Marion Cotillard: Making filmmaking about gender doesn't create equality, it creates separation

'You cannot ask a president in a film festival like Cannes to have five movies directed by women and five by men.'

Marion Cotillard speaks during The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation 2nd Annual Saint-Tropez Gala on 22 July, 2015 (Getty)

Macbeth actor Marion Cotillard has weighed in on the debate about women in Hollywood, saying that she believes equal representation could come at the cost of creative vision.

In quotes certain to be taken out of context and lead to a full apology by the end of the week, Cotillard declares: “I don't qualify myself as a feminist”.

“Filmmaking is not about gender," she told Porter magazine. "You cannot ask a president in a film festival like Cannes to have five movies directed by women and five by men.

"For me, it doesn't create equality, it creates separation. I don't qualify myself as a feminist. We need to fight for women's rights, but I don't want to separate women from men.

"We're separated already but we're not made the same and it's the difference that creates this energy in creation and love."

"Sometimes in the word feminism, there is too much separation.”

Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer also recently called for more nuanced debate.

"It upsets me that it has to be seen in such rudimentary 'We're better than you, you're better than us' terms. It shouldn't be about man or woman,” she said. “Surely as a modern society, what we're aiming for is just equality across the board?

"Feminism - that word is so misconstrued by so many people, especially young people, which disturbs me. It's not about 'girl power' - whatever that means! It's just about equality between the sexes and everybody being able to live as they wish."