In Jay Glennie's new book, "The Making of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds," Tarantino actually admits he fired Isabelle Huppert before cameras ever rolled on his 2009 WWII revenge movie. Her offense? She never showed up to the table read.
Huppert had been cast as Madame Ada Mimieux, the Parisian woman who takes Shosanna Dreyfus in after she escapes the slaughter of her family. According to Tarantino, her contract was being worked out, she was most likely going to be in the film, but when she skipped the read, he was done. "So fuck it. I fired her," he tells Glennie (via People). He did make a point of saying he still loves her, name-checking "Heaven's Gate.”
Imagine firing Isabelle Huppert from your movie. Isabelle Huppert. One of the great actresses of all time, the woman behind "The Piano Teacher," "La Cérémonie" and "Elle," dropped because she missed a read-through. Only Tarantino would do that.
For Tarantino, the table read is essential. He calls it the most exciting day of preproduction. Miss it, and as far as he's concerned you’re dead to him, or in his own words, he doesn’t “owe you jack shit.”
If you're cast and you are not at that table, I don't owe you jack shit! You can be fired, especially if I get excited by what somebody else did in your absence.
Huppert wasn't the only casualty. Mélanie Laurent was fired too, after a read Tarantino describes as terrible, but she called him, asked for another shot and won back Shosanna after three days of rehearsal with him. Huppert got no do-over.
The great Maggie Cheung (“In the Mood For Love”) replaced Huppert as Madame Mimieux, but that didn’t matter much either, he cut her entire part out of the film during the edit. Tarantino decided they over-explained how Shosanna came to run the cinema. He does say Cheung was "fantastic in the movie."
When "Inglourious Basterds" premiered in competition at Cannes in May 2009, the jury president was Huppert. Her jury handed Christoph Waltz the best actor prize for Hans Landa (and gave the Palme d'Or to Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon").
"The Making of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds" is out now.
Imagine firing Isabelle Huppert from your movie. One of the great actresses of all time, the woman behind "The Piano Teacher," "La Cérémonie" and "Elle," dropped because she missed a table read.