The two lead actors for the upcoming Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus have recently spoken about their roles in MachineGames’ upcoming alternate reality first-person shooter. Actor Brian Bloom and actress Nina Franoszek spoke about their roles in the game, and navigating the current landscape in which the game is being released.
Many news reports have claimed that the game is now topically charged in reflection of today’s political environment, and this led the hosts of the podcast show Donkey Con Arists to ask “Where did this change happen?”
The reality is that the media made Nazism a hot topic due to SJWs labeling anyone who disagreed with them a “Nazi”. It didn’t take long for some people to adopt the moniker out of spite against SJWs or in anger from the media defending Antifa while attacking Nazis.
There was a bleed-over between the marketing of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and the depiction of Antifa-like rebels in the game attempting to take down the orderly and cleanly-portrayed Nazi regime occupying America. Some people assigned the imagery within the game as an allegory for America’s current direction, causing a huge division between people claiming that the game supports Communists and is against National Socialists.
This spark of controversy has been the entire talk of the town leading up to Wolfenstein II’s release, and it was an obvious question that Donkey Con Artists asked in their interview with Brian Bloom, who is voicing B.J. Blazkowics.
The Hollywood Reporter transcribed Bloom’s comments about Wolfenstein II’s connection to the current political climate, where he explained in a roundabout way…
“The only thing [the new game] has in common with anything in history is that the Nazis are bad guys, and I hope and think and thought and still do that we all agree,” […] “It’s nice that you can jump behind the barrel and be B.J. and although it’s complex, it’s not complicated. Through his barrel and sensibilities and belt-fed diplomacy do his best to solve this problem. It’s awesome to be involved in that and wherever it crosses with what’s happening currently, that was not what we were making or what I was doing when I put the dots on.”
Bloom also later explained that this version of B.J., isn’t like the one from the other games. Bloom described him as battered and broken, and having his soul worn down from the fighting, so he needs help from the diverse group of rebels. This aspect of the game didn’t sit well with everyone, knowing that the hero is crippled and no longer the seemingly invincible warrior he once was. MachineGames, however, used it as an opportunity to introduce a multicultural cast to the game that has received a lot of mixed reactions from the community.
Nevertheless, Nina Franoszek, the female lead villain in the game, also explained her connection with the game and the game’s connection with real life politics, telling the podcasting duo…
“My father is Jewish and my mother is German. In the past, there was a German general on the mother’s side and Jews trying to survive in Poland on the father’s side, so the subject was very close to me,”
“I’ve done a lot of research to understand my own past and been to Auschwitz and all that, but as an actor what really convinced me was the script. The script to me was very similar to Inglourious Basterds and I was given the opportunity to play sort of the Cristoph Waltz character as a female with a boytoy.”
The duo are doing promotion for the game leading up to release, but it likely won’t be easy with Bethesda going out of their way to politicize Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus’ release, creating a lot of division amongst gamers, and potentially consumers. We’ll see how well this all plays out when the game launches for the PC, PS4 and Xbox One on October 27th.
