Exclusive: Snoke Inspired by Abe Lincoln on Mount Rushmore
Supreme Leader Snoke is still a big mystery to Star Wars fans around the world. Over the weekend however, FakingStarWars received an exclusive report via our new messageboards (the post in question has since been deleted) that sheds some light on the inspiration for the larger-than-life leader of the First Order. Apparently ILM based Lord Snoke on the 16th President of the United States of America. Specifically, Abraham Lincoln’s 60-foot granite head carved into Mount Rushmore. After the jump, we reveal what the visual effects artists were thinking (stoned?), and draw some parallels between the two leaders in order to speculate on Snoke’s future. Wise and honest? Some guys have all the luck.
We finally have a few more tidbits on that elusive puppet master of The Force Awakens. According to a report posted by “Delfin Veracity” who claims to work for film blog Cinema Masher Slash Revolver, Supreme Leader Snoke’s design and backstory pay homage to President Abraham Lincoln.
“Delfin” says he/she has it on good record that ILM did extensive research on the life and times of the iconic bearded president. Our source claims one of the first things the visual effects artists did was pay a visit to the Black Hills of Keystone, South Dakota. Apparently Disney chief Bob Iger rang up some government officials, and next thing you know ILM was granted special access to Mount Rushmore National Park. The team was able to take samples from the 60-foot head of Abraham Lincoln. While the granite batholith formation was top of mind, the team also took a few minutes to snap selfies from the top of Lincoln’s head.
As incredible as that sounds, our source teased out even more morsels of information. “Delfin” passed on several quotes from ILM visual effects artist Rogert Guyett and Pat Tubach, which corroborate his/her story.
“Imagine when you’re a kid or whatever, you go up and you stand in front of Mount Rushmore. And you see old Lincoln and his colleagues with these huge faces. There’s a certain quality about that,” Guyett commented.
“With big heads comes big power… that was a running joke of ours, but when you stand in the shadows of these giants, it’s not funny at all. You can feel power emanating from the stone,” said Tubach.
Our source maintains that the ILM team used the granite to create the texture and look for Lord Snoke’s hologram projection. Furthermore, the iconic crack on the new face of evil in Star Wars is also based on Abraham Lincoln. He/she claims Guyett and Tuber discovered a few cracks in Lincoln’s 60-foot head. This split in their very being would come to symbolize much more than erosion, as we’ll get to shortly.
The last juicy bit from our somewhat dubious source places significance on the location of Mount Rushmore itself.
“The Black Hills are named after a series of Wiccan tragedies in the early parts of the 17th century. There be black magic up in them hills. This is why they based Snoke on Lincoln. He is one of the four founding fathers of the Dark Side. Over the course of the next two sequel trilogy films Disney will reveal the other three giant evil-doers.”
That’s all well and good, but FSW is not one to be so easily trolled. No offense to “Delfin” or any of our sources, but we always double check with our network of insiders as to the authenticity or inauthenticity of any given report.
So we reached out to a friend of FakingStarWars, New York Times best-selling Abraham Lincoln historian Seth Grahame-Smith, to get his take on this tall tale.
“Like Lincoln, Snoke is a complicated man. They both lead double lives. Their most famous personae exist in the political sphere yet there’s another side to both of these men.”
Grahame-Smith reached out to long-time collaborator and head of Russian American Presidential Cultural Affairs, Timur Bekmambetov, who added:
“Abe-ski hunted vampires at night. Plaguies-ski hunts the Jedi by day. You can see this dynamic play out in their other lives. Lincoln runs the country, while Comrade Snoke heads up The First Order. Each becomes a second face… to save face. They are kindred souls.”
Interesting stuff, but we had asked a third source to weigh in. “Jimmy” works at ILM and while he could not confirm whether Snoke’s inspiration came from Lincoln’s head, he did debunk a competing theory that has the Supreme Leader’s design stemming from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.
“I built the 25-foot tall chair, and it was based on my dad’s work on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. He created Lily Tomlin’s huge rocking chair for her Edith Ann sketches… and I evolved his prop into Snoke’s big chair. Ditched the rocking feature, and added a few cush arm rests.”
“I built the 25-foot tall chair, and it was based on my dad’s work on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. He created Lily Tomlin’s huge rocking chair for her Edith Ann sketches… and I evolved his prop into Snoke’s big chair. Ditched the rocking feature, and added a few cush arm rests.”As you can see, it’s very difficult to navigate the waters of rumors and scoops when it comes to Star Wars. Many sources contradict themselves, making it difficult for us to screen things to ensure our readers are not being inadvertently told fake fakes. But it is our journalistic duty to toss all these leads into a blender and translate them for you. So here we go.
WHAT IT MAY ALL MEAN
Supreme Leader Snoke is championing a controversial issue in his political life. He has made enemies of the Resistance/Republic, and the Sith and Jedi alike. Snoke will make a grand maneuver of Order 66/Emancipation Proclamation importance soon, which will have huge ramifications for the Star Wars universe moving forward. As a result, the leader of the First Order will have a huge target on his back. In fact, the scarring on his face is the result of a previous attempt on his life for his radical beliefs. We believe the next time Snoke will not be so lucky. He will be assassinated like his spiritual brother Abraham Lincoln before him. That is when Snoke’s secret life as Darth Plagueis will be revealed. Plagueis the Wise has been singlehandedly fighting a war against Force vampires that threaten both Light and Dark Side force users. His cause will be taken up by Ben Solo in Episode VIII and IX.
What do you think of the Abraham Lincoln / Supreme Leader Snoke connection? Will it come to pass? Who are the other three Founding Fathers of the Dark Side? Let us know in the comments section or head over to our forums to chat it up.
