London - Actress Liv Tyler and young heartthrob Elijah Wood brought the magic of Middle Earth to London last night as they stole the show at the world premiere of the first Lord of the Rings movie.
The pair cast a spell on a crowd of 2,000 who were screaming for them as they arrived at the star-studded screening of the £76 million movie. Tyler was stunned by the reception. "I've seen nothing like this ever before," she said.
Guests - including fellow stars Sir Ian McKellen, Sean Bean and Christopher Lee - arrived beneath a row of burning rings as they entered the Odeon, Leicester Square. And all agreed that the film would come to be seen as one of the cinematic greats in years to come. Sir Ian said: "It's indisputably a landmark in movie history. It's biblical."
The only major star missing from the premiere of the fantasy epic was actress Cate Blanchett who gave birth to her first son Dashiell on Wednesday and chose not to attend.
The film, The Fellowship of the Ring, is the first instalment in the trilogy of books written by JRR Tolkien which have been adapted for the big screen. Filming took place over 15 months in New Zealand and in an audacious move all three films were shot at the same time to save the hassle and expense of rebuilding the lavish sets.