BERLIN (REUTERS) - The red carpet was rolled out in Berlin on Friday (Nov 13) for the European premiere of Steven Spielberg's latest film, Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies.

Tom Hanks stars, playing a New York lawyer charged with defending a suspected Russian spy.

Things get complicated when a US pilot working for the CIA is captured on a reconnaissance mission over the USSR, and Hanks' character finds himself sent to Berlin to negotiate a prisoner exchange.

Based on true events, the film's screenplay was co-written by the Coen brothers alongside Matt Charman.

Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Spielberg said he had chosen to make the story into a film not because of a particular political relevance today, but because of the individual at its heart. He added that it was "absolutely just" that the European premiere was in Berlin, where around half the film was shot.

Hanks, who seemed in jubilant spirits as he greeted crowds with his wife Rita Wilson, said he was delighted to be back in the German capital. The two film giants were joined at the premiere by co-stars Amy Ryan, who plays Donovan's wife Mary, and Sebastian Koch, the German actor perhaps best known for his role in Oscar-winning movie The Lives of Others, this time playing East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel.

Bridge of Spies premiered in New York in early October and has since taken over US$55 million (S$78.2 million) in the United States, meeting with generally strong reviews.