"There's been an awakening. Have you felt it? The Dark Side...and the Light."
Fans were treated to Andy Serkis' ominous voice over in the first ever-released footage for J.J. Abrams' "The Force Awakens" last year. Yet with just one month to go until "The Force Awakens" hits theaters, those sparse few lines of dialogue are all that we've gotten from his Supreme Leader Snoke. No images or nothing.
Though his character still remains a mystery, Serkis was willing to open up a bit about what it was like to film this imposing character and who he was underneath all the villainy.
"It was quite an unusual situation," Serkis said in a recent interview with Empire Magazine. "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."
It makes sense that Serkis would be filming with Gleeson and Driver. Snoke is said to be the leader of The First Order, while Driver plays the Dark Sider Force user Kylo Ren and Gleeson plays the evil General Hux.
But if Serkis is to be believed, Supreme Leader Snoke isn't your standard villain. He sounds very layered for a bad guy character.
"He is severely damaged. Although he's a powerful leader, he comes across as vulnerable. Very scarred and disfigured. 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."
That's a bold statement from an actor who has convincingly portrayed Smeagol, King Kong and Caesar. It sounds as if his Supreme Leader Snoke will be a compelling antagonist worthy of the legacy of Darth Vader and the Emperor.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will hit theaters on Dec. 18.
