Marion Cotillard reveals she 'struggled' to understand script for upcoming Macbeth film

Speaking at the Moroccan Film Festival, the actress said she found it hard to understand the Shakespearean script for her forthcoming film

Marion Cotillard says she struggled to understand the script for Macbeth (Getty images)

Marion Cotillard has revealed she struggled to understand the script for the forthcoming film Macbeth, in which she stars as Lady Macbeth.

The French actress, who will star alongside Michael Fassbender in the film, said: “The hardest thing is going to be performing in the original language. When I first read the script I didn’t understand anything.”

Cotillard added it had been her life-long ambition to play the Shakespearean heroine.

Speaking at the Marrakech Film Festival, she said: “I always thought that one day I would play Lady Macbeth. I just imagined that it would be on-stage, in French, and in Paris.”

The Oscar-winning actress, who was part of the jury at the film festival, shared the judging panel with Martin Scorsese, Patricia Clarkson, Golshifteh Farahani and directors Paolo Sorrentino, Fatih Akin, Park Chan-Wook, Amat Escalante, Narjiss Nejjar and Anurag Kashyap.

The top prize was awarded to South Korean film Han Gong-Ju, a drama about a young schoolgirl who is sent to stay with the mother of a schoolteacher.

The Jury Prize was shared between Blue Ruin (USA) and The Swimming Pool (Cuba and Venezuela), while the prize for Best Actor was shared between Didier Michon and Silmane Dazi for their role in Fevers (Morocco and France.)

Swedish star Alicia Vikander won the Best Actress award for her turn in Hotell (Sweden) and Best Director went to Andrea Pallaora for Medeas (USA, Italy and Mexico).