PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Nicolas Winding Refn may have made viewers of BBC1 show Breakfast choke on their cornflakes this morning after the film director uttered a profanity while comparing violence to sex in his movie.
The show's presenters, who had just interviewed legendary hellraiser Shaun Ryder about his autobiography without incident, apologised following the remark.
British actress Carey Mulligan, who stars in the new film, Drive, opposite Ryan Gosling, was on the Breakfast couch with director Nicolas.
Asked about the violence in the movie, about a Hollywood stuntman moonlighting as a criminal getaway driver, he said it was "a bit like f******".
Presenter Bill Turnbull apologised and told the Danish-born film-maker, whose credits include Bronson, the 2008 film about notorious prisoner Charles Bronson, to "try and make the point without using that word".
The director, who apologised after being prompted by the show's presenters, continued: "Oh right... The violence is very much part of the sexual build-up...Violence in itself in the movie is an illusion.... it's unbelievable."
He said: "The job is to make it believable. When you do that the build-up is all about sex. It's all about the build-up."
A BBC spokesman said: "Unfortunately a guest used a swearword during a live interview on Breakfast. Bill Turnbull immediately challenged his language and both presenters apologised to viewers on air.
"There was a further apology at the end of the programme. We are sorry if anyone was offended."