Shrek (partially found original Mike Myers performance from CGI-animated comedy film; 1999-2000)

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Shrek-and-mike.jpg

Mike Myers (left) standing next to Shrek (right).

Status: Lost

Shrek is a 2001 CGI-animated comedy film starring comedian and actor Mike Myers as the titular character. While Shrek is well known for his Scottish accent, Myers originally recorded the entire film in a thick Canadian accent.[1]

Background

After the death of Shrek's original voice actor, Chris Farley, in December of 1997, his Saturday Night Live co-star Mike Myers was brought on to replace him with the script being rewritten to remove any traces of Farley's performance.[2] After the script rewrite, Myers would go on to record the entire film in an overexaggerated version of his normal Canadian accent but after watching an early rough cut of the movie sometime in 2000 he was underwhelmed by his performance, stating it lacked the “oomph” he was looking for.[1][3] So Myers campaigned to rerecord the entire film in a Scottish accent because he felt like it sounded more "working class" compared to the film's main villain, Lord Farquaad, who has a British accent. It also tied into the underlying class struggle Myers saw in a lot of fairy tales.[3] While DreamWorks executives were initially hesitant to heed Myers' request as one-third of the movie had already been fully animated they were convinced after DreamWorks co-founder, Steven Spielberg, let him try it. Fellow co-founder and CEO of DreamWorks, Jeffrey Katzenberg, estimated that reanimating part of the film cost between $4-5 million dollars although Myers rerecorded all of his lines free of charge due to his insistence.[1][3] In retrospect however, Katzenberg said doing this greatly improved the film and was the right decision to make with the Scottish accent allowing Myers to give a more emotional performance.[1]

Availability

This version of Mike Myers' performance has never been included as a bonus on any of Shrek's various home media and there seems to be no interest from either DreamWorks Animation or their parent company Universal Pictures in releasing it anytime soon. It is unknown if they even still have a copy.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Did Mike Myers Record Almost All of Shrek Before Deciding to Re-Record His Lines With a Scottish Accent? from Entertainment Legends Revealed. Retrieved 05 Apr '23
  2. ↑ How “Shrek” went from being a train wreck to one for the record books by Jim Hill for Jim Hill Media. Retrieved 05 Apr '23
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mike Myers Shared Why He Fought for Shrek's Scottish Accent by Meaghan Kirby for Nerdist. Retrieved 05 Apr '23
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