Russell Brand thinks Tom Cruise's smile is irresistible and very persuasive.

The pair appear in the big screen adaptation of musical Rock of Ages, where Russell plays Lonny Barnett, the manager of The Bourbon Room and Tom stars as rock god Stacee Jaxx.

Tom's character is famously difficult, and has a pet baboon with him at all times. Russell was unsure about the animal, but was won over by the idea thanks to Tom's megawatt smile.

"Tom is one of these overly keen, nice guys to the point where it's scary. He plays a rock star in the film and he decided his character should have a pet baboon. I said: Tom, I don't like the baboon, it's making me and everyone else nervous,'" he recalled in an interview with British newspaper The Sun.

"Tom just turned to me with a big grin on his face and said, I like the baboon.'"

Director Adam Shankman has previously moaned about the problems the baboon caused on set. The filmmaker recalled the animal getting loose during filming.

"Oh, well, when the trainers are saying, 'Nobody grab him, he'll kill you' He was actually playing. It was 4.30 in the morning, there's a thousand extras in the street, it was like 110 degrees I'm not kidding and he got loose, and it was just him loping around screaming, with those giant canines showing," he quipped. (C) Cover Media