Motion Capture Master Andy Serkis, known for his roles in Planet of the Apes and Lord of the Rings, spoke with Empire and let a few details slip on his rather mysterious role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We already knew that he was playing a character named ‘Supreme Leader Snoke’ but that’s about where the details ended. What kind of character is he? What does he look like? Well, as mentioned earlier, the beans have been proverbially spilled by Gollum himself!
“It was quite an unusual situation. I worked specifically with Domhnall Gleeson and with Adam Driver. My first day was basically standing on a 25-foot podium doing Lord Snoke without the faintest idea what he looked like… or in fact who he was! I was very high up, totally on my own, away from everybody else, but acting with them,” said Serkis. So apparently Snoke is, and to quote Mr. Dafoe from Boondock Saints, a ‘huge freaking guy’. I don’t think Snoke is a serial crusher, but you never know.
“We used sort of a ‘Kongolizer’ method of having sound come out of speakers to give a sense of scale and distance for the character. So it was very challenging and scary, in fact probably one of my most scary film experiences I’ve ever had. He is severely damaged. Although he’s a powerful leader, he comes across as vulnerable. Very scarred and disfigured,” added Andy Serkis. Not only is he big, but he also has a booming voice. I guess that is a vast improvement from being a monkey-lord or trying to frame Rudy for eating the elf-bread.
