Celebrity Hand Jobs

Call us sceptical, but when we first got the press release from Odeon Cinemas explaining how visitors to their new cinema in London's Covent Garden would be treated to the likes of Sigourney Weaver handing out film guides, Tom Cruise as a loo attendant and Jude Law holding the soap we weren't convinced. But it's true. Tom Cruise's hand will open the lav door - or, to be more accurate, a cast of his hand will be the door handle. It's all part of a cunning wheeze to bring members of the public into closer contact with the stars. "We wanted to make people's trip to Odeon Covent Garden a little bit more memorable,' explains the cinema manager Mark Mannix. So they took casts of actors' handprints from the pavements at Leicester Square and made them into everyday items. Our favourites include Kate Winslet's hand as the soap holder in the men's toilets, Clint Eastwood's upturned palm as the ketchup drip tray and Billy Crystal's paw as the serviette holder. Only Sir Michael Caine receives due respect - his hand cast is framed in the cinema's foyer.