Tarantino says he fired Mélanie Laurent from Inglourious Basterds after a 'terrible' table read, then gave her the part back
By Fuzzy Mushroom · Published
In Jay Glennie's new book The Making of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino says Mélanie Laurent's table read was so bad he fired her, and that he also dropped Isabelle Huppert for not showing up. Laurent rang him days later, said she'd been unwell and offered to fly herself back to Germany to read again; after three days of rehearsal with him she won back the role of Shosanna. 'Let me just go on the record for everybody to know: I love Mélanie,' he says.
Brutal honesty or bad form: should Tarantino have kept the table-read story to himself?
How solid is this story?
Spore Score for the story: 84 (Rock solid). Status: Confirmed. On the record: Tarantino's own words in Jay Glennie's book on the making of the film.
The films
- Inglourious Basterds (2009): Spore Score 83, The Pros 79 vs The Punters 98
Sources
- Variety: Tarantino Fired Mélanie Laurent From 'Inglourious Basterds' After 'Terrible' Table Read and Axed Isabelle Huppert for Not Showing Up (11 November 2026)
- The Independent: Quentin Tarantino reveals why he fired one of his Inglourious Basterds stars and dropped another (11 November 2026)
Our own summary: we always link to the original reporting. More Spore News · How the Spore Score works