But none of the movie's big names made it to the first showing at the UCI cinema in Cardiff Bay.

Brassed Off star Tara Fitzgerald is in the cast

A spokeswoman for the film's producers Fiction Factory said: "We are not having a premiere because the main cast are not attending."

Rhys Ifans - who received critical acclaim after appearing in his underpants in Notting Hill - is in Los Angeles.

She said fellow stars Tara Fitzgerald and Dani Behr were also in America.

With a star-studded cast - including Joseph Fiennes and Steven Berkoff - and led by Wales's hottest cinema export Rhys Ifans, producers are hoping it will become a cult classic along with the novel.

The film is also the directorial debut of Ed Thomas, who wrote the Welsh family drama House of America, which picked up two awards at the Stockholm Film Festival in 1997.

'Daftness'

"It has a Welsh crew, Rhys is Welsh and we shot a lot of it in or around Cardiff. I think it counts as a Welsh film because of its imagination and daftness," he said.

In the movie, Ifans assumes a London accent to play a failing businessman whose marriage is on the rocks while he is infatuated with his secretary.

Only his best friend, played by Joseph Fiennes, can save the day - with a little help from the Russian mafia.

Rancid Aluminium goes on general release across the UK on Friday.