Quentin Tarantino has just revealed behind-the-scenes details of the filming of Inglourious Basterds, released in 2009. In a new book dedicated to the making of his film, the American director recounts having fired Mélanie Laurent after a script reading he found catastrophic. He also reveals having dismissed Isabelle Huppert, initially cast for another role. While the former eventually managed to regain her place, the latter never participated in the film.
These revelations appear in The Making of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, a book by Jay Glennie published on November 10. The filmmaker discusses his demands of the actors and several decisions made before shooting his World War II film.
« Mélanie was terrible, so I fired her »
Mélanie Laurent had been chosen to play Shosanna Dreyfus, a young Jewish French woman whose family was murdered by the Nazis. But during the first collective script reading, her performance provoked the director’s anger.
« Mélanie Laurent’s reading was horrible. It wasn’t even good enough to be called horrible », recounts Quentin Tarantino, who explains that he attaches great importance to this exercise that brings actors together before filming.
For him, this reading represents the first moment he can truly hear his film come to life. He discovers the dialogues performed by the actors after spending months working on his script.
The verdict is clear: « Mélanie was bad, so I fired her! »
The French actress thus loses the film’s leading female role, even though she had already been selected to play Shosanna.
Mélanie Laurent calls Tarantino back and gets a second chance
Refusing to give up, Mélanie Laurent decides to contact Quentin Tarantino personally. She explains that she was ill on the day of the reading and that her performance did not reflect her abilities.
The actress then offers to travel to Germany at her own expense, book a hotel room, and wait for the director to agree to see her again for a new audition.
Her determination eventually convinces Tarantino, who agrees to give her a second chance but imposes three days of rehearsals before making his final decision.
This time, Mélanie Laurent manages to convince him. She regains the role of Shosanna Dreyfus and participates in the filming alongside Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger, and Michael Fassbender.
In hindsight, Quentin Tarantino states he holds no grudge against the actress. He even praises her performance: « I want to make it clear to everyone: I love Mélanie. Mélanie is my Shosanna. She did a fantastic job. »
The director also explains that he had practically forgotten this episode before revisiting the film’s behind-the-scenes for the book.
Isabelle Huppert also fired, but without a second chance
Mélanie Laurent is not the only French actress to have faced Quentin Tarantino’s demands during the preparation of Inglourious Basterds.
Isabelle Huppert was initially supposed to play Madame Ada Mimieux, a woman connected to Shosanna’s past and her settling in Paris. But contract negotiations dragged on and the actress did not show up for the collective script reading. An absence Tarantino does not forgive her for : « She didn’t show up! So I fired her. I love Isabelle Huppert, but there were problems with her contract. It kept dragging on. »
The filmmaker then decided to give the role to Maggie Cheung, notably known for her performance in In the Mood for Love.
Unlike Mélanie Laurent, Isabelle Huppert does not get a new audition. Her dismissal is final.
Tarantino fully owns his decision: « If you’re hired and you’re not present at this reading, I owe you absolutely nothing! »
Maggie Cheung replaces Isabelle Huppert… before being cut in editing
The story has one last twist. Maggie Cheung did film her scenes for Inglourious Basterds, but Quentin Tarantino ultimately decided to cut them during editing.
The director considers that the scenes devoted to Madame Ada Mimieux provide unnecessary explanations about how Shosanna inherited her Parisian cinema. « Maggie was fantastic in the film, but you simply didn’t need to know how Shosanna acquired the cinema », he explains.
He ultimately prefers to summarize this part of the story with a time jump and a few indications given to the viewer.
Result: Isabelle Huppert is fired before filming, Maggie Cheung has all her scenes cut, and Mélanie Laurent remains the only one of the three actresses to appear in the final version.
« I owe them nothing »: Tarantino owns his radical methods
In this book, the director of Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Django Unchained claims total freedom in choosing his performers. He considers that the film’s success comes before commitments made to actors: « I’ve fired actors in the past. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I owe them nothing. I owe my film the best actors I can find. Period. »
Released in 2009 after a screening at the Cannes Film Festival, Inglourious Basterds grossed about $321 million worldwide. Christoph Waltz, who plays the Nazi colonel Hans Landa, notably won the Best Actor award at Cannes, then the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Mélanie Laurent, whom Quentin Tarantino had initially decided to part ways with, ultimately kept one of the most memorable roles of her international career. As for Isabelle Huppert, her character never appears in the film’s final cut.
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