Tom Cruise poses with fans as star arrives by helicopter for Mission Impossible filming in Leighton Buzzard

Movie star Tom Cruise has been sighted in Heath and Reach this week, as he posed for photos with residents before heading off to film Mission: Impossible 7.

Heath and Reach is a village and civil parish near the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire, two miles north of Leighton Buzzard.

The actor was pictured standing with residents in Heath and Reach Sports Field on 12 May at 2.30pm, after he landed there via helicopter.

Leighton Buzzard eyewitness Dave Burton 64, was there to capture the special moment. He said: "He landed and I started walking towards the helicopter.

“There were about 20 to 50 people. Then he started to beckon to somebody, asking them to come and take a picture - a lot of people were standing back, being respectful.

"He had his mask on, and he would point to the ground and say 'stand there'. He kept saying that he only had a couple of minutes, but he made sure that everyone who wanted a picture got one!", Dave told our sister paper the Leighton Buzzard Observer.

"A lot of people were saying that he was a wonderful actor. After the pictures, he said: 'Thank you, have a good day', and off he went."

He was then driven to the set inside the nearby LB Silica Sand quarry.

It is reported that the film star had been arriving in the field during the afternoons each day this week, ready to film night time scenes at the quarry.

Remembering the encounter, Dave added: "One of the girls [at the field] was saying, I still can't breathe, I still can't breathe! She was having palpitations and all that.

"It was over pretty quickly - and it's nice that he initiated the photos.

"He is a small bloke, and he looked very ordinary in his blue jeans and knitted jumper. You couldn't see his face because of the mask.

"I had my timer on my camera, but he didn't go 'for goodness sake' and walk off, he stood there until it was done. He was also chatting to people about their dogs.

"He was thoroughly pleasant. A really nice bloke! You could see his eyes were smiling."

In March, it was reported that a film crew would be arriving at the quarry in spring to work on a project entitled: 'LIBRA', claimed by several entertainment news outlets to be the working title of the new Mission: Impossible film.

Heath and Reach Parish Council also posted a letter from the film company's assistant location manager on its Facebook page, which explained that filming activity would be taking place.

Dave said: "I know that some people who live around the quarry have been offered black out curtains.

"On Monday evening there were big pyrotechnics apparently. My son said that at half 12 at night his whole garden lit up like it was daylight - and he lives two miles away!

"I've heard that you could see drones firing things, streaking out flares."

Dave has also been to take pictures of the set at the quarry, and had invited his 31-year-old son with him yesterday, to see if Tom would arrive in the sports field.

Unfortunately, Dave's son was a little impatient, and after heading to get Dave a flask of tea, came back to find that he had missed seeing Mr Cruise.

A version of this article originally appeared on our sister title, the Leighton Buzzard Observer

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