Brighton schoolgirl Dakota Blue-Richards has spoken of her joy at rubbing shoulders with Hollywood A-listers.

The 13-year-old joined Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig on the red carpet at the premier of The Golden Compass tonight.

She beat 10,000 other hopefuls to land the role of Lyra Belacqua in the movie, which critics believe will be a major blockbuster this Christmas.

And tonight she stood with tears in her eyes as director Chris Weitz said how proud he was of the young star.

Speaking before the screening Dakota said: "I'm intimidated and over the moon about being here.

"It feels amazing and I can't wait to see the film."

The £90 million movie is already proving controversial with the Catholic League in the US calling for a boycott to stop young children turning to the three books in the His Dark Materials trilogy and seeing the anti-religious references.

The Golden Compass sees Lyra travel through a CGI-dominated universe of humans and their talking daemons as she attempts to rescue her kidnapped friend and fight the sinister Magisterium, which condones the surgical removal of children's souls.

The film, released on December 5, has had a troubled history with Chris Weitz, best known for the Hugh Grant movie About A Boy, originally quitting the film.

But he returned when his replacement Anand Tucker left the project.