You talkin' to me?.. Brown meets De Niro

FILM fan Gordon Brown came face to face with Hollywood legend Robert De Niro on a visit to Pinewood studios.

De Niro and co-star Claire Danes are filming the futuristic movie Stardust at the studios, near Slough.

The Chancellor was there to perform the official opening of a 1.5 million underwater film stage used in the recent films The Da Vinci Code and Basic Instinct 2. It is also due to be used in the next Bond film Casino Royale in June.

The Chancellor declared the stage officially open by pressing a button which plunged a battered blue Volkswagen Golf into the 20ft water pool.

"My son would love this", he grinned as the car fell into the water.

"Absolutely brilliant," he added. "A great sense of power - you don't get that as Chancellor."