Iron Maiden frontman rocks up in Cannes with debut movie.

SHOWS: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 17, 2008) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. BOATS IN HARBOUR

2. STREET

3. IRON MAIDEN LEAD SINGER BRUCE DICKINSON GETTING OFF BUS AND SAYING "HELLO"

4. VARIOUS OF DICKINSON WALKING THROUGH STREETS OF CANNES

5. VARIOUS OF DICKINSON WALKING INTO PALAIS

6. PHOTOGRAPHERS

7. VARIOUS OF DICKINSON WITH CAST AND CREW BEING PHOTOGRAPHED

8. DICKINSON AND DIRECTOR JULIAN DOYLE BEING INTERVIEWED

9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRUCE DICKINSON SAYING:

"Here's a guy that was hugely influential on Western European culture. He was the world's first rock star for God's sake, you know, he was a prototype for the whole thing, a template for drug taking and sexual debauchery and behaving badly and egomania and everything, and yet, if you go into his life, he was - there's a lot more than that, he was, you know, he was interesting, he was witty, he was incredible knowledgeable and he came up with a philosophy, many things of which are now current, contemporary thinking."

VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS (FILE) (FOCUS FILMS/WARNER ENTERTAINMENT MUST COURTESY AND NO WIRELESS OR ARCHIVE USE)

10. CHEMICAL WEDDING TRAILER

CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 17, 2008) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) WRITER AND DIRECTOR JULIAN DOYLE SAYING:

"We don't want to make it sound too intellectual, Because it isn't - it's a grossly strange film. Somebody's likened it to Harry Potter - Harry Potter for adults, we I think is not a bad one - Bruce has a good one." "

12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRUCE DICKINSON SAYING:

"It's 'The Wicker Man' meets 'Withnail and I', you know, somebody said 'it's 'The Davinci Code' - but good," "

VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS (FILE) (FOCUS FILMS/WARNER ENTERTAINMENT MUST COURTESY AND NO WIRELESS OR ARCHIVE USE)

13. CHEMICAL WEDDING TRAILER

STORY: Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson flew into Cannes on Saturday (May 17) to plug his first movie 'Chemical Wedding'.

Dickinson arrived in Cannes much further from the Palais than he expected and had to walk through the streets of Cannes with a following press pack, much to the bemusement of locals used to seeing the stars cosseted in cars until they reach the red carpet.

Dickinson, who has also published novels, fenced at European level and pilots the Iron Maiden jet 'Ed Force One' - which he flew to Nice today - wrote the film with former Python collaborator Julian Doyle, who also directs the movie.

The film follows on a Cambridge University professor who apparently becomes infamous 1920's British occultist Aleister Crowley in a virtual reality experiment.

"Here's a guy that was hugely influential on Western European culture. He was the world's first rock star for God's sake, you know, he was a prototype for the whole thing, a template for drug taking and sexual debauchery and behaving badly and egomania and everything," said Dickinson.

"If you go into his life, he was - there's a lot more than that, he was, you know, he was interesting, he was witty, he was incredible knowledgeable and he came up with a philosophy, many things of which are now current, contemporary thinking," he added.

Crowley was a controversial figure in his time, and has popped up in popular fiction many time but this is the first time he has appeared on film. And the film looks to be no less controversial with scenes of devil worship, sadistic sex and drug use.

But director Julian Doyle said the movie was not to be taken too seriously.

"We don't want to make it sound too intellectual, Because it isn't - it's a grossly strange film. Somebody's likened it to Harry Potter - Harry Potter for adults," he said.

"It's 'The Wicker Man' meets 'Withnail and I', you know, somebody said 'it's 'The Davinci Code' - but good," Dickinson joked.

The film opens in the UK in May 2008.