THE Terminal tells the story of Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), a visitor to New York City from Eastern Europe, whose homeland erupts in a fiery coup while he is in the air en route to America.

Stranded at John F. Kennedy International Airport with a passport from nowhere, he is unauthorised to enter the United States and must improvise his days and nights in the terminal's international transit lounge until the war at home is over.

As the weeks and months stretch on, Viktor finds the compressed universe of the terminal to be a richly complex world of absurdity, generosity, ambition, amusement, status, serendipity and even romance with a beautiful flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

But Viktor has long worn-out his welcome with airport official Frank Dixon, played by Stanley Tucci, who considers him a bureaucratic glitch, a problem he cannot control but wants desperately to erase.

"Almost everybody has been stuck in an airport," says director/producer Steven Spielberg.

"I don't know anyone who hasn't spent longer sitting in an airport chair than on the airplane ride itself at some point. Airports have become small microcosms of society.

"There are places to eat, places to shop, places to meet people."

Tom Hanks, who portrays Viktor Navorski, the man stranded in The Terminal, says: "I read the screenplay and thought it was almost too good to be true," adding that anyone who has touched down in a foreign country might relate in some way to Viktor's plight.

"I don't think any human being who has been to a land where they don't speak the language - or even if they do - has not felt that complete disenfranchisement. I remember the first time I went overseas, I felt incredibly, immediately self-conscious. I was nervous about approaching anybodynever mind having problems with your papers and with immigration and the Homeland Security Department and whatnot. So, yes, I think his situation is very relatable."

Hanks adds: "What I liked about the screenplay is that Viktor comes to understand what's at stake."

"He understands the way the world works in this case. There is no point in him railing against the state, because it's too big for him to conquer by himself, so while he's here, he will make the best life that he can for himself."

Viktor's interest in people and open heart soon brings him friends, and even the possibility of a romance when a United Airlines flight attendant named Amelia Warren literally slips into his life.

Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Amelia, who the director describes as "a girl who is very unlucky in love," adding: "It was Catherine's challenge to convey all of Amelia's vulnerability and insecurity, and I think she did an exceptional job."

Zeta-Jones adds: "I think Amelia's vulnerability is what attracted me to the part. I love the trust she puts in people; even when she gets hurt, she has a tiny iota of faith that it's going to work out. She is also very open - she wears her emotions on her sleeve - so when she meets Viktor, she has no trouble expressing what's going on in her life. She wants terribly to have someone who will just listen to her, and she finds that person in Viktor.

"It's a wonderful coming together of two lonely characters that turns into a charming relationship."

"The Terminal is really an immigrant's tale," offers Spielberg, although Viktor Navorski is not technically an immigrant, as he only plans to visit New York City.

"It goes back to what makes this country so great and so strong - immigrants coming here from around the globe to the land of milk and honey,' a place where they are allowed to dream of a better life for themselves.

"In some ways, we have lost sight of the immigrant's plight because security is more intense than ever before, and justifiably so. I think in a sense, this story celebrates the great American melting pot.

"That is why Viktor interacts so effortlessly with people from different cultures and walks of life so effortlessly, and why I wanted to have such an international cast."