Ok, Maggie Cheung’s role as the original cinemateque owner Madame Mimieux in “Inglourious Basterds” was cut out of the picture before it even hit Cannes. This we all know.
Her character shelters the wanted Shosanna and then passes away from a fever, leaving the protagonist to take over running the cinema (don’t worry none of that is spoilers because none of it is in the actual film).
She was fine with the decision, Quentin Tarantino had to obviously cut something to take down the gargantuan length (it’s a necessary and unfortunate decision, here’s some more thoughts on the matter) and the excised scenes will eventually find their way onto the DVD.
But ironically, Shosanna, played by French actress Melanie Laurent was actually fairly upset that Cheung was cut from the film and explained what happens in those missing scenes to MovieLine:
Did you ever get to see those scenes cut together?
“No. I was a little bit frustrated, to be honest. In the [cut] scenes, [my character] was hiding myself in the cinema, and after this screening, Maggie’s [character] just appeared and said, ‘I know you’re hiding yourself, and I don’t want to have any troubles, so get your ass out.’ And I was like, ‘Can I stay?’ And she said, ‘No — except if I can use you.’ The next scene was at the projection booth, and she says to [her assistant] Marcel, ‘That young lady wants to hide herself here. Usually, you need one day to learn how to project a movie. I’ll give you twenty minutes. If you do it, you can stay.’ “
When did Quentin tell you those scenes had been cut?
“When I saw the movie [at Cannes].” [ed., d’oh!]
Hopefully they told Maggie before that! What was her performance like?
“She was great. She was so beautiful, I was like… [Laurent lets her jaw drop]. I remember one take, I just forgot my line. I went, ‘Oh, sorry, I was watching Maggie, this beautiful woman.’ I was really impressed by her beauty.
You can get the context on the DVD when it eventually hits (2015 at Quentin’s normal pace?) or you can just buy the screenplay that came out earlier this week which will give you the full back story. We recommend the latter. It’s our favorite part of the so-so ‘Basterds’ experience as a film. [MovieLine]