The enigmatic and sinister Supreme Leader Snoke haunted the shadows of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, although his backstory, motivations and interest in Kylo Ren remain a mystery to us.
Thankfully the good people over at Cinema Blend have managed to tease a morsel of information from Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) visual effects artists Rogert Guyett and Pat Tubach, specifically that Snoke’s look was taken from a rather surprising figure.
They claim that the menacing leader of the First Order is inspired by the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln – we’re hoping it was a loose inspiration.
To be precise, the imposing hologram of Snoke was inspired by the equally imposing, seated statue of honest Abe which resides within Washington D.C.’s Lincoln Memorial.
Guyett said:
Imagine when you’re a kid or whatever, you go up and you stand in front of the Lincoln Memorial. And you see old Lincoln in a huge chair. There’s a certain quality about that.
So, that was certainly sort of part of the inspiration for it all. But I think, hologram, you know? The idea really in that opening scene is sort of like, ‘What is going on here. Ok, it’s a hologram. Is he really this big?’ OK, once you figure out that it’s a hologram, of course it’s like, ‘Well how big is he?’
The news has got the already rabid fanboys wildly theorising that Snoke may be a power fallen from the light.
Guyett also emphasised Snoke’s importance in the upcoming films, saying:
The thing that I think will be revealed in future movies is more of, you know, you’re probably seeing more of Snoke. Obviously he’s an ongoing character and a lot of those things I think your fans and people on your site or whatever are analysing, will be discussed. A lot of that stuff will be revealed in the future.
So it seems that Snoke will remain a mystery until the next film at least, and we can confirm that he was a hologram in the film – what’s the betting on him actually turning out to be a Yoda sized creature?
Star Wars: Episode VIII will take us all back to a galaxy far, far away when it hits UK theatres on December 15 2017.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.