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Shrek: Mike Myers goes green in the title role
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Shrek is unlike any animated film you
have ever seen. A cartoon for adults, it’s a fractured
fairy tale for everyone. Paul Fischer spoke to the film’s
directors, DreamWorks head honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg and director
Andrew Adamson for the inside scoop on the making of Shrek.
“When we started Shrek, we wanted to make
a fairy tale come to life,” says New Zealander Andrew Adamson,
who directed the film with Vicky Jenson, “as if you opened
a storybook and stepped into that world.”
And what a world it is. Fairy tale creatures
come alive, but not as you expect, in this often hilarious tale
of the green ogre who, like Garbo, wants to be left alone.,
but gets caught up with a fast-talking donkey (Eddie Murphy),
a brash but beautiful princess (Cameron Diaz) and a somewhat
diminutive villain (John Lithgow).
In the title role is Mike Myers, who assumed
the role following the death of original Shrek Chris Farley.
Introducing the first media screening of Shrek, an enthusiastic
Myers remarked how much he fun he had bring the character to
life. “It’s such a great story about accepting yourself
for who you are. We live in a society with a warped sense of
who’s beautiful and who’s not, and I think the message
of this movie is that everyone is beautiful.”
Shrek, loosely based on a novel of the same name,
is set in a far mythical swamp, home of that bad-tempered ogre
named Shrek, whose once precious solitude is suddenly shattered
by an invasion of annoying fairy tale characters.
There are blind mice in his food, a big, bad
wolf in his bed, three little homeless pigs and more, all banished
from their kingdom by the evil Lord Farquaad (Lithgow). Determined
to save their home - not to mention his own - Shrek cuts a deal
with Farquaad and sets out to rescue the beautiful Princess
Fiona (Diaz) to be Farquaad's bride. Accompanying him on his
mission is wisecracking Donkey (Murphy), who will do anything
for Shrek... except shut up of course. Rescuing the Princess
from a fire-breathing dragon may prove the least of their problems
when the deep, dark secret she has been keeping is revealed.
Co-director Adamson, who had been with Shrek
for the past five years, was finally able to breathe a sigh
of relief now that the film was ready for audience unveiling.
“It seems like we were never going to”, he says amidst
nervous laughter. But Adamson need not worry. The film, which
is the first animated movie to screen in competition at Cannes
in three decades, is garnering strong reaction. The director
agrees.
“I’m obviously pleased it’s getting
a good reaction.” But not necessarily surprised “because
the animation process goes on for so long, that you reach a
certain point where you start knowing that it’s going to
be OK.” He and his team reached that point a year ago,
he says. “Ever since then it seems to have gotten better,
which is nice.”
It’s hard to imagine that a comic fairy
tale such as Shrek would even come CLOSE to controversy, but
with the film’s pointed satire of a noted theme park and
various fairytale characters, rumour has it that DreamWorks
boss Katzenberg, who of course left Disney under somewhat acrimonious
circumstances, has been accused of paying back his ex-employer
the only way he can: through animation.
“We showed each and every scene to lawyers
as we went along,” Adamson insists. “We certainly
did not want to be sued by Disney.” Apparently lawyers
ended up giving their blessing - without any cuts, Adamson said.
Similarly, the animators turned to Disney World
for inspiration when they portrayed Farquaad’s make-believe
kingdom. But Adamson points out that it was appropriate. “We
wanted Farquaad to create a make-believe fantasy. We toyed with
poking fun at Universal City and Las Vegas, but we decided the
most recognizable one to children was also the most fun to play
with.”
Adamson acknowledged that some older viewers
are likely to view the film in the context of DreamWorks co-founder
Jeffrey Katzenberg’ s famous legal feud with his former
employer, Disney. “He certainly enjoyed the jokes,”
Adamson said. “Even when we made fun of ‘Beauty and
the Beast,’ which is one of the Disney movies he was proudest
of being involved with.
“But the movie’s too good-hearted to
be any revenge-based thing. If people think that, they’re
really missing the point of it, which is to turn fairy tales
on their ears.” Adamson laughed at many observers’
suggestion that the evil Farqaad appears to be modelled on Katzenberg’
s old nemesis, Disney boss Michael Eisner. Katzenberg is bemused
by all the fuss.
“Have you MET Eisner? They look NOTHING
alike, so it’s ridiculous to make that assumption.”
On the contrary, Katzenberg reiterates, “If that heritage
were not loved by everybody and respected throughout the world,
including by us, then you couldn’t satirise it. You have
to start with the fact that you must acknowledge how important,
distinctive and distinguished it is. I know in my heart that
we have been playful with it and I know that we have not been
mean-spirited.”
The DreamWorks boss is happier to discuss the
genuine thrill of having Shrek go to Cannes in competition no
less. “It’s probably one of the most amazing things
that has happened to me in thirty years in the movie business”,
says the man who steered such Disney hits as Beauty and the
Beast and The Lion King to box office glory. “To be invited
to the single-most prestigious and important international film
festival in competition for an animated movie, is just extraordinary.”
Katzenberg, who became involved with animation more by accident
than design, remains genuinely surprised “and amazed at
how far we’ve come.”
Shrek, which is visually the most remarkable
example of the genre thus far, epitomises the advances of technology
and the increased role of the computer to create life-like characters.
“Part of what’s exciting about all of this, is that
it’s made me reinvent MY self, because I started in a twentieth
century enterprise, with its roots clearly in the Thirties and
Forties. It’s now a world that has clearly moved into the
21st century and everything about it is very different.”
That difference, he says, is defined by a movie such as Shrek
“which uses the computer in a way that we only dreamed
of five years ago.”
Shrek is a film that caters for everyone, not
just for children. “I’ve seen the movie play with
both audiences, and we get very different, but positive, reactions”,
says Katzenberg. But the DreamWorks boss also points out that
as impressive as computers are, it doesn’t mean the end
of traditional animation either. “There’s a place
for all of it. Our next film, Spirit, is very traditional, and
we’re working with Aardman on The Tortoise and the Hare,
different again.” It’s all about breaking the rules
and changing with the times. Shrek is destined to do it all.
Review
of Shrek
Brit filmmakers "fail
to make the grade" but does it matter
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