Snook Uccorfay


Biography


Snook Uccorfay was an alien male who worked as a raconteur and spent time in the city of Canto Bight on the planet Cantonica in the year 34 ABY. Along with Derla Pidys, he was present at a table in the Canto Casino when the Resistance agents Finn, Rose Tico and BB-8 entered in search of the Master Codebreaker. Before the trio could make it to their target, they were arrested by the Canto Bight Police Department in front of Uccorfay and the other patrons.

Personality and traits


Uccorfay at the casino tables in Canto Bight

Uccorfay at the casino tables in Canto Bight

Uccorfay was a rich and villainous, -like alien who lived life to the fullest in order to build a catalogue of outlandish tales. He was strongly drawn to wealthy females, whom he dazzled with his exceptional dancing skills. Uccorfay had black eyes and mottled brown and pink skin, which was freshly exfoliated on his face while he was in the casino. He was a member of a bipedal species with five stubby fingers on each hand and a long, round snout ending in a flat circular muzzle containing his mouth and nostrils. The end of the snout was circled by protrusions of skin.

Equipment


Uccorfay wore a black suit jacket over a patterned white shirt with black pants and black and white shoes. His snout and ear were pierced with traditional hoops that showed that he was unmarried.

Design


Final design of Snook Uccorfay

Final design of Snook Uccorfay

Snook Uccorfay was portrayed by Nick Kellington, with facial puppeteering mostly by with additional work by Phill Woodfine in the film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, which was released on December 15, 2017. The character was revealed prior to the film's release on December 15, 2017 in an issue of People magazine. Neither the magazine or film revealed Uccorfay's name, and he was first identified in Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary, a reference book written by Pablo Hidalgo and released the same day as the film.

The original design for Uccorfay was titled "Casino Alien 02" and was drawn by Jake Lunt Davies, after which the mask was sculpted by Louis Wiltshire and the body suit fabricated by , and Fiona Pollard. The character's hands were created using the moulds originally produced by Scanlan's team for the character Unkar Plutt in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, but then re-worked and painted differently by , who painted all of Uccorfay's skin. The alien's hair was produced by 's hair department and the animatronics designed by engineer . Michael Kaplan, and produced Uccorfay's costume.

Creating a character


The alien's portly body shape was created using a body suit underneath the costume, that was light enough to move around in, but strong enough to hold its shape during long period of movement during a shoot. The character's mask was fairly spacious inside, but extremely front-heavy due to animatronic servos used to move the mouth and individual nodules around it. To counterbalance this, a bungee cord ran from the top of the costume's skull cap down to the center of its back. The only eye holes in the mask were the two nostrils of the snout, which were some distance from where the head of the performer wearing the costume would be, and so it provided extremely limited vision.

Kellington was asked to perform in The Last Jedi by Special Effects Creature Supervisor Neal Scanlan, who had worked with the actor previously when Kellington had played the part of Bistan in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story the previous year. Initially Kellington was meant to join fellow performer Paul Warren in bringing Gatha Elbaphay, an alien known on set as "the Dowager," to life; however, it was decided that only one man was needed to operate the Dowager and so Kellington was given Uccorfay's suit instead. During Kellington's first fitting, Scanlan described the character as a mix of British actors Terry Thomas and Brian Blessed.

Adventures on-set


After seeing the costume, Kellington decided that due to his stubby hands, Uccorfay would have trouble holding onto his money and so would probably be a terrible gambler. While on set, Comerford had to constantly direct Kellington due to his limited vision, with the actor only being able to respond with hand signals to the puppeteer. Comerford would let Kellington know when he was on camera and provided Uccorfay's voice, even continuing dialogue with other extras between takes in order to keep Kellington amused, even when the bungee holding up Uccorfay's head was broken for the majority of a two hour shoot. The actor would respond to the dialogue with physical movements to match, leaning in when Comerford had Uccorfay whisper amorous advances to the character Derla Pidys, portrayed by actress Latesha Wilson.

Other scenarios the pair devised and performed in the background included Uccorfay getting too drunk and being escorted out of the casino by the bouncer Pemmin Brunce, portrayed by actor Cavin Cornwall with puppeteering by . Despite Cornwall being totally blind in his costume, the two actors and two puppeteers managed to organize the sequence so Brunce was dragging Uccorfay by the scruff of his neck while the patron thrashed his stubby legs beneath him. Puppeteer Tim Rose pointed the sequence out to actor Anthony Daniels, who was impressed and said he would speak about it with director Rian Johnson, who never personally directed Kellington while he was on set.

Sources


  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Heroes of the Galaxy
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Ultimate Sticker Collection
  • The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  • People Magazine Collector's Edition - Star Wars: The Ultimate Guide to The Last Jedi

Appearances

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