| Shrek | |
|---|---|
| Shrek character | |
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| First appearance | Shrek! (1990 book) Shrek (2001 film) |
| Created by | William Steig |
| Adapted by | Ted Elliott Terry Rossio Joe Stillman Roger S. H. Schulman |
| Voiced by | Mike Myers (films,Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party,Far Far Away Idol,Shrek the Halls,Scared Shrekless,Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular,The Pentaverate) Michael Gough (video games,New Shrek,Swamp Talk with Shrek and Donkey, singing voice inFar Far Away Idol,Thriller Night)[1] |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Ogre Human (briefly) |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Replacement ruler of Far Far Away (temporarily) |
| Family | Unnamed father |
| Spouse | Princess Fiona (wife) |
| Children | Fergus, Farkle, and Felicia |
| Relatives | King Harold (father-in-law, deceased) Queen Lillian (mother-in-law) Arthur Pendragon (cousin-in-law) |
| Abilities |
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Shrek is a fictionalogre character created by American authorWilliam Steig. Shrek is the protagonist of thebook of the same name anda series of films byDreamWorks Animation, as well as amusical. The name "Shrek" is aromanization of theYiddish wordשרעק (shrek), orשרעקלעך (shreklekh), related to the GermanSchreck and meaning "fear" or "fright".[2] In the films, Shrek was voiced byMike Myers, and in the musical he was played principally byBrian d'Arcy James. On May 21, 2010, Shrek received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame inLos Angeles. In June 2010,Entertainment Weekly named him one of the "100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years", placing 15th.[3]
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Shrek is a large, green-skinned, physically intimidatingogre with a Scottish accent. InShrek Forever After, it is revealed that he is much smaller than the average ogre. Even though his background is something of a mystery, according toShrek the Musical, it is revealed that on his seventh birthday, Shrek was sent away by his parents because it was an ogre tradition. The original book also has his parents evicting him from their swamp. He is seen traveling alone, being either screamed at or teased by passers-by. The only time he receives a pleasant greeting is a wave from a youngFiona, who is promptly led away by her parents. In the book, his parents threw him into a dark hole that leads to the real world.
After scaring away an angry mob, he arrives at his swamp, enters anouthouse, and literally breaks out as the adult Shrek. Although he is surly, dangerous,cynical,misanthropic, and venomously cranky, Shrek is peaceful and does not care to hurt anyone, and just wants to live in solitude and be left alone. Shrek is accompanied byDonkey, an excitable and hyperactive talking donkey. When Shrek is first seen, he successfully scares off villagers by roaring at them; it later becomes obvious that they were only attacking him because he is an ogre rather than because he has done anything wrong.
InShrek, during a conversation with Donkey, he laments that he is constantly judged by the outside world the minute people meet him, and is thus better off alone ("Look, I'm not the one with the problem, okay? It's the world that seems to have a problem with me. People take one look at me and go 'Aah! Help! Run! A big stupid ugly ogre!' They judge me before they even know me. That's why I'm better off alone"). This implies that he became arecluse after trying and failing to find acceptance among others. Another factor causing lack of acceptance can be found inShrek the Third, where it is revealed that Shrek's father tried to eat him ("I guess I should have seen it coming. He used to bathe me in barbecue sauce and put me to bed with an apple in my mouth.").
When he findssquatters where he lives, he attempts to evict them, only to learn he has no legal recourse against them, for he does not own the swamp. Shrek is hired byLord Farquaad to rescue Princess Fiona in exchange for the deed to the swamp, with which he can legally banish the squatters. During the course of the mission, Shrek falls deeply in love with Fiona, and eventually stops her wedding with Farquaad (who is subsequently eaten by the dragon who guarded Fiona's Castle in which she was trapped) and marries her himself.
Being an ogre, Shrek has considerable physical strength, being able to break wood and metal constructions, defeat armored humans in combat, and lift or turn objects that are too heavy for a human being, such as a gigantic vat of magic potion against the maximum security of the Fairy Godmother inShrek 2. InShrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party!, Shrek sings "Just the Way You Are". In Far Far Away Idol, he sang "What I Like About You" byThe Romantics with Fiona. Shrek has difficulty socializing due to the fact that people think he is a mean ugly ogre, even though his appearance is remarkably humanoid, with a few cosmetic exceptions. In the process, Shrek is said to havesociophobia.[4]
FromShrek the Third onward, Shrek has become a well-liked celebrity, at least in Far Far Away. In the fourth movie, people manage to realize that Shrek is not dangerous, and lose their fear and prejudice against him. To Shrek's dismay, they also come to regard him as afolk hero, and visit him with even more frequency than before, disturbing him. Despite this, after the experiences of the movie, Shrek comes to appreciate his life more than ever.
WhenSteven Spielberg purchased the book rights in 1991, he had planned forBill Murray to play Shrek.[5]Nicolas Cage was offered the role of Shrek at one point, but turned it down.[6] In 1996, DreamWorks hiredChris Farley to do the voice.[7][8][1] Farley had recorded 80 to 90% of the dialogue for the character, but died in December 1997, before completing the project.[1] This would result in development of the film being scrapped, such as storyboards and recording sessions, which cost $34 million alone.[9]Shrek screenwriterTerry Rossio describes Farley's vocal performance as being "extraordinary".[10]
In August 2015, footage of Farley voicing the character, originally from 1997, was leaked across the Internet.[11] According to Farley's longtime friendDavid Spade, he only had five days of voice work left to perform. Following Farley's death, the filmmaker approached his brotherJohn if he would come in and finish the remaining lines, but he refused.[12] In August 1998, DreamWorks then re-cast the role withMike Myers, who insisted on a complete script rewrite, to leave no traces of Farley's version of Shrek. Myers stated that the reason he was interested in voicing the character was remembrances of his mother acting out fairy tales:
My mother used to take me to the library in Toronto to check out the fairy tales. And she was an actress, so she used to act out for me the different characters in all these fairy tales. And then my mother would change stuff. Like because she's from Liverpool, Babar the elephant would be from Liverpool too. So I have all these great memories and associations with those stories. And I thought, when I have kids, that's the sort of well told, silly, and fun fairy tale that I would want to take them to. But it was an amazing experience. And I think Shrek is a real classic, a fairy tale classic.[13]
In February 2000, after Myers had completed providing the voice for the character, and after a rough cut of the film,[14] he requested to re-record all of his lines in aScottish accent, similar to the one his mother had used when she told him bedtime stories, and also used in previous films he was in such asSo I Married an Axe Murderer (1993) andAustin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999).[1]
Myers explained his decision, "There is a class struggle inShrek between the fairytale kings and queens and the common people. I always thought that Shrek was raised working class. And since Lord Farquaad (the villain) was played English, I thought of Scottish".[15] After hearing the alternative, Katzenberg agreed to redo scenes in the film, saying, "It was so good we took $4m worth of animation out and did it again."[16]
Myers later reported: "I got a letter from Spielberg thanking me so much for caring about the character... And he said the Scottish accent had improved the movie."[17] Some early sketches of Shrek's house were done in 1996 and 1997 usingPhotoshop, with the sketches showing Shrek first living in a garbage dump near a human village called Wart Creek. At one point, he was to live with his parents and keep rotting fish in his bedroom.[18] Art director Douglas Rogers visited a magnolia plantation inCharleston, South Carolina, for inspiration for Shrek's swamp.[19][20]
Shrek appears in the stage musical version of the 2001 film, which debuted in 2008. The role was originated byBroadway actorBrian d'Arcy James, who earned a Tony nomination for it. The character has remained virtually unchanged in the musical, as does the plot; however, various minor details differ between the musical and the film. Other actors to play the role includeBen Crawford (Broadway), Eric Petersen (National Tour), Jacob Ming-Trent (Broadway understudy), Brian Gonzales (Broadway/National Tour understudy), David Foley Jr. (National Tour understudy),Bradley Jaden (West End understudy), and from 2011Nigel Lindsay (West End). On May 21, 2010, Shrek received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame inLos Angeles.[21]
In video games, Shrek appeared as an unlockable player inTony Hawk's Underground 2, and as aplayable character in bothMadagascar Kartz andDreamWorks Super Star Kartz. Myers reprised his role as Shrek for a cameo in hisNetflix mini-series,The Pentaverate.[22] A parody of Shrek appears in 2025'sBorderlands 4. A swamp can be found with a green enemy named Wreck and a donkey named Burro.[23]
On social media sites, Shrek is portrayed in a variety ofInternet memes, and theSmash Mouth song "All Star" also became a meme as a result of the firstShrek film. Shrek's popularity is attributed to "ShrekChan", animageboard that existed between 2012 and 2014. Fans of Shrek on the imageboard were known as "brogres", a play off of "bronies" that refers to members of theMy Little Pony fandom, and memes often involved graphic material including sex, drugs, and violence for their shock value. Most infamous was the "Shrek is love, Shrek is life" meme, an animated video made throughSource Filmmaker where Shrek engages inanal sex with a young boy who worships the ogre.The Atlantic writer David Sims compared this phenomenon to theShrek franchise, saying "it's symbolic of so many things we briefly loved before quickly realizing their emptiness."[24][25][26]
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