Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has revealed that actresses Melanie Laurent and Isabelle Huppert were initially fired from his 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, sharing details about the casting challenges and behind-the-scenes decisions during the making of the World War II drama, according to People.
“She didn’t show up, so….I fired her. I mean, I love Isabelle Huppert — ‘Heaven’s Gate’ and all that — but there were issues with her contract. It just kept stalling. And then not coming to the table read. The filmmaker also recalled initially firing Mélanie Laurent, who played Shosanna Dreyfus, after being disappointed with her performance during the table read. That is the closest I get to seeing the movie for the first time.”
In his book The Making of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds by Jay Glennie, released on November 10, Tarantino recalled how Huppert, who was cast as Madame Ada Mimieux, lost her role after failing to attend the film’s table read amid contractual issues.
Well, we cast Maggie Cheung instead,” Tarantino said. Explaining the importance of table reads in his filmmaking process, the director said, “That invariably happens. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re cast and you are not at that table, I don’t owe you jack…You can be fired, especially if I get excited by what somebody else did in your absence,” according to People. “Mélanie Laurent’s table read was terrible,” Tarantino said, adding that “it wasn’t good enough to be terrible. Describing the significance of the table read in his creative process, he said, “The one day, the most exciting day of preproduction is for me the table read.
Laurent eventually convinced the filmmaker and retained her role in the film, earning critical appreciation for her performance. “The fact of the matter is, if we were not talking about the making of Inglourious Basterds, I would never think about the table read again for the simple reason Melanie is my Shosanna.
“Let me just go on the record for everybody to know: I love Mélanie,” Tarantino said. Reflecting on why he decided to share the episode in the book, the filmmaker said that Laurent’s performance ultimately made her his definitive choice for the character. She did a wonderful job,” he said, as per the outlet.
