Smith and Theron descend on Moscow to promote film
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Hollywood actors Will Smith and Charlize Theron walked the Russian red carpet on Thursday night to promote their newest film at its Moscow premiere.
Smith danced in a black suit alongside Oscar-winning Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov at the city's international film festival, which opened with his and Theron's film "Hancock," a comedy starring Smith as an alcoholic superhero.
"I love it here. This city has got so much energy," Oscar-nominated Smith told Reuters while jiving on a stage.
The festival, set up 30 years ago, will award its top prize to one of 16 films including indie flicks from Albania, Russia and Israel.
"I bow down to film festivals... you can really celebrate a lot of films that naturally would not have a long life span," Theron told reporters in Moscow earlier.
Theron, who won an Oscar for her performance in the 2004 film "Monster," later strutted the carpet clad in a floral fuchsia dress.
Japanese actor and director Takeshi Kitano will be given a lifetime achievement award at the week-long festival, which takes place in a Soviet-era cinema sandwiched between two casinos overlooking a statue of writer Alexander Pushkin.
Russian film is regaining popularity and higher box office returns at home as the economy booms for a 10th straight year, fuelled by record high oil prices.
The government expects its production companies to make $900 million in profits in 2011, almost double last year's earnings.
(Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman, editing by Tim Pearce)
