Director Martin Scorsese treated a star-studded audience at the Cannes film festival to a preview of his long-awaited epic Gangs Of New York on Monday.

The film's leads, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, flew into the festival for the 20-minute screening, and Sharon Stone and Juliette Binoche were among the stars in the audience.

Juliette Binoche was in the Gangs audience

DiCaprio led a standing ovation for Scorsese, director of classic films such as Raging Bull and Taxi Driver, who told the audience about what he called his "biggest-ever undertaking".

"This movie has been in my mind and in my heart since I was 10 years old and growing up in downtown New York," said the director.

"Ultimately this film asks the question 'What is America, and what does it mean to be an American?'"

Gangs of New York is set in downtown New York in the middle of the 19th century and tells the story of a young immigrant Irishman, played by DiCaprio, out to avenge his father's murder.

Acrimony

The film's cast includes Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent and Daniel Day-Lewis as a gangland boss.

The budget is reported to have run to almost $100m (�69m) and the film has run into prolonged delays amid reports of acrimony behind the scenes.

The movie was originally set to be in cinemas last December, but there have been reports of a falling out between Scorsese and Miramax studio boss Harvey Weinstein during shooting at Cinecitta studios in Rome.

Cameron Diaz stars as Jenny Everdeane

Now both have dismissed the rumours and say the film is set for release on Christmas Day 2002 - an important pre-Oscars slot.

At a post-screening party, DiCaprio was confident that the film would have an emotional impact on audiences.

"By the end of the 20 minutes I was getting chills," he said.

"It's like a dream come true for me, as it would be for any actor, to work in a Martin Scorsese epic and have people see just 20 minutes of it and yet get titillated and excited."

Earlier in the day DiCaprio and Diaz brought the French town's Croisette to a halt as hundreds of fans swarmed in to catch a glimpse of them.