doesn't feel like his alter ego is a part of him.

He told E! News: "I feel like Tom. I get to play Ethan and do some extreme stuff that Ethan does and be a lot smarter."

The first movie in the franchise, which was released in 1996, was the first film Tom produced and he admitted people had doubts about him turning an old TV show, which ran from 1966 to 1973, into a big screen blockbuster.

He recalled: "I went to Paramount Pictures, and people were asking me to direct or produce, and I waited and waited and waited.

"At that time, it was a TV show, and people were like, 'What are you doing a TV show for?' I'm like, 'No, no. I'm going to turn it from a Cold War TV series into a feature film.' You just hope that it's going to translate.

"I have such amazing memories. It was an amazing experience for me."