Marion Cotillard Covers 'Vogue' August 2012

Marion Cotillard graces the cover of Vogue‘s August 2012 issue, on newsstands July 24.

Here is what the 36-year-old Dark Knight Rises actress had to share with the mag:

On being a working mother: “I’ve never been more exhausted. But I’ve never had more energy. This is the paradox of being happy. That’s where it comes from.”

On being fascinated by her parent’s theater friends as a child: “All my friends, their parents had jobs that were very repetitive�”they would do every day the same thing. But my parents’ friends would go to a little town in France, the next day they would be in Peru, the next day they could be in Hong Kong. They were artists. They had freedom.”

Director Christopher Nolan on Marion: “The word challenging is thrown around as some kind of pejorative to mean an actor who’s difficult. But Marion is challenging in the true sense of the word. She’s so good you don’t want to waste that talent. You want to hold up your end.”

FYI: Marion is wearing a Burberry Prorsum quilted velvet coat and a Balmain belt on the cover.

For more from Marion, visit Vogue.com!