Emily Mortimer - Emily Mortimer Regrets Martin Scorsese's Birthday Card Gift

The Shutter Island star was shooting upcoming film Hugo Cabret on location with the director when she learned it was his birthday - and realised she had no gift for him.

Desperate, she remembered she had a birthday card intended for her godson in her luggage - and she decided to give him that.

The card in question featured a photo of British comedienne Catherine Tate's seedy pensioner character Nan on the front with a spoken-word message inside.

Mortimer recalls, "I thought, 'That is the most brilliant thing...' (Tate) is brilliant but she dresses up as this horrible, wee-stained old lady with her knickers round her ankles.

"It was five o'clock in the morning and we were about to start the day, and I thought. 'This is the most brilliant thing; I'm gonna give him this and it'll be better than all those expensive presents because he'll see the charm of the British sense of humour.

"It was a disaster... On the way in (to work) I was saying to (co-star) Sacha Baron-Cohen, 'Do you think this is a good thing?' And he was a bit like, 'No, I don't think you should.' I was thinking he was jealous.

"But, as he (Scorsese) opened it I could see his little face fall... He's actually a very classy guy and very refined... and this old granny with wee on her knickers... I could see him trying to be nice but it was just awful, and I couldn't look him in the eye ever again.

"Sacha loved it - he tormented me the whole of the rest of the film."