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Tom Hanks opens London Film Festival following diabetes revelation

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Tom Hanks arrived at the BFI London Film Festival to the sounds of cheering fans as he stepped out onto the red carpet.

The 57-year-old star was at Leicester Square to open this year's festival with the premiere of his latest thriller, Captain Phillips, in which Tom plays a cargo ship captain held captive by Somali pirates.

Tom, who recently revealed that he suffers from Type 2 diabetes, smiled for the cameras and made a joke about the light drizzle so known to Londoners.

© Photo: Getty Images

The father-of-four waved to crowds and signed autographs as he walked down the red carpet, accompanied by his wife of 25 years Rita Wilson.

Tom dressed immaculately in a black suit and matching black bow tie, while Rita looked graceful in a floor-length black dress with quirky patterned print down the side.

Speaking earlier at the London Film Festival, Tom said he would not be taking on more roles that require him to lose or gain extreme amounts of weight, given his recent diagnosis. "The gaining and the losing of weight may have had something to do with it because you eat so much bad food and you don't take any exercise when you're heavy," said Tom.

© Photo: Getty Images

"I've talked to a number of actors who have gained weight for roles and just out of the sheer physical toll on one's knees and shoulders, no one wants to do it again," he said. "I think that's more or less a young man's game. "But I think I was genetically inclined to get it and I think it goes back to a lifestyle that I have been leading ever since I was seven-years-old, as supposed to 36."

Other celebrities who are set to attend the festival to promote their work include Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench, Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes and Daniel Radcliffe.

Captain Phillips will be released in UK cinemas on 18 October.