Virtually the world of tomorrow - today

Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow were out in force yesterday to herald the arrival of their new film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

16:46 28 September 2004

Darlings of the burgeoning British film industry Jude Law and UK-based Gwyneth Paltrow were out in full force in London yesterday to herald the arrival of their new larger than life, CGI-laden blockbuster Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

The pair dazzled the crowd of fans and paparazzi during their red-carpet arrival at the event in Leicester Square ahead of the country's first screening of the all action flick which is set in a beautifully, and entirely, CGI-rendered 1930s New York.

With Paltrow playing the an inquisitive reporter who joins forces with dashingly heroic pilot, played by Law, in order to stave off the unwanted advances of an army of giant flying robots, the film makes more than a nod and a wink to the bygone era of Saturday morning adventure classics like Flash Gordon.

Having already topped the US box office charts on its opening weekend, Sky Captain looks set to do the same here if the reception accorded to the stars last night is anything to go by, and with action a plenty and a co-starring role for fantasy-figure Angelina Joley as an eye-patch-sporting rogue fighter pilot Franky Cook.

In an innovative twist, the sci-fi thriller was made entirely without sets or location and filmed entirely against a blue screen, with computer graphics used in post-production to add the background and other images.

Commenting on the difficulties encountered on set Paltrow, who celebrates her 32nd birthday on Tuesday, said: "It's a difficult technique but it was actually fun. You've just got to use your imagination."