'I thought it was funny' ­— Robert De Niro on how he came to star in a Warburtons television advert

The Hollywood great followed in the footsteps of Sylvester Stallone by coming to the town to film and appearing alongside company chairman Jonathan Warburton in a campaign earlier this year.

De Niro, aged 76, told British GQ: "Look, they asked me to do it and I met the guy, Warburton, and I thought it was funny.

"I saw Stallone do it and I thought at least he has a sense of humour about it and about himself. And I thought I can look at it two ways.

"Should I think I should never have done that? I'm too good for that or something? And I said, f*** it, I'll do it. Why not?"

The star of The Godfather Part II and Raging Bull added: "Don't hold it against me."

In the advert, two-time Oscar winner De Niro played an amalgam of his gangster film characters as he and his accomplices attempted to thwart Warburtons' bagel sales in favour of their New York products.

All of the action in the advert is unknown to the oblivious Warburton, who thinks De Niro is delivering a pitch for a new film.

Stallone starred in a Warburtons advert in 2015, running up the steps of Bolton Town Hall, in a throw back to the iconic Rocky scene in which he runs up the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

De Niro, who next appears in Martin Scorsese's new gangster film The Irishman alongside Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, also took aim at Donald Trump.

He told the magazine: "He's beyond a horrible person. I went on television the day after he was elected and I said, 'I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt'.

"But he's worse than we ever thought he would be. He's an idiot. He's a fool. He's a buffoon. He's silly. He's tacky. He's dangerous.

"That stupid show The Apprentice, people bought it. They buy into it... They created a monster."

The December issue of British GQ is available via digital download and news stands on Friday November 1.