Former Destiny's Child star Beyonce was in the South of France last night to show the film industry a sneak preview of her new film musical, Dreamgirls, supposedly loosely based on the story of The Supremes.

Penelope was at the glamourous event because her new Spanish film, Volver, is up for the prestigious Palme D'Or.

Eddie Murphy also starred in the film, about a trio of black female soul singers, which observers say is the story of The Supremes.

After showing a group of critics a 20-minute preview of the film, Foxx joked: "The toughest thing in the movie was to have to kiss Beyonce thinking that Jay Z (Beyonce's boyfriend) was going to kick my arse."

The Academy Award winner said he had a good feeling about the film, which was greeted by ecstatic cheers by reviewers who saw the clips.

Sir Ian McKellen was also at the Dreamgirls film event and said he thought the movie was incredible.

He also defended the Da Vinci Code movie, in which he plays Sir Leigh Teabing, after its raft of negative reviews, saying: "It's at least as good as the book and I don't worry about the critics, I worry about the audience."

Cruz pointed to Hollywood's lack of roles for older women when she publicised her film at a press conference earlier in the day.

The 32-year-old former girlfriend of Tom Cruise played the mother in the movie by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and said of the film maker: "He writes for women who are 14, 30, 45, 60 or 80. This film was an example of that. We have great parts for all ages. But for sure that doesn't happen out there."

Citing the Da Vinci Code, Almodovar criticised the "total hegemony" of the US cinema industry in Europe, and "all the American films that are filling up our cinemas".

He added: "About 85% of our cinemas are showing American films; in the US only 2% are showing foreign films so you can see there's a huge difference."

Cruz became a star in her native country by working on Almodovar's films before shooting to fame in Hollywood with Captain Corelli's Mandolin.