Dressed to kill: Chris Evans' leading lady Hayley Atwell takes the plunge in red dress at Captain America premiere

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 3:47 PM on 20th July 2011

She trained solidly for six days a week so she could convince everyone she could 'kick butt' for her role in Captain America.

And Hayley Atwell, who plays Chris Evans' leading lady in the comic book movie, did just that at the film's premiere in Los Angeles Last Night.

The 29-year-old actress poured her curves into a plunging three-quarter-length red dress for the event as she posed with her co-star.

Leading couple: Chris Evans and co-star Hayley Atwell pose on the red carpet at the premiere of Captain America: The First Avenger in Los Angeles last night

Taking the plunge: Hayley looked stunning in a low cut red dress while Evans donned glasses and a Navy blue suit

Duchess actress Hayley plays the part of freedom fighter Peggy Carter in World War II set movie, Captain America: The First Avenger.

Speaking about her role during filming, she said: 'I'm training at the moment six days a week to make her a bit more military and make it convincing that I could kick butt.'

She said of the character: 'She can do everything Captain America can do, but backwards and in high heels.

'She's an English soldier through and through, although she always looks fabulous.'

Glamorous ladies: Hayley teamed her look with beige heels while Vanessa Hudgens, who does not appear in the film, leant her support in a short gold dress

Captain America tells the story of a scrawny, bullied orphan named Steve Rogers who is chosen for a top secret government project during World War II in which he becomes a test subject for a super serum.

The serum transforms him into a strong and able soldier named Captain America, and he leads the U.S. Army in its fight against the Nazis.

Evans, who plays the title character in Friday's release of the movie, put on 15 lbs of muscle to play the role.

The film also stars Dominic Cooper (as Howard Stark) and Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury).

Parading their pins: Today presenter Maria Menunos looked fabulous in a form-fitting patterned dress while Avatar star Zoe Saldana slipped into shorts

Here come the boys: Co-star Dominic Cooper Samuel L. Jackson

Other celebs who came out in support of the movie included High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens, who looked stunning in a plunging gold dress.

Today Presenter Maria Menunos was also on hand in a form-fitting patterned dress while Avatar actress Zoe Saldana put her legs on show in short shorts and a matching jacket.

Having literally built Evans into what the film's director Joe Johnston called 'the perfect human specimen,' the movie makers had to figure out how the 6ft tall actor with the muscled-up physique could convincingly portray the pre-serum Steve Rogers, a scrawny kid of a mere 90-something lbs.

One option for was to superimpose Evans' head on a skinny body double, much like the technology employed by filmmaker David Fincher in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button when Brad Pitt had to age backward.

Joining in the fun: Robert Downey Jr and 90210 star Matt Lanter supported the event even though they are not in the movie

There was no way to take a year off because its backers at Marvel Studios have been on a tight schedule rolling out their superheroes one by one - including the recent Thor - so audiences will be familiar with most of them when they join forces in next summer's The Avengers.

'Chris moves in such a unique way; he doesn't move like anybody else,' Johnston told Reuters.

'The body double could not move like him. As hard as he tried to watch Chris and duplicate the movements, it just wasn't the same.'

That was perfectly fine with Evans, who was not keen on having another actor involved in creating the iconic role.

Happy couple: Chris Hemsworth, star of Thor which is also in the Marvel Comic books franchise, and his wife, actress Elsa Pataky

'The beginning part of the movie is so crucial to get the audience invested in who Steve is, I didn't want to share that part of the performance with another actor,' Evans, 30, told Reuters. 'I talked to Joe about it and thankfully, he agreed.'

Instead of the body double/superimposed head, the filmmakers used a 'shrinking' technique and computers to basically erase portions of Evans' strong physique on screen.

'We filmed over 250 shots of Chris and used digital technology to 'shrink' him down to what we called 'Skinny Steve,' Johnston explained.

'It's pretty amazing,' added Evans. 'They took shape out of my jaw line, they shrunk my skeleton and they made my shoulders less broad.'