Ryan Gosling: Michelle Williams slam-dunked sex scenes

Speaking to Us Magazine at the film premiere, the 30-year-old said: 'I felt like Scottie Pippin and she was Michael Jordan. Every time I gave her the ball, she just flew through the air and she slam-dunked it.'

The raunchy drama was originally deemed to be so explicit that it was banned from regular cinemas, and even from being advertised on TV, but eventually was downgraded from an NC-17 rating to an R rating, meaning under-17s must be accompanied by an adult.

'People don't understand what NC-17 means,” Ryan said. “It's not like we're saying we think kids under 17 should see the movie. What NC-17 really means is that it can't play in regular theatres and you can't even show an ad for it on television. I don't think it deserves that.'

And Williams agreed: 'The thought that this thing that I had spent seven years of my life on was down in its final stages was too much for me to bear. I wasn't ready to let it go.'