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The Very Different Version Of Shrek We Never Got To See
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Mar 31, 2025
Shrek is a franchise that has maintained a hardcore fanbase for over over 20 Years. Mike Myers beloved voice of Shrek, Eddie Murphy's Donkey, and Cameron Diaz's Princess Fiona have become synonymous with the success of the franchise. Though originally both Shrek and Fiona had completely different voices. A tragic turn of events led to Shrek and Fiona being recast, and Shrek was never the same.
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Ogres are like onions
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End of story. Bye bye. This is Shrek, and it is one of the most successful animated film
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franchises of all time. The cast of colorful protagonists, created in part by performers like Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz
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and Eddie Murphy, has become an iconic piece of animation zeitgeist. And this wasn't the originally intended cast for the film
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Swapping out a voice actor might not seem like a difficult task at first, but in the motion picture industry
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small changes can have an enormous effect on the overall film. Something as subtle as a change in a performer
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or an adjustment to the way a character sounds can either make or break a project
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Duke Caboom, Canada's greatest stuntman. Based on William Stieg's picture book from 1990
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Shrek was released in 2001, and it plays out as a sort of inverted fairy tale
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where the monster is actually the romantic lead. The film pays homage to fairy tales of the past
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by featuring hilarious cameos from all of your favorite stories like The Three Little Pigs, Pinocchio, and even The Gingerbread
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Man, while putting a modern and progressive twist on the classic damsel in distress trope
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that has been present in storytelling for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Before
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making its way to the big screen in 2001, Shrek went through a somewhat unstable production process
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Shrek had been destined for the big screen ever since Steven Spielberg bought the rights to the
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book in 1991. Spielberg initially had planned on creating a traditional animated film through his short-lived
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Amblimation production studio with Bill Murray providing the voice of Shrek. I've worked with better, but not many
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And Steve Martin providing the voice of Donkey. You sons of a motherless goat
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This version of Shrek didn't get very far, and the film was placed on hold until DreamWorks was created
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in 1994. In the same year that DreamWorks was created, Chris Farley was rapidly rising through the ranks
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of Saturday Night Live. and it was quickly developing a reputation for being one of the funniest people on the planet
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Well maybe I not the norm I not camera friendly 1995 Tommy Boy saw the young comedian seamlessly transitioning onto the big screen with great success
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And he became a household name almost overnight. DreamWorks was searching for the perfect voice for Shrek and needed someone who could be loud and crass
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while at the same time conveying the warmth and heart necessary to make the character of Shrek resonate with audiences
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Hiring Chris Farley was kind of a no-brainer at that point. I thought you were trying to lose weight
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Lay off me, I'm starving. Cast alongside Farley were a couple of other Saturday Night Live alums
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Eddie Murphy would voice the lovable donkey, and Janine Garofalo was cast as Princess Fiona
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This version of Shrek's cast recorded almost 100% of their dialogue for the film
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and the art department had begun working on preliminary sketches for what the characters would look like
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which were pretty much on par with how the characters ended up looking like in the final version of the film
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Despite the similarities in appearance, this version of Shrek would have been entirely different from what ended up on movie screens in
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2001. For starters, Chris Farley put a lot of himself into the character of Shrek. His recordings
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reflect a slightly more humble tone and in turn make Eddie Murphy's recordings as Donkey really
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stand out in a big way. When you pair Chris Farley's Shrek with Eddie Murphy's Donkey
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it almost feels like they are in two completely different films. Granted, we are looking back on this footage from a world in which Shrek exists as we know and love him now
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So it's hard to discern whether or not the previous iteration with Farley and Garofalo would have been successful
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But it does feel like the film would have been vastly different from what ended up on the silver screen
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People see me and they go, Ah! Help! A big, stupid, stinky, smelly, ugly ogre
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And they judge me before they even know me. Chris Farley tragically passed away from a drug overdose in 1997, and the world lost
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the massive talent of a young comedian whose work was inimitable. Chris Farley was truly one of a kind and you just can replicate the magic he was able to generate in front of a camera He could make you feel deeply connected to his characters through layers of emotional richness while at the same time causing you to double over in pained laughter through the incredibly
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intuitive physical choices he would make. Richard, what's happening? DreamWorks had to make the undoubtedly difficult decision to recast this one-of-a-kind performer
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in the role of Shrek, lest their visions be dashed for the entire project
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They had big plans for the franchise and were gearing Shrek up to rival Disney's Pixar at the box office
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Their business model for Shrek was likely weighing out options for sequels, and rather than hire an actor to come in and mimic Chris Farley's truly unique performance to a lesser degree down the line
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they made the decision to replace him with another member of Saturday Night Live's same graduating class with Mike Myers
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No way. Way. No way. Way. Okay. When Mike Myers came in to record the dialogue for Shrek
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the studio was having trouble matching and making sense of these new character choices against the pre-existing dialogue
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recorded by specifically Janine Garofalo for reasons that have never really been discussed
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The role of Fiona was ultimately recast with Cameron Diaz, who was rapidly rising to the top of the entertainment industry
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through her roles in There's Something About Mary and Charlie's Angels. Now, we don't have the recordings of Janine Garofalo's Princess Fiona
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so it's hard to say whether or not she would have clicked with Mike Myers' take on Shrek
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but Garofalo has stated on record that she feels that she was likely replaced
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because she sounded too manly for what they had in mind for the role. So in summation, what am I saying
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What have I been saying? Mike Myers' initial recordings of Shrek weren't in the recognizable Scottish accent
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that we know and love today either. He initially recorded the majority of Shrek's dialogue
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with a heightened version of his native Canadian accent. After recording the entirety of this script
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Mike Myers felt like the choices he made vocally didn't honor the ogre in the way he wanted to
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and he asked if he could re-record his dialogue with a new accent. Welcome to all things Scottish
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Our slogan is, if it's no Scottish, it's crap. Meyer stated on record that he felt like Shrek was raised working class and since Lord Farquaad was British he decided to change Shrek accent to Scottish This decision ended up costing DreamWorks about million
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but it is likely a key reason as to why Shrek ended up becoming as successful as it was
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The Scottish accent lends itself to aggression and assertiveness, while at the same time feeling gentle, wise, and kind
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It's the perfect counterpart to Eddie Murphy's donkey. Steven Spielberg himself even called Mike Myers to personally thank him for making the choice to
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re-record his dialogue, stating that it had dramatically improved the movie. There's something
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to be said about the awareness of a performer and their ability to see things that production
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companies and directors don't. During the filmmaking process, the directors and producers
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are constantly shifting their focus between one of the hundreds of things that go into producing a
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film. They are, in a way, spinning plates. The more plates these people have to spin
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the less focus they give to any individual plate at any given moment in time
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The actor's focus is entirely on developing their character and understanding all the ins and outs of the way they operate when they become someone else
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This provides the performer with insight into their character that can often surpass that of the filmmakers and writers themselves
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Sometimes they just see things others don't. Shrek went on to become one of the highest grossing animated film franchises of all time
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All right, that's what I'd like to hear, man. Shrek and Duncan, two stalwart friends off on a whirlwind big city event
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I love it! And was the inaugural winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film
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Since 2001, the Shrek films have grossed billions of dollars and served as the tentpole for DreamWorks animation
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When you throw a stone into a pond, it makes ripples that cross the entire surface of the pond
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The colossal tragedy of losing the incredible talent of your lead performer
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was one enormous stone in Shrek's pond that ended up rippling into a series of smaller decisions
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that ultimately transformed the entire project. This is the foundation of success on which Shrek has built itself
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Wow. Let's do that again. No, no, no, no, no. No
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