Michael Fassbender was told he stank of fish by his 'Macbeth' co-star Marion Cotillard at the Cannes Film Festival.

During the Shakespeare film's premiere at the glitzy event earlier this year, the French beauty approached him about the fishy smell and advised him to get some chewing gum, which worried him as he was already chewing minty gum.

He recalled: ''I was surprisingly relaxed (at Cannes), other than Marion telling me that I smelt of fish. I was sitting next to her, and she was like, 'Did you have fish for dinner?' I said, 'Yes,' and she was like, 'I just want to tell you because I'm your friend that maybe you should have some chewing gum.'

''And I was like, 'I'm eating chewing gum!' So then I had to (mimes breathing into hands) to see if I stank of fish! This was not how I imagined that moment to be.''

Away from his dinner dilemmas, the hunky thespian has voiced his opinions on gender inequality in Hollywood and he thinks it's ''ridiculous'' as some of the best actors of the moment are women, and names his co-star Marion and Jennifer Lawrence as two notable names.

He told Stylist magazine: ''I think it's wrong. Absolutely wrong ... It's ridiculous, isn't it? Some of the most exciting actors out there at the moment are female. Jennifer Lawrence, Mia Wasikowska, Alicia Vikander, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet ... It needs to happen, and it needs to happen faster.''