God of War's Danielle Bisutti Found Motivation Through Game of Thrones

We recently had a chance to chat with actress Danielle Bisutti about her role as Freya in Sony's epic PlayStation 4 adventure God of War, talking about the many aspects of making the game as well as motivation for the character.

To start us off, though, let's journey to where it all began and how she was able to audition for Freya.

"The role of Freya came to me in an audition through my managers at the time," she explained. "The only intel given was that it was an 'Interactive Motion Capture' project for Sony called 'Internal 8'. Sounds interesting, right?"

She then discussed the motivations she had for the character. "I resonated with the material DEEPLY upon reading this emotionally complex and beautifully constructed monologue where Freya laments the sacrifices she made for her people, The Vanir Gods, by marrying Odin of the Aesir Gods to bring about peace amongst the realms, only to have her duplicitous husband ban her a prisoner of Midgard, take away her Valkyrie wings, convince their son Baldur to stay with him and finally being rejected by her people for what they perceived to be a betrayal of all they stood for. It felt much like Jon Snow going up against his Night's Watch to convince them that befriending The Wildlings was the only way to ensure their safety against a greater danger. And we all know how that turned out."

But it was with her preparation of the audition that things got really interesting, as she dug a little bit into Game of Thrones. "In preparation for the audition, I kept thinking 'What would Khaleesi do?'" she said. "And 'How would Daenerys Targaryen or Lady Stark deliver this speech to her people?' If I'm being honest I thought this was my Game of Thrones moment! So I grounded DEEP into the center of the earth, pulling up the strength of heart required to expose my vulnerability but firmly rooted in my conviction that I did what I believed to be the best thing for the good of all."

Really, though, it was all about the surprise when she learned what she was working on. Bisutti explained, "I was surprised when I showed up at the table read at Santa Monica Sony Studios where mounted on the wall was this mammoth-sized painting of Kratos. I was like, 'Oh hey, I've heard of that video game… God of War. I'm guessing Sony produces that game?' And Cory (Barlog) was like, 'Um, yeah. And you're about to be in that game.' Cut to my face: 'WHAT?!?!'"

You can check out Danielle Bisutti and the rest of the talented cast in God of War now for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro. Be sure to check back as we continue to talk with Bisutti about the creation of the game, Mo-Cap process and more!