Tarantino says he fired Isabelle Huppert from 'Inglourious Basterds'

Quentin Tarantino said earlier that he fired Mélanie Laurent from "Inglourious Basterds" after a "terrible" table read but later restored her to the role.

Tarantino says he also dismissed Isabelle Huppert, originally cast as Madame Ada Mimieux, after she missed the same read. His accounts appear in Jay Glennie's "The Making of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds," released Tuesday. People published an excerpt with his remarks, as noted by The Independent.

"Mélanie Laurent's table read was terrible. It wasn't good enough to be terrible," Tarantino said earlier in an interview for the book. "Well, Mélanie was terrible, so I fired her," he said.

Days later, Laurent called to seek another chance, telling Tarantino she had been unwell at the read.

"I will fly myself to Germany and put myself up into a hotel. I know you're busy, but I will wait until you see me again," Laurent told him, according to his account in the book. Tarantino said she insisted she would come regardless of his decision.

He agreed to "turn the clock back" and "return to square one" if she rehearsed with him for three days. Afterward, Laurent regained the part of Shosanna Dreyfus, a French cinema owner seeking revenge against the Nazi officer who killed her family.

"Let me just go on the record for everybody to know: I love Mélanie," Tarantino said earlier. He said the read would never cross his mind again "for the simple reason Mélanie is my Shosanna. She did a wonderful job." Still, he said their agreement to tell the film's story "warts and all" made the read an important piece of its history.

Huppert's departure also involved her contract. "I fired her," Tarantino said earlier, adding, "I mean, I love Isabelle Huppert." He said "there were issues with her contract. It just kept stalling. And then not coming to the table read."

Tarantino said an actor who misses the table read can be fired, since he owes them nothing, particularly when he finds another person's work exciting while they are away. It was not immediately known whether either Huppert or Laurent had replied to his account.

"In the Mood for Love" star Maggie Cheung took Huppert's role. Cheung filmed scenes, the Hindustan Times reported, but Tarantino cut every Madame Mimieux scene because he decided they explained too much to the audience.

"Maggie was fantastic in the movie, but you just didn't need to know how Shosanna acquired the cinema," Tarantino said earlier. He said a "Four Years Later" title card and Shosanna's explanation that she inherited the cinema from her aunt were sufficient.

The alternate-history World War II film follows two parallel plots to assassinate Nazi leadership in Paris, including an undercover mission by Jewish soldiers. Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender and Diane Kruger were in the cast.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2009, where Waltz won best actor. It opened in theaters that August and grossed $321 million worldwide, according to Variety.

Tarantino said earlier he has "no moral compass when it comes to giving roles to actors," because they must fit the world he has created. "I have fired actors in the past. If it's not right, it is not right," he said. "I owe my film the best actors I can find. Period."