Tarantino says he fired Mélanie Laurent after poor ‘Inglourious Basterds’ read

Quentin Tarantino says he dismissed Mélanie Laurent from her original role in *Inglourious Basterds* after a poor table read, but later gave her another chance and cast her as Shosanna, a central character in the 2009 film.

The account appears in Jay Glennie’s new book, *The Making of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds*. Tarantino told the author that Laurent’s reading was “terrible” and that he had fired her. A few days later, she contacted him to ask for another opportunity, he said.

Tarantino also said Isabelle Huppert was due to play Madame Ada Mimieux, who shelters Shosanna in Paris, but did not attend the table read. He said contract difficulties had also dragged on, and that he replaced her with Maggie Cheung.

He praised Laurent’s eventual performance, saying: “She did a beautiful job.” *Inglourious Basterds*, released in 2009, earned more than $321.4 million worldwide, according to the Nieuws.nl report.