By Laura McQuillan of NZPA

Wellington, Dec 14 NZPA - The stars of The Lovely Bones were joined by some of New Zealand's own version of celebrities on the red carpet for the film's Wellington premiere tonight.

Before director Peter Jackson and stars Susan Sarandon and Saoirse Ronan made their way to the Embassy Theatre, Shortland Street actors past and present posed with fans and signed autographs.

But the likes of Shane Cortez, Craig Parker and Kimberley Crossman were outshone by local heroes, comedian Rhys Darby and director Taika Waititi, before the night's stars entered stage left.

Sarandon, who played the film's "self-medicating" glamorous grandma, teamed a long black Roland Mouret dress with no shoes -- to "honour Peter Jackson and the other Kiwis who never wear shoes", she said.

She hoped New Zealanders would enjoy the film.

"I hope they're frightened and cry and laugh and other things that a viewer of a movie should have, and then that they argue about it afterwards."

Jackson said premieres in Wellington had "a real kind of hometown feel" -- fitting for his hometown.

"The Wellington premieres are great because you get so many of the crew and the actors and cast come along to the screening so it's got a real kind of hometown feel about it.

Of the film's mixed reviews -- some scathing -- Jackson said "it's all good".

"Reviews are reviews and you can't make a film that's going to please every single person that sees it. I think you'd go completely nuts if you tried to."

Lead actress Ronan, who played murdered teen Susie Salmon, was not reading the reviews.

She said she loved working with Jackson -- "he is a genius of a director, he's a normal dude, and I like that" -- and, while aged only 15, she was already planning a career in acting, writing and directing.

One of the film's co-writers, Philippa Boyens, also was unfazed by criticism of the film.

"It's been interesting because it's a slightly schizophrenic reaction -- we've had some extraordinarily rave reviews and we've had reviews which are basically `we don't get it'.

"The one thing we did notice is nobody said they were bored, which was great, and ... you can't make films to try and be the darling of film critics...

"I think people need to go and see it for themselves, it's one of those kind of movies."