In many ways, an actor is a double agent and a double agent is an actor. Both require that you pretend to be something you're not. Both require that you believe in the tale you're spinning for yourself. So when an actor is offered the opportunity to actually play a double agent, well, that's when the real fun begins.
That overlap is one aspect of Rudolph Wegener, a Berlin insider who poses as Swedish businessman Victor Baynes, that attracted Carsten Norgaard to Amazon's "The Man in the High Castle." The show, based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, explores an alternate reality – namely, what would have happened if the Axis powers had won World War II. The role offers Norgaard, who American audiences are most familiar with as Iceland Coach Wolf Stansson from "D2: The Mighty Ducks," the opportunity to blur the lines between ally and enemy.
"He's a very complex man," Norgaard told HNGN in an exclusive interview. "He has done terrible things, and the guilt over these things weigh very heavily on him and mess up his family life. He is haunted by the atrocities he committed on behalf of the Reich."
Yet like any compelling character, Wegener's morality is shaded in grey when we meet him, as his efforts to right the wrongs of his past serve as "an attempt at atonement or, if you like, redemption."
Diving headfirst into this alternate reality, viewers are presented with an America that has been divided between the Japanese and the Nazis. It takes place in 1962, 17 years after the Axis' fictional victory over the Allies in World War II.
What instantly jumps out about "The Man in The High Castle" is the world-building; as Norgaard describes it, the show is a "visual feast." Swastikas and Nazi propaganda dot familiar landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and Times Square; the jarring aesthetic immediately establishes this new world order and transports audiences to an uncomfortable place. These are American staples covered in the colors of the nation's greatest foe. Yet the striking imagery helps to set up an allegory for the show's main purpose.
"I think everyone in all aspects of life ask, 'what if,' and this is the ultimate 'what if?'" Norgaard explained. "What if the Allied forces had lost and the Axis powers had won and conquered the United States? Where would we be today? Where would we be in 1962? What would happen to our freedom, our freedom of speech like the conversation you and I are having right now? I think it is provocative and thought-provoking and explores the impact of our freedoms had we lost the Second World War."
Norgaard was born in Denmark in 1963. The adults he grew up under - parents, friends, etc. - all still vividly remembered Denmark's occupation by Nazi Germany. He is familiar with the history in a way that Americans cannot understand. Perhaps that is why he draws parallels between the show's time frame and the present day.
"Hopefully, it makes us take a step back and look at where the world is today," he said. "There's atrocities happening every day. Hopefully, it makes us think about that and appreciate the society we live in."
Norgaard has acted on both the small and big screens. He's appeared in dramas and comedies and worked with the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Robert Duvall and Christoph Waltz. "The Man in the High Castle" is another addition to the eclectic resume Norgaard has put together over the years. Even as the series' resident double agent, Norgaard is clear when it comes to where the show's allegiances lie.
"I would say that if you value the world we live in today, freedom and freedom of speech, than this show would give you a very different perspective."
