God of War’s Danielle Bisutti Talks About Working With the Cast

We’re continuing our exclusive interview with God of War‘s Danielle Bisutti as we talk about the cast that she worked with over the course of the game.

Playing the role of Freya, who runs into Kratos and his son Atreus over the course of their journey, she worked very closely with the likes of Christopher Judge, Jeremy Davies and others and found it to be quite an experience.

“Chris Judge is a God,” she proclaimed. “First, there’s that commanding bass-like VOICE. A gift given by God, no doubt. His massive talent is synonymous with the size of his body, mind, heart, and soul, and that’s pretty huge. His level of commitment and integrity to the character Kratos and the iconic God of War franchise was impeccable.

“His choices were deeply rooted in the essence of his being and the conviction he brought to every moment anchored me with him as we played out the lives of Kratos and Freya together. I marveled at this mammoth-sized man ripping his heart wide open as he grappled with the vulnerabilities and inevitable failures of being a parent. There were many times I got chills throughout my body when Chris was delivering a speech- in particular, the moment when he finally decides to tell Atreus the truth about being a God.

“I always felt safe, seen, appreciated, supported and I couldn’t have asked for a more generous scene partner. He set the tone for the level of reference and quality we all brought to our characters. However when the cameras were off the amount of Tomfoolery that occurred resembled the trappings of my childhood household with a big brother doing the gross things that big brothers do, and well…let’s just say we all had a multitude of belly laughs throughout the filming process. I am excited by the prospected future for both Kratos and Freya and consider myself the luckiest girl in the world to be on this journey with him.”

She then began talking about Jeremy Davies, who brings a riveting twist to the proceedings as the Stranger who first fights with Kratos in the beginning of the game. “Jeremy Davies is an enigma wrapped inside a mystical riddled poem of elegant prose, fragile beauty and brilliant complexities as intangible as the cosmos,” she noted. “Seriously, I would love to just jump into his mind and swim around for a while. As he does with all of his roles he brought such a rich fully fleshed out embodiment to the character of Baldur, leaving no cell in his body unaffected by the brilliance he willfully orchestrated.

“I was already a big fan of his work as Lost is one of my favorite TV shows of all time, so it wasn’t difficult to open myself up to him completely from a place of unfettered love and adoration upon meeting him. He was always present, always crafting something up moment to moment. It was a wonder to behold and an honor to play with him in that magnetic sphere of burgeoning raw creativity. If God is on my side, and I believe He is, I will get to act in a project with Jeremy again in the very near future.”

Finally, she provided some praise to young Sunny Suljic, who portrays Atreus. “Sunny is a kind, professional, very talented young man. And those beautiful blue eyes, good Lord! I’m always amazed at the maturity level and work ethic of young actors. They not only have to come to set memorized and prepared but they have to do school work sessions with the on-set teacher on the same day. I honestly don’t know how they have the mental capacity and dexterity to do it. Sunny is definitely an old soul and brought so much organic fodder to the fire of each scene.

“I marveled at how he kept up with the likes of Chris and even at times was leading the way by his unfiltered free-spirited demeanor. When he was cast he was but a wisp of a nine-year-old boy and now 4 years his career has taken off! He stole my heart the moment I met him when he smiled that little wry smile of his, like there’s always something up his sleeve but you can’t quite grasp it. I got to imbue all of my longings of motherhood upon him and that worked out perfectly for Freya’s emotional state-of-mind. I’m so grateful I got to say I worked with him when and I hope to work with him again in the near future.”

When we continue our interview with Danielle tomorrow, we’ll be discussing working with the single shot process that made the game as cinematic as it’s become, as well as a little more about Cory Barlog.

God of War is available now for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro.