Kidman grabs the spotlight in The Paperboy

US director Lee Daniel's The Paperboy premièred at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday with Nicole Kidman's lead performance stealing the show.

Festival de Cannes

Australian film star Kidman, who's in two films at Cannes this year, wowed the glitterati as she glowed in her elegant cherry red dress at the top of the red carpeted steps up to the Cannes Film Festival's Lumière hall on Thursday evening.

She wowed many in the screening earlier in the day when she appeared on the screen in Lee Daniel's screen adaptation of The Paperboy as Charlotte, the sex-hungry blonde with bubble-gum pink lipstick.

The film is set in a still racially-divided small town Florida in 1969, and it seems everyone has something to hide.

So for director Lee Daniels the swamp setting is just perfect for all the sweat, lies and alligator guts.

The action in this film revolves around Jack Jansen, played by teen heart-throb Zac Efron a younger brother to Ward, and two female characters.

Anita who's been taking care of the Jansen family house and two boys since the mother ran off is the narrator, and Charlotte, the woman whose attempt to save a prisoner on death row, played savagely by John Cusack, form the backbone of the plot.

He describes The Paperboy as a coming-of-age film which gives voice to those who usually go unheard. Like that of the character played by Nigerian-origin Londoner David O-ye-lo-wo.

He reveals his secret in a smooth back-and- forth between a British public school accent and southern US.

With his third feature film, Daniels has moved into the Cannes festivals Golden Palm selection.