The International Premiere

Thousands of fans greet a slightly bemused DiCaprio as he arrives for the premiere. (BBC)

WITH a premiere and a spectacular party costing £500,000, The Beach, the first super-hyped film of the year, was launched in Britain last night.

Hopes of a brief sighting of Leonardo DiCaprio and his on-screen lover, Virginie Ledoyen, brought thousands of fans to Leicester Square in London, many brandishing Valentine's Day messages. Some had camped overnight to claim a space by the crush barriers and were rewarded with glimpses of Noel Gallagher, George Michael, John Cusack and members of the pop groups Steps and All Saints, who provided the film's soundtrack.

But the turnout of about 3,000 fans was several thousand fewer than gathered for the British premiere of DiCaprio's 1998 film, The Man in The Iron Mask. After the premiere, DiCaprio led the celebrities to a five-storey warehouse in Covent Garden which had been expensively refurbished for a party.

Each floor was decorated with a different "theme" from the film, which is about backpackers on the hippie trail in Thailand in search of an idyllic beach. One floor became a Bangkok nightclub, complete with underdressed Oriental dancers and attendants. Another was designed like a beach, with bar staff working in several inches of water.

The £25 million film began life four years ago as a debut novel by Alex Garland, son of The Daily Telegraph political cartoonist Nicholas Garland. The book became a best-seller and the fortunes of the film, backed by a huge marketing and publicity campaign, rest heavily on the superstar status of 25-year-old DiCaprio - heart-throb to teenage girls and one of Hollywood's highest earners.

It is his first major role since Titanic, the first film ever to gross $1 billion. And the actor's salary accounts for half of the entire budget of the film. London's hot reception for the film last night may be read as a typical sign of British forgiveness.

Ewan McGregor had been due to play the role of the central character, Richard, but was dropped to make way for DiCaprio, an American, because 20th Century Fox wanted a globally bankable star. The Beach has been made by director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald and screenwriter John Hodge, the close-knit all-British team that made Trainspotting and Shallow Grave with McGregor.

McGregor was furious with his friends. After learning that he had been dropped, he said: "I think it wasn't handled very well. I wasn't told what was going on nearly early enough. I was led to believe I was playing the part for a long time."

McGregor did not attend last night's premiere. A spokesman for the film said: "His name is not on the invitation list I have been given. It may be that he's abroad, but I really don't know why he's not coming."

The Beach was shot on the Thai island of Phi Phi Lay. But the scenery was not quite idyllic enough for the film-makers. Some bushes were removed - which caused well-publicised protests and demonstrations by environmentalists - and many scenes have been created by computer animation to turn a bay into a lagoon and to remove the white trails left by aircraft flying overhead.

The Beach, which opens tomorrow, is likely to be the making of DiCaprio's co-star, 23-year-old French actress Ledoyen. Little-known outside France, the advance publicity is billing her as a new Brigitte Bardot.

She arrived as if going to a hippie beach party in pearl-embroidered jeans and a grey chiffon bikini top. Ledoyen, who was stung by a jellyfish during filming, said of working with DiCaprio: "He's a very playful person, a sweet guy and he's very clever. He's not looking for fame. He's a real actor."

To the doubtless astonishment of many of the girls in Leicester Square, she said that spending the rest of her life with DiCaprio on an idyllic island was not her idea of paradise. Instead, she claimed: "To find paradise I would want to be with my family and friends."

Other celebrities attending included Sir Richard Branson, Jade Jagger, Emma Bunton of the Spice Girls and the Chemical Brothers.

"For a while we were untouchable in our happiness"..

"I thought we'd have to talk about our positive energies a lot, kiss the earth every morning and recycle our waste products by some unspeakable mechanism. Fortunately not, it really was some kind of paradise!"