Cotillard: Whales made me guilty

Marion Cotillard told how she had to overcome her hatred of seeing animals in captivity to work with whales on her new film.

The Inception star - an avid wildlife campaigner who has worked with animal welfare and supporting charities including WildAid and Greenpeace - plays a whale trainer in love story Rust & Bone, which premiered at Cannes, and had to work with killer whales every day and get them to perform tricks.

Marion revealed at the Cannes Film Festival: "I've always had a repulsion going in a place where animals are in captivity. I had to work through my rejection of this world, which I still feel. But I had a job.

"Even though the orcas are as big as trucks, they're animals, and you have a connection with them."

The 36-year-old Oscar-winner confessed she felt guilty withholding treats from the whales as she learned to perform tricks with them.

Marion plays a young woman who suffers a terrible accident and loses both her legs in the film based on a short story by Craig Davidson and directed by A Prophet's Jacques Audiard.

The film wowed the critics at Cannes and is already tipped to win the Palme d'Or prize for best film.