Earlier this month Irish actor Pierce Brosnan hit the headlines after he was stopped at a Vermont airport with his 14-year-old son for allegedly trying to bring a hunting knife on board a plane. Now though, he's setting the record straight and says the facts were sensationalised.

The GoldenEye star was taken aside at Burlington International Airport when the blade showed up during a routine baggage scan. Eyewitnesses said Pierce seemed “furious” when questioned about the knife, which was supposedly five inches when folded but ten inches when extended.

However, speaking to news show Extra this week, Pierce clarified that the knife was simply part of his painting kit, and it wasn't as big as the papers were reporting.

""' of a knife,” Pierce said at the premiere of his new film No Escape in Los Angeles on Monday. "I'm a painter. I'm an artist, so I had my pencils. The knife just went into the bag, you want to keep your pencils sharpened."

Pierce was questioned twice by officials before finally being allowed to proceed through security and board his flight to Detroit.

At the time of the incident, the actor was apparently overheard saying to his son "I can’t believe they’re doing this."

Speaking on Monday night though, the Louth-born star didn't seem too fazed by the whole affair, laughing it off with reporters and posing with sons, Sean, 31, Dylan, 18, and Paris, 14.

Pierce stars alongside Lake Bell and Owen Wilson in No Escape, the story of an American couple trying escape Asia in a time of political unrest.