Happy 25th birthday, Shrek! 10 things you probably didn’t know about Mike Myers’ ogre
...someBODY once told me an animated troll was gonna roll me
The original Shrek movie celebrates its 25th anniversary on May 15th. If you can remember watching it at the cinema as an adult, congratulations! You’re officially old.
DreamWorks Animation’s second computer animated feature hit big at the 2001 box office, making $492.5 million against a $60 million budget. That'll do, Donkey. That'll do.
As one of the most rewatched movies of the 21st century (it’s become something of a Christmas staple for many families), and an eminently quotable one at that, you might well feel that you know Shrek inside out.
But there’s plenty about this DreamWorks production that we’d vouch you weren’t aware of. It had a fascinating gestation, and underwent a production that was both protracted and tragic.
Here, then, are 10 things you probably didn’t know about Shrek...
1. Mike Myers wasn’t the first or even second choice to play Shrek
It’s now impossible to separate Wayne’s World actor Mike Myers from the central part of Shrek, but the truth is that he wasn’t meant to take the role. It originally went to American comedian and Saturday Night Live star Chris Farley, who had recorded most of his dialogue at the time of his untimely death in 1997. Nor, indeed, was Myers even the second choice for Shrek, with Nicolas Cage turning down the chance to fill Farley’s considerable boots because he didn’t want to be presented to kids as an ugly ogre.
2. Cameron Diaz wasn’t the original Fiona either
It was a far more ordinary casting switch, and one that has never really been accounted for, but Cameron Diaz wasn’t the initial choice to play Fiona. Janeane Garofalo got the nod at first, but was discarded as part of the huge creative overhaul that followed original lead Chris Farley’s death. The arrival of Mike Myers was accompanied by a shift to a sunnier and more mainstream tone, which might explain why the cynical comedian was dispensed with – though she reckons it was because of her deep voice.
3. Shrek originally spoke in a Canadian accent
As we’ve already discussed, Mike Myers was flown in to play the part of Shrek relatively late in the day. It’s perhaps no surprise, then, to learn that he initially struggled to find the ogres’s voice. Indeed, he initially recorded virtually all of his dialogue in a Canadian accent, but found that he wasn’t satisfied with the results. Myers duly convinced DreamWorks to allow him to re-record his dialogue in the generic Scottish accent he had previously deployed in So I Married an Axe Murderer and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The rest is history.
4. It won the first every Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
It feels as if it’s been a thing forever, but the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was only instituted in time for the 74th awards, which was held in early 2002. As such, Shrek found itself in contention for the inaugural trinket, which it duly won. It was a strong year for CG movies too, with Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and a certain Monsters, Inc. both in contention. These years Pixar’s golden years, too, making Shrek’s achievement all the more impressive.
5. It also made a rare trip to Cannes
Besides its aforementioned Oscar success, Shrek was the first animated movie to be entered into the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in almost 50 years. The previous film to do so was Disney’s Peter Pan in 1953. Few Palme D’Or face-offs have covered as much cinematic ground as Shrek vs Mulholland Drive, that’s for sure.
6. It was loosely based on a book
It might come across as a total original (with obvious riffs on classic fairytales and Disney properties), but the original Shrek film is based on a children’s picture book from 1990. It’s not a like-for-like adaptation by any means, but author William Steig’s book has the core essentials down, from Shrek’s basic green ogre look to his misanthropic nature, and even his encounter with a similarly ‘ugly’ princess. With that said, the film version of our hero didn’t wind up with the ability to breath fire or shoot lasers out of his eyes.
7. Production was kicked of by a legendary director
Shrek’s journey from book to cinema screens was all kicked off by a certain Steven Spielberg, who purchased the rights to the story way back in 1991. Spielberg brought the project to the then-fledgling DreamWorks Pictures, who ultimately purchased the rights from the director and commenced production in 1995.
8. It could have gone the Wallace and Gromit route
Spielberg originally wanted to produce Shrek as a traditional hand-drawn feature, which makes sense given those early-‘90s origins. What might surprise you, though, is that even when DreamWorks Pictures took over the project, it wasn’t in line for the full CGI treatment. They initially planned it as a stop motion animated feature, à la Aardman’s Wallace and Gromit, and also explored a live-action/3D animation hybrid treatment before settling on full computer animation in partnership with Pacific Data Images.
9. The word Shrek comes from Yiddish
What’s in a name? Quite a lot, in the case of our favourite green ogre. Shrek’s name wasn’t arrived at lightly. The word ’shrek’ in Yiddish is related to the German word ‘schreck’, and means ‘fright’. This linguistic influence makes sense when you consider that the author of the original book (see above) was the late William Steig, a Jewish American cartoonist whose parents originally over came from Eastern Europe.
10. Without Shrek, some of your favourite animated movies wouldn’t exist
Shrek was the making of DreamWorks Studios, quite literally. In a 2007 interview, co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg revealed that the film both saved the studio financially and established its identity as a producer of 3D animated movies. As such, it directly paved the way to some stellar animated franchises. No Shrek, no Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, or How to Train Your Dragon.
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