State Of Play stars on red carpet

Russell Crowe and Dame Helen Mirren attended the world premiere of their political thriller State of Play, at London's Leicester Square on Tuesday.

Crowe, who plays reporter Cal McAffrey in the drama, said it made a change to walk the red carpet in the sun.

"I don't think I've ever been to a sunny premiere in London," he said.

"I've been to one... actually two or three, in the rain. A couple where I wore an overcoat and a scarf, so this is a brand new experience."

The film, based on the 2003 BBC series of the same name, opens on Friday.

'Heroic character'

I loved him, he's a wonderful actor to work with Helen Mirren on working with Russell Crowe

The movie was directed by Kevin Macdonald, whose credits include The Last King of Scotland and Touching The Void.

Originally Brad Pitt had been lined up to play Crowe's part - but Macdonald said he was pleased how the film had turned out despite the last-minute change.

"Brad made it clear a week or two before filming that he did not see the same film as I did," he said.

"Creatively, I could not be happier [with] Russell."

Mirren, too, expressed how pleased she was to have ended up starring alongside Crowe.

"I loved him, he's a wonderful actor to work with. I think the best thing was to be able to watch him work and learn form his work," she said.

Macdonald said Mirren had enjoyed playing a newspaper editor but that Crowe "wasn't sure he could play a heroic character as a journalist".

Asked by Radio 1 Newsbeat whether he had new-found sympathy for the press after making the film, Crowe said: "Absolutely none whatsoever. You tell me why I should."

Last month he told the BBC it was his belief that "objectivity is a myth" in the press, based on his "30 years of experience of being praised, flayed and betrayed by journalists".

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