MARION COTILLARD - COTILLARD STRUGGLED WITH ACTING OUT MOTHER'S DEATH

Oscar nominee MARION COTILLARD is still haunted by her first acting job - when she had to pretend her mother had died. The French actress was just a child when she landed her first job and she struggled to comprehend why she had to grieve for her mother, who was waiting for her off camera. Cotillard, who is up for her first Best Actress Oscar this Sunday (24Feb08), recalls trying to pretend the actress playing dead in front of her was her mother. She says, "The director said to me, 'It's your mother,' and, in my head, I was like, 'She's not my mother, because my mother is there!' "It was so disturbing. I really remember this feeling I had."