Tom Cruise has hailed his ex-wife Nicole Kidman as a "great actress".

The 'Top Gun' actor has recalled how he recommended Nicole - whom he was married to from 1990 until 2001 - to star alongside him as Alice Harford in Stanley Kubrick's 1999 movie 'Eyes Wide Shut' because he felt she had the talent to take on the role.

In an interview with the British Film Institute's (BFI) Sight and Sound magazine, Cruise said of making the flick: "I flew out to his (Kubrick's) house and I landed in his backyard. I read the script the day before and we spent the day taking about it. I knew all of his films.

"Then it was basically he and I getting to know each other. And when we were doing that, I suggested Nicole play the role (of Alice). Because obviously she's a great actress."

The production of 'Eyes Wide Shut' lasted 400 days and Cruise recalled how he informed Kubrick, who passed away from a heart attack aged 70 before the movie was released, that he was willing to do whatever it took to get the flick made.

The 62-year-old actor said: "I knew it was going to be a long shoot. He was like, 'No, no, no. We'll finish in three or four months.' And I said, 'Stanley, look, I'm here for you. Whatever it's going to take we're going to do this.'"

Cruise continued: "I thought the film was very interesting, and I wanted to have that experience. When I go to make a movie, I do a lot of detailed investigation and a lot of time with the people before I commit so that I understand what they need and want and they understand me and how we can work together and really create something very special."

Cruise also found it "exhilarating" to work with Val Kilmer, who died at the age of 65 last month, on the 'Top Gun' movies.

He recalled: "I felt so grateful that he decided to make the film. We did a lot to get him in the movie. Originally, he just didn't want to make the movie, 'I don't want to be a supporting, I want to star in films.'

"I was calling his agent, and Tony Scott was hunting him down and meeting in an elevator with Val, and he was like, 'Please, Val, please.'

"You just see what a great actor, charismatic guy he was. And in that scene, what I love about what he did and how he played it, he just knew that tone to hit. He had to play it so you wanted these guys to be friends in the end. Do you know what I'm saying?

"And I remember those scenes like they were yesterday, acting with him, where he did the bite thing. You know when you're acting with somebody and you just see they're just on fire. It's exhilarating. I love when the scene just goes to a different place. If you look at 'Top Gun', I think he's in the movie maybe ten minutes. That's the impact of an artist like that."