Berry with Travolta as they appear in the film

The cast and film-makers each undertook to complete that sentence for themselves.

Travolta - who said that he was never aware that his movie career was in the doldrums either before Pulp Fiction or after his last film, the universally panned Battlefield Earth - jokingly said that catering was the worst thing about the US film industry.

But on a more serious note, he agreed with rising Australian star Jackman who called for more Hollywood musicals.

"And here you have Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and John Travolta willing to sing and dance for you!"

Jackman made his US screen debut in X-Men, alongside Berry, but has a strong stage musical background.

He has appeared in Beauty in the Beast, Sunset Boulevard and most recently as Curly in the Royal National Theatre production of Oklahoma in the West End.

Bucking the trend

Producer Joel Silver, who made The Matrix and Lethal Weapon, said that his problem with Hollywood was that there are too few good movies.

Lock, Stock star Vinnie Jones also stars in Swordfish

He admitted that as one of the most successful producers in the world he too had contributed to the dearth of good movies, but maintained that Swordfish, which opens in the UK on 27 July bucks the trend.

Swordfish tells the story of Gabriel Shear - played by Travolta - a man obsessed with protecting the American Way, who attempts to steal billions in illegal government funds.

With the aid of his partner Ginger (Halle Berry) he enlists computer hacker extraordinaire Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) to help achieve his aim.

Director Dominic Sena, who also made Kalifornia with Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis, said that unsubstantiated movie hype was his big gripe about Hollywood.

"They don't often enough deliver on what they say they will - the hype is 'Wait till you see this its like nothing you've ever seen before and it usually is a lot like things you've seen before'," he said.

Travolta with Jackman before the Australian premiere

Sena's background in commercials is very much to the fore in this tightly filmed, fast-action drama.

Halle Berry, who revealed that her mother was born in Liverpool before moving to the US, deplored the lack of black leading ladies.

"Its very depressing," she said.

"Though I'm working so I'm not too upset about it, Hollywood needs to integrate films more."

Travolta also confirmed his roots - in his case Irish - and said he would love to make a film in the republic.

So the ideal Hollywood for this bunch of stars would feature companies making hype-free musicals with black leading ladies set in Ireland.

Over to the producer to see if it could ever work.

"If you guys want to make a musical," said Silver.

"As long as there's lots of explosions, gunfire and car chases in it, I'm happy to do it."