There's a lot of speculation about Star Wars: The Force Awakens character Supreme Leader Snoke. However, one thing is for certain: ILM found inspiration for the character from a U.S. president.
If you look carefully at Snoke and how he appears in the film, it's easy to imagine something familiar to most Americans: the Lincoln Memorial. ILM visual effects artist Roger Guyett confirmed that the statue of President Abraham Lincoln did offer some inspiration for the Supreme Leader.
"Imagine when you're a kid or whatever, you go up and you stand in front of the Lincoln Memorial," said Guyett to CinemaBlend. "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?' "
Guyett also teased that Snoke will appear in future movies, as he is important to the new story being told in the latest trilogy of films. Snoke is obviously behind what's going on with the First Order, but as of yet, fans still don't know what his end game is: what is he hoping to accomplish, other than crushing the Resistance?
The mysterious character has many fans guessing about his identity. Being that he is a hologram, what if he's someone else entirely behind the mask of that hologram? Some have even jokingly suggested that he's actually Jar Jar Binks, although it's likely that particular much-hated character will never see the light of day in the Star Wars universe again.
Another theory pegs Snoke as Darth Plagueis, but the actor behind the CGI'd Snoke, Andy Serkis, denies that. Serkis does, however, tease more about the Supreme Leader.
"Supreme Leader Snoke is quite an enigmatic character, and strangely vulnerable at the same time as being quite powerful," said Serkis to Entertainment Weekly. "Obviously, he has a huge agenda. He has suffered a lot of damage. As I said, there is a strange vulnerability to him, which belies his true agenda, I suppose."
