get by with a little help from my friends: A KFAD information/cast post

[suspiriorum]

It must be said that this is a post that's been a long time coming. With all that's happening with my fic, King For A Day, I found it was best to compile an information and character post, not only to help explain some things, but because I honestly couldn't be more excited for the direction and shape it's taking.

Wordy and graphics-heavy, but worth it.



Introduction.

It's no big secret that I came away from seeing Inglourious Basterds in the theater back in 2009 completely in love with the Shosanna Dreyfus/Fredrick Zoller dynamic. I was almost uncertain of what I had felt; all I knew was that the two of them, and their story arc, absolutely moved me. To make matters worse, the film's mad-man of a creator had to say this:

"Because there was something about Zoller. He really liked her. Everything Zoller did that ended up fucking her up and putting her in this situation, he did with good intentions. His biggest crime was liking her. I think of that scene as a romantic scene. It's Romeo and Juliet. Those bullets? That's them consummating their relationship. In any other time in the 20th century, they could have been in love. Except for that one time."

Quentin, as I would soon discover, went on and on and on and on and on about Shosanna/Fredrick, but it was that first quote above that, so to speak, launched a thousand ships for me.

King For A Day (and the story so far).

I had never attempted to write fan fiction before (read it? squeal over it? certainly), and King For A Day was my first foray into it. My original aim, which still carries true to the story as it has become, was to write something that could have plausibly fit into the film's canon; a simple one-shot to further explore the relationship between Shosanna and Fredrick.

I continued to write other fic and analyzations for them, with the original intent of writing a completely separate, multi-chapter AU focused primarily on Fredrick. I didn't quite realize, until at the suggestion of bourbonights, that I already had the beginnings of something with KFAD.

Quentin's quote is what gave me the drive to continue the story; because, if not for the war, Shosanna and Fredrick would've been together.

But what if they survived the night the war ended?

And thus, that became the reason to turn a simple one-shot into a multi-chapter fic. There was so much provided by the film and the script that I couldn't not do it; it gave me the chance to explore their relationship - that wasn't this truly impossible thing - and all of their traumas. The war is over, they're both alive, so what now?

I have to say that this is the kind of fic I wanted to read about Shosanna and Fredrick ever since after watching IB, and I suppose it's fitting that I'm the one to write it. I never did imagine that it would grow into what is has become.

The story so far: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |

The lovers.



Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl) and Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent).

Fredrick Zoller is the nineteen year old German War Hero and star of Joseph Goebbels' propaganda masterpiece, Stolz der Nation. But more than, that, Fredrick is just a young man damaged from his experiences. It's no coincidence that Quentin based Fredrick off of American War Hero Audie Murphy, who shares very similar traits with the fictional German, right down to the fact that both suffered PTSD from their time as enlisted men.

Fredrick is from Munich, Germany, a fact - like other details about him - that was only in the script.[*] He is the baby out of six older sisters, with Helga, the one who raised him, as the oldest. Fredrick's mother died when he was a child, and with his father quickly abandoning the family[*], the Zoller children were left to their own devices. Together, they remained close-knit and became their own thriving family unit as they continued to own and operate the family cinema, Das Kino Haus[*]. As I feel the need to stress, this was information that Fredrick only shared with Shosanna.

Fredrick's young age was determined by the fact that in the script, Shosanna was only nineteen before being aged up to twenty-two in the film; Fredrick was described as being around the same age[*] as her before this change. Aside from the fact that Daniel can totally get away with playing a nineteen year old, I felt it was best fitting the character to keep him that young.

Formerly Emmanuelle Mimieux, Shosanna Dreyfus was the twenty-two year old theater proprietor of Le Gamaar in Paris, France. Originally from the countryside, she escaped to the city after her family was brutally taken from her in April 1941 by the Jew Hunter, Colonel Hans Landa. There in Paris, she worked as a projectionist alongside Marcel, under Ada Mimieux. Madame Mimieux would later pass, succumbing to fever and leaving Shosanna everything.

It wasn't until meeting Fredrick that Shosanna realized what she was capable of having. Most of all, the war hero came bearing the gift revenge, which he unwittingly provided for her.

Having intended to die that night, Shosanna spares both their lives at the last minute. Together, German War Hero and the Jewish Girl face an uncertain future as they work to overcome their pasts.

The family.

The Zoller family is an extremely important part of how Fredrick came to be the young man that both we the audience and Shosanna know. Therefore, I felt it was the of the utmost importance to include them. Strange as it sounds, for me, the Zoller family are as fleshed out and real as Fredrick, Shosanna, and the Basterds; it takes me a moment at times to realize that they only got as far as a couple pages in Quentin's script.

Many thanks must be given to piecesofalice, because it was with her that we cast and named the remaining Zollers siblings and their parents, giving life to them and taking them places that hopefully, Quentin would even be proud of.



Eva (Joan Allen) and Sebastian Zoller (Jeroen Krabbé).

A stage actress from Berlin, Eva fell immediately in love with the silver screen with the innovation of cinema. In 1910, her acting troupe performed in a stage production of Der Moloch at the Volkstheater in Munich. In attendance was the young, idealistic Sebastian Zoller.

After a long wait outside the stage doors, Sebastian introduced himself to Eva. The two fell very much in love, dividing their time between Munich and Berlin, giving her less and less time to devote to the stage. They would eventually marry, settling in Munich.

With her new-found love of cinema, Sebastian set out to build a theater for Eva. An intensive labor of love, Das Kino Haus was born, followed by the first of seven children, Helga.

World War I raged, sending Sebastian off into the fray, and leaving behind a pregnant Eva and baby Helga. Later, he would return alive and physically well, but very much emotionally damaged. With Eva by his side, Sebastian and the family remained strong, having five more children. It was clear, however, that the patriarch of the Zoller family would never be entirely well.

In 1931, a terrible blow was struck to the Zollers, as Eva died of tuberculosis. It was more than Sebastian could take and was the catalyst that would send him spiraling into alcoholism. Helga, then only eighteen, became the head of the household, caring for her siblings and Das Kino Haus.

By 1938, after years of isolation and absence, Sebastian had abandoned the family.



Helga Zoller (Julia Jentsch).

"I'm loving Helga so much, because she's like another version of Shosanna, in a way, sans burning cinemas and shit." - piecesofalice

The oldest of the Zoller children, Helga is thirty-one years old, having never married. She resides at the family home, caring for it and the continued run of Das Kino Haus in Munich. Considered by Fredrick to be "the bossiest", Helga is a both strict and loving caregiver; nothing means more to her than her family. There was someone she had once dearly loved, but lost to the very war her brother was sent off to fight in. She carries that loss, and the loss of her parents, with her still.



Elsa Zoller (Mädchen Amick).

The second oldest, Elsa is twenty-nine. Though she can run the theater as smooth as clockwork, Elsa far preferred the written word over the exploits on screen, even going so far as to set up a pile of pillows in the corner of the projection booth to better comfortably read. Elsa later took up employment at a bookshop, under the care of the elderly Frau Vogt. Eventually, Elsa spent more time there, and less and less at Das Kino Haus. Having grown more restless as she got into her twenties, Elsa took to traveling. After spending time in Barcelona, Spain, she fell in love with an artist there, Teresita. Elsa hasn't returned to Munich since.



Gerda Zoller (Malin Akerman).

The third oldest is Gerda, age twenty-six. Gerda is a modern woman; she drinks, she smokes, and she swears like a sailor. She lightens her hair, loves make-up, and she dates who she damned well pleases. An avid film fan, she swoons over the likes of Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, and Douglas Fairbanks while emulating women such as Jean Harlow and Marlene Dietrich. Gerda loves Paris and hopes to be able to travel as much as Elsa has. For now, despite her bold personality and preferred pastimes, Gerda sees fit to help out with the Zoller household and theater.



Annaleisa Zoller (Gemma Arterton).

Fourth oldest is Annaleisa, age twenty-five. Annaleisa, not so much unlike Gerda, is brash, and at times, argumentative. Her interests are in Socialist politics and philosophy, though she spent the war keeping her head down, for fear of repercussion, especially considering her brother. Of all things, however, Annaleisa loves to bake. Ever since marrying fellow Socialist and poet, Maximilien Schrader and moving away to Berlin where she owns and operates her own bakery, no other Zoller sister has attempted to replicate her skills.



Elke Zoller (Carice van Houten).

The third youngest of the Zollers is Elke. Kind and loving, she is the quietest, and perhaps, most mature of the Zollers due to her own personal hardships. Elke struck out on her own path when she was eighteen, which led to her settling down in London, England. Her path was not without peril, but Elke survived the war and the Blitz, keeping in contact when she could by telegram. Elke has become, much like Helga, a resilient and independent woman, in spite of her circumstances.



Liese Zoller (Carey Mulligan).

At age twenty-one, Liese is the second youngest - and most sheltered - of the Zoller children. She primarily keeps to herself, as she feels she doesn't really have anyone to relate to; living out in the countryside further adds to her isolation. But she is a lively girl, and something of a tom-boy, though she does love needle-point. Liese is also sharp-tongued, which has gotten her into trouble a time or two. Out of her siblings, she is closest to Fredrick. Like Fredrick, Liese holds resentment over their father's abandonment.

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