Despite almost never appearing as himself on screen; Andy Serkis has grown to be quite the prolific actor in the industry, having appeared in many popular franchises. One of his recent performances was that of Supreme Leader Snoke in
Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Serkis detailed his approach to playing the character, through motion capture, in a recent interview with
Entertainment Weekly.
I’ve always approached him as someone who is obviously in a position of supreme power, but actually, there is a level of vulnerability about the character. The way that his face is caved in, he has those deep scarifications. His skull’s almost been crushed.
That in reference to the physical and emotional aspect of the role.
He knows that as a leader you run the risk of people rebelling, you run the risk of people turning against you, the people that are closest to you. Even in that position of power, there is a level of fear. When you’re operating from a level of fear, you operate dangerously as a leader.
As we know across the world, there are leaders who have famously done that — and do. That’s what I really wanted to bring to the character. There’s this incredible danger and volatility.
He also went into misconceptions many people have about a motion-capture performance:
I think a lot of people think that you have to almost pantomime the performance or heighten it in some way. What’s illustrated is, in fact, the opposite. And it would be the same if you were playing Caesar or Gollum for that matter, or any character. You don’t exaggerate facial expressions. You’re not pushing through any false artifact.
What do you think about Andy Serkis' performance as Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy? If you're interested in what Serkis' actual performance looks like without CG adjustments, thanks to a recently released video of a scene from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, you can! Here it is: