Mike Myers I understood that he was not the first choice for Shrek pretty quickly – but the team behind the film didn’t want to admit it to their face.
THE Powers of Austin The star reflected on everyone’s favorite ogre’s expression in an interview with the Good podcast – and explained how the filmmakers at DreamWorks Animation didn’t want to acknowledge his death Saturday evening live costar, Chris Farleybeing the first choice for the character.
Gerry Goodstein/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Dream Works
“I looked at the model, you know, the little – it’s made of clay – of all people, and it looked exactly like Chris Farley,” Myers recalled. “So I was at this meeting, this is my third meeting, I said, ‘Guys, was this pitched to Chris Farley and then he died?'”
Although Myers explicitly asked this question, he claims that the filmmakers always denied the truth. “Everyone was looking at his shoes,” he remembers. “I said, ‘No, but seriously, really?’ (They said) ‘No.'”
This still didn’t make Myers comfortable. “I pull into the parking lot and I turn around, I say, ‘I think, I think it was Farley’s,'” he said. “It was! And I was right, but they didn’t tell me.”
Myers and Farley were classmates together on SNL from 1990 to 1995, and the latter actor played small roles in the former’s two films. Wayne’s World movies. Farley launched his career as a comedic actor on the big screen with films like 1995’s. Tommy boy and the years 1997 Beverly Hills Ninjaand the role of Shrek was specially written for him. His brother, Kevin Farley, said that Shrek originally “was a little more like Chris, like an innocent, humble, goofy guy”.
Farley had recorded a significant amount of dialogue for the film before his untimely death in 1997, and the studio ultimately chose to abandon his work and retool the film with Myers in the role.
However, Myers said he did not immediately give the character his defining Scottish accent. “I did it with a very strong Canadian accent, stronger than me,” Myers said on the podcast. “I thought ogres were workers in this world…growing up working class, I thought a Canadian accent should be great. So, I tried it and just didn’t connect with it. ”
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Myers said he wanted to switch to a Scottish accent after completing some work on the film. “I said, ‘Look, Farquaad’s English, Eddie (Murphy)“It’s hilarious in it – African American voice.” I said: “The Scots are working class people, and it’s in this Euro-world. Do you know what I mean?’” he recalls.
However, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg I didn’t want to go back. “Jeffrey said, ‘No, I like what you’re doing,’” Myers recalled. “And I said, ‘I don’t, Jeffrey.’ And he says, ‘No, it’s okay.’ He says, ‘We have to spend so much money on resuscitation’ – that’s not true.”
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Myers took his case to one of DreamWorks’ other co-founders, Steven Spielberg. “I said, ‘Steven, I want this to go well. I love that idea of, ‘You’re beautiful to me,'” he recalls. “I could play a guy who needs to learn to love himself and find himself beautiful, I can really connect to that. Because you can’t rip people off, man. You gotta give, every time you’re there, you I have to give 100%, you know? So I said: “If he’s Scottish, I understand, I understand the Scottish thing.” This corresponds to the euro thing. »
The actor said Spielberg expressed hesitation about Myers doing it again. “I said, ‘Let me try one more time,’ and he said, ‘It’s going to cost millions,'” Myers recalled. “I said, ‘Well, I don’t get paid more to do this. You know, let me do it.'”
THE Jurassic Park The filmmaker ultimately appreciated Myers’ dedication to getting the voice right. “I did. I got a letter from Steven Spielberg saying, ‘Thank you very much for your attention,'” he said. “And it’s framed. It’s in my house. It says, ‘You’re absolutely right. You’re 100 percent more connected to it.'”
Listen to Myers’ full interview above.