(REUTERS) - Undertaking the role of bloodthirsty Macbeth in the eponymous Shakespearean tragedy was one Michael Fassbender admitted to being a ''daunting'' task.

The actor described the challenges that came with playing a character in one of William Shakespeare's most famous works.

"There's just so many endless versions you can do, and various interpretations of it, which is very encouraging and also kind of depressing because I would walk away thinking, 'God, you know there's another thousand ways that that could have been done'," he said.

"But just really becoming comfortable with it, you know it's not one of those texts where you can sort of go in, look at it the morning before and sort of wing it, it's definitely something that I just spent many hours at home practising, you know, and getting comfortable with it."

Playing a big-screen Shakespearean role for the first time, was a task the 38-year-old actor found slightly intimidating.

He said: "It's definitely daunting because the work is so excellent, you feel a responsibility to it and you don't want to make a shambles of it, so yeah it's daunting."

Fassbender, who stars alongside James McAvoy in X-Men: Days Of Future Past, admitted that he spoke to his co-star while preparing for the role, as McAvoy has played Macbeth on stage previously.

"James (McAvoy) and I had a few conversations about it and he actually gave me a miniature Macbeth sort of book thing, which was quite cute, and yeah so you know we just sort of discussed various things about the relationship, what we felt it was about, and yeah it was fun conversations and things that I did remember when I was prepping it," he said.

Fassbender stars alongside French actress Marion Cotillard, who plays the role of Lady Macbeth.

The film premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival and has been nominated for several categories in the British Independent Film Awards.

Macbeth will be released in US cinemas on Dec 4.