Heart-throb Leonardo DiCaprio's latest film The Beach has received its world premiere in Los Angeles.

One of the most long-awaited movies of recent years, it marks the 25-year-old star's first starring role since the biggest blockbuster of them all - 1997's Titanic.

DiCaprio was at Mann's Chinese Theatre for the premiere, along with co-stars Virginie Ledoyen and Tilda Swinton.

He admitted he didn't like the media frenzy that went with such events. He told reporters: "I like to see the film but I don't like all of this."

DiCaprio plays a young American backpacker who travels to Thailand in search of a secret island paradise, in Trainspotting director Danny Boyle's big screen adaptation of Alex Garland's best-selling novel.

On the way, he meets up with Ledoyen and her boyfriend, but before long the dream turns into a Lord of the Flies nightmare.

In true Hollywood fashion, The Beach has been grabbing headlines ever since it was given the green light.

During filming in Thailand, local environmentalists accused Twentieth Century Fox of damaging a pristine beach and the film was the target of angry protests.

Boyle and the crew deny the accusations and claim to have actually improved the area by cleaning up rubbish on their arrival, and afterwards removing all trace of filming.

At the time DiCaprio said: "It's a stab at my reputation if I'm associated with a film that recklessly destroys things. From what I saw everything was okay. I consider myself an environmentalist and I saw nothing that was damaging."

Los Angeles-based privately-held POPcast Communications Corporation partnered Twentieth Century Fox to provide the live international webcast of The Beach's Hollywood premiere.

Next week DiCaprio is due at the Berlin Film Festival, where The Beach will be among 21 films vying for the prestigious Golden Bear prize.

The Beach is released worldwide on 11 February.