Hanks shows his true colours

Charlie Wilson's War star Tom Hanks took his character's maverick streak on to the red carpet at the film's London premiere last night, wearing a claret Aston Villa scarf. He spent a good deal of his Leicester Square walkabout declaring how much he "likes the team". In the film, the actor plays playboy congressman Wilson, who secretly financed rebels in Afghanistan in their war with the Soviets. But Hanks preferred to stay off the topic of politics when asked who he was supporting in the US Presidential election. "You guys have all the luck in the UK, you get yours over and done with so quickly. We've got several more months to go. Ask me in six months when I've decided."

Hanks stars alongside Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War, which is based on a true story. Roberts, who was pregnant while filming the movie, including scenes where she wears a bikini, is tipped to win her second Oscar for her role as a socialite who turns gun-running spy and whose work, along with the Texan congressman and a CIA agent, played by Hoffman, contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile the film is up for five Golden Globes this Sunday: best picture, best screenplay and one best actor nomination each for the three leads.