History Trivia / SHREK

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The game was supposed to show off the hardware capabilities of the Xbox, and was actually supposed to be an original IP before being repurposed into a ''Shrek'' game.

** For video games and other non-movie media, each of the main characters has a [[PoorMansSubstitute different actor/actress]]: Creator/MichaelJGough replaces Creator/MikeMyers as Shrek, Creator/MarkMoseley replaces Creator/EddieMurphy as Donkey, Creator/HollyFields replaces Creator/CameronDiaz as Princess Fiona, and Creator/AndreSogliuzzo and later Creator/EricBauza replace Creator/AntonioBanderas as Puss in Boots. Moseley also voiced Donkey in ''Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party''.

** For video games and other non-movie media, each of the main characters has a [[PoorMansSubstitute different actor/actress]]: Creator/MichaelJGough replaces Creator/MikeMyers as Shrek, Creator/MarkMoseley replaces Creator/EddieMurphy as Donkey, Creator/HollyFields replaces Creator/CameronDiaz as Princess Fiona, and Creator/AndreSogliuzzo and later Creator/EricBauza replace Creator/AntonioBanderas as Puss in Boots.

** For video games and other non-movie media, each of the main characters has a [[PoorMansSubstitute different actor/actress]]: Creator/MichaelJGough replaces Creator/MikeMyers as Shrek, Creator/MarkMoseley replaces Creator/EddieMurphy as Donkey, Creator/HollyFields replaces Creator/CameronDiaz as Princess Fiona, and Creator/AndreSogliuzzo and later Creator/EricBauza replaces Creator/AntonioBanderas as Puss in Boots.

** For video games and other non-movie media, each of the main characters has a [[PoorMansSubstitute different actor/actress]]: Creator/MichaelJGough replaces Creator/MikeMyers as Shrek, Creator/MarkMoseley replaces Creator/EddieMurphy as Donkey, Creator/HollyFields replaces Creator/CameronDiaz as Princess Fiona, and Creator/AndreSogliuzzo replaces Creator/AntonioBanderas as Puss in Boots.
** Dean Edwards replaced Creator/EddieMurphy as Donkey in ''Scared Shrekless''. [[TheOriginalDarrin Murphy then replaced Edwards]] for ''Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular''.
** Jason T. Lewis voices Donkey in the ''Shrek''-related [=DreamworksTV=] videos, with Mick Wingert (best known as the substitute voice for Po of ''Franchise/KungFuPanda'' fame) voicing Shrek in a handful of them.

* TheWikiRule: [[http://shrek.fandom.com/wiki/WikiShrek The Shrek Wiki]].

! The First Chapter

* AccentDepundent: An interesting inversion occurs with Lord Farquaad. [[spoiler: that is, "fuckwad"]] In a rhotic American accent (or indeed, the Scottish one put on by Creator/MikeMyers), his name sounds perfectly innocent.
* ActingForTwo: One of the Three Blind Mice, who says "It's not home but it'll do just fine", is voiced by Creator/MikeMyers doing a Music/JohnLennon impression.
* ActorInspiredElement: Creator/MikeMyers originally voiced Shrek with a roughed-up version of his real Canadian accent (which can be heard in some of the outtakes included on the DVD and Blu-ray). However, he was unsatisfied with the finished performance and asked to rerecord the whole thing. This time he based the ogre's voice on his parents' Scottish accents- and thus Shrek became the Scotsogre we all know and love.
* AdoredByTheNetwork: Hoo-boy, did Creator/CartoonNetwork love this movie. Ever since the channel first got the rights to it in the mid-2000's, Shrek has been frequently shown as a movie when Cartoon Network needs time to fill. It was common to see on the network from 2007 to 2011, when the network would air the film at least once (and sometimes even twice!) a week. To a lesser extent, this also applied to the other Turner networks such as Creator/{{TNT}} and Creator/{{TBS}}.
** The film and [[WesternAnimation/Shrek2 some of]] [[WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter its sequels]] are also pretty beloved by several other cable channels. Much like ''Film/JurassicPark'', it has shown up on just about every network that airs movies to some extent. In a true twist of irony, even '''Creator/DisneyChannel''' aired it at one point in time.
* ApprovalOfGod: Despite its many liberties from William Steig's original book, he loved the movie. Reportedly, his reaction was something along the lines of, "It's vulgar, it's disgusting — and I love it!". Sadly, this was the only ''Shrek'' movie Steig had a chance to watch, as he died just two years after its release.
* BeamMeUpScotty: Shrek's sarcastic EstablishingCharacterMoment, "Like that's ever gonna happen!" is often misquoted online as the slightly abbreviated "Like that'll ever happen!"
* CelebrityVoiceActor:
** The four main characters were played by Creator/MikeMyers, Creator/CameronDiaz, Creator/EddieMurphy, and Creator/JohnLithgow - all of whom were BilledAboveTheTitle. Creator/JimCummings, who has a relatively prominent role as the Captain of the Guard, and Creator/FrankWelker, who voices Dragon, are the only voice actors by profession to appear in the film.
** The series' Japanese dub is practically a who's who of Japanese voice acting: Masatoshi Hamada as Shrek, Creator/KoichiYamadera as Donkey, Norika Fujiwara as Princess Fiona, Masato Ibu as Lord Farquaad, Creator/NobuoTobita as Pinocchio, Creator/KenjiUtsumi as the Big Bad Wolf, Creator/HiroYuki as Gingy, Creator/UnshoIshizuka as Prince Charming, Creator/TakeshiAono as King Harold, Toshiko Sawada as Queen Lillian, Creator/WataruTakagi as the Three Blind Mice, Creator/TesshoGenda as Mabel and Brogan, plus many other voice actors who voice minor roles.
** In the Brazilian dub, comedian Bussunda was Shrek. When he died in 2006, TheOtherDarrin was also TheOtherMarty: professional dubber Mauro Ramos, whose already recorded track for the first movie served as reference for Bussunda's performance, took over the role in the movies and specials that followed.
** The Mexican dub features Creator/EugenioDerbez, who goes through BillingDisplacement as the only actor credited, as Donkey.
* TheCharacterIceCreamBar: Blue Bunny released an ice of Shrek's face featuring purple gumball eyes.
* ColbertBump: The film gave a huge amount of renewed attention to Music/LeonardCohen's "Hallelujah" as a result of featuring Music/JohnCale's cover (and Music/RufusWainwright's on the soundtrack album), resulting in the track accelerating in popularity and becoming Cohen's SignatureSong in the public eye.
* CreatorKiller: Not to [=DreamWorks=] itself, but one of the franchise's sources of fuel was all the snark directed towards Creator/{{Disney}} boss and Jeffrey Katzenberg's former superior Michael Eisner, including having Farquaad be a caricature of him; this movie was one of the multiple punches that eventually knocked Eisner out of the Mouse House in 2005 (nearly losing Creator/{{Pixar}} was the final punch to send him to the floor).
* DeletedScene:
** One has Fiona meeting a Gypsy woman named Bib Fortuna (a reference to the ''Franchise/StarWars'' character of the same name), who would eventually become the FairyGodmother. In this version Fiona is ''always'' an ogre, and Bib Fortuna gives her a potion that would make her beautiful, but tells her that she will alternate between her human and ogress forms until she finds true love. After that, she is whisked away by her dragon guardian and returned to the tower.
** There was going to be a scene shortly after Shrek and Donkey get Fiona out of the dragon's keep that would involve them riding a mine cart like a roller coaster, complete with at least three references to Disneyland via the talking skull from Pirates of the Caribbean, the yeti from Matterhorn Bobsleds, and the Country Bears. The storyboards for this scene are included in the DVD.
** After Shrek won the tournament in the first film, there was to be a scene where Farquaad explains the quest to Shrek and they're standing side-by-side to show their size comparison ([[AdaptationInducedPlotHole explaining Shrek and Donkey's size jokes to Fiona later in the film]]). Several ideas for that scene include them walking by a garden or having dinner. One was storyboard in which Farquaad shows Shrek and Donkey his desire to turn Duloc into a more modern city with convenient stores and mini-malls, and it shows Farquaad holding the deed to the swamp to entice Shrek to accept.
* DescendedCreator:
** Director Andrew Adamson also appears as Duloc's local mascot.
** Besides producing the film, Aron Warner voices the Big Bad Wolf.
* DuellingMovies: With ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', another monster themed CGI buddy comedy.
* DVDCommentary: By directors Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson and producer Aron Warner.
* FollowTheLeader:
** Several other {{fractured fairytale}}-based films, such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked}}'', ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' and ''WesternAnimation/HappilyNEverAfter'', were made following the success of ''Shrek''.
** It's difficult to imagine just how influential and popular ''Shrek'' was when it first came out, as just about every western animated feature has been influenced by its humor and style, not to mention "proving" that computer animation was the only way to go in the 21st century. In a nutshell, the trend was for such a film to star talking animals [[CelebrityVoiceActor voiced by celebrities]] and featuring pop-culture references and body/toilet humor, i.e. ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'', ''WesternAnimation/OpenSeason'', etc.
* GenreKiller: This film had such strong influence on the film, let alone animated film, industry that it ended ''three'' genres that were popularized by Creator/{{Disney}} in [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation the 1990s:]]
** After the first film became a roaring success, it would take nearly a decade for non-ironic fairy tale movies, especially ones made by Disney, to be taken seriously again. It didn't help that, in the decade preceding ''Shrek'', Disney had done nothing but blockbuster musicals, mostly with princesses and princes, following the box office underperformance of ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'' (which Katzenberg oversaw) and some of Disney's staff were losing interest in it at that point themselves, as evidenced by ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' being a full-blown comedy and ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' being an action-adventure film.
** Along with Creator/BlueSkyStudios' ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'', another hugely successful non-Disney CGI film that was released a year later[[note]]Disney would ironically obtain the rights to that film upon buying Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox (Blue Sky's parent company) in March 2019[[/note]], it wound up being the final nail in the coffin for hand-drawn feature film animation in America, which had been on a slow decent in popularity for the later half of the 90s. Dreamworks would close its 2D animation unit in 2003 and Disney would follow suit a year later, allowing the last few 2D movies they'd produced to die a quick, painless death at the box office so they could jump on the CGI bandwagon as quickly as possible. Despite some conceited efforts to keep the art form alive since then, CGI has remained the standard for all American animated features to this day.
** While not as immediately obvious around its release, the film also was a large factor of the death of the movie musical during the 2000's. After the Disney Renaissance films revived the format by making it their bread and butter, the studio slowly transitioned away from them starting with ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' to avoid further criticism of becoming too formulaic. Had that been it, the movie musical might have stood a chance of remaining relevant, but ''Shrek'''s subversive and aggressive use of pop songs had two lasting effects. Firstly, this made every animated movie after its release for close to a decade to rely largely on pop songs for the soundtrack. Secondly, the film's mockery of musical conventions made people not take the format nearly as seriously. These two aftershocks killed theatrical musicals for basically the rest of the 2000's, with the genre being non-existent until the surprise success of ''Film/HighSchoolMusical''. This slowly caused the genre to re-emerge until it was safely declared back with the immense popularity of the songs from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' in 2013.
* IronyAsSheIsCast: Towering 6'4 actor Creator/JohnLithgow plays the incredibly short Lord Farquaad.
* KidsMealToy: At Burger King, it got action figures and trading cards.
* MeaningfulReleaseDate: Fathom Events and Creator/{{Universal}} brought the film back into theatres for its 20th anniversary on April 23, 25, and 28, 2021, the former being a day after it premiered in Cannes in 2001. Universal brought the movie out in 4K on May 11, one week before the 20th anniversary of its theatrical release.
* MissingTrailerScene: The Magic Mirror was originally going to say "Technically, it's not perfect".
* NonSingingVoice: Any time Fiona sings it's another actress and not Creator/CameronDiaz. For the gag where she sings with a bird, a professional singer was hired who could [[HollywoodToneDeaf deliberately sing off-key]].
* TheOtherMarty: Creator/ChrisFarley was originally cast as Shrek, and even recorded some dialogue. When Farley died, fellow ''SNL'' cast member Mike Myers got his part. Initial reports were that the script was radically reworked after Farley's death and Myers was basically voicing a different character. Unearthed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zYT5hQR4Q4 animatics featuring Farley's Shrek]] show some differences, but not as many as originally thought; the scene is very similar to one in the final film. Myers himself was initially hesitant about accepting the role, because he was friends with Farley, and didn't want to disrespect his memory. He changed his mind after thinking it over.
* PermanentPlaceholder: According to WordOfGod, the use of the Music/SmashMouth song "All Star" at the beginning of the first movie was only intended as test footage track to get the timing of the opening down - they planned to use an original composition for the final product. However, "All Star" worked so well that they not only kept it in, but even hired Smash Mouth to record a new song for the ending (a cover of Music/TheMonkees' "I'm A Believer").
* SerendipityWritesThePlot: You'll notice that both times we visit the city of Duloc, the streets are completely empty and deserted. The crowd scenes were specifically written to take place indoors or in another confined location to save on rendering costs for large groups of characters all moving independently of one another.
* ThrowItIn:
** The line "You're going the right way for a smacked bottom" was improvised by Creator/MikeMyers after he got annoyed at one of the directors.
** The line "Can't we just settle this over a pint?" was something the producers actually said to Myers to convince him to join the film. They threw it into the script after he agreed.
** The scene where Princess Fiona burps was written after Creator/CameronDiaz burped during a recording session after drinking Coca-Cola. Donkey's quip, "She's just as nasty as you are!" was what Eddie Murphy actually said to Myers in response.
* UncreditedRole:
** Creator/StevenSpielberg served as the film's uncredited executive producer.
** Producer Aron Warner is uncredited for voicing the Big Bad Wolf, though he would be credited for the role in the sequels.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/{{Shrek}} Has its own page]]
* WriterRevolt: Well, ''producer'' revolt. Former Disney CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg made this film as a great big "Screw you!" to his previous company and especially his former partner Michael Eisner, whom he loathed, after Eisner shot down many of Katzenberg's idea and later beat him out of the studio head position. It worked, seeing as how this film put [=DreamWorks=] on the map and ended up indirectly contributing to Eisner being let go by Disney.

* RelationshipVoiceActor: In a cross-language example, this is the second time Creator/EddieMurphy and Mexican actor Creator/EugenioDerbez, who voice Donkey, share characters, after [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} Mushu]]. The same goes for both European Spanish and Japanese voice actors, Jose Mota and Creator/KoichiYamadera, respectively.

* UncreditedRole: Creator/StevenSpielberg served as the film's uncredited executive producer.

* GenreKiller: This film basically ended two genres that were popularized by Creator/{{Disney}} in [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation the 1990s:]]

* TalkingToHimself: One of the Three Blind Mice, who says "It's not home but it'll do just fine", is voiced by Creator/MikeMyers doing a Music/JohnLennon impression.

* ApprovalOfGod: Despite its many liberties from William Steig's original book, he loved the movie. Reportedly, his reaction was something along the lines of, "It's vulgar, it's disgusting — and I love it!"

** The four main characters were played by Creator/MikeMyers, Creator/CameronDiaz, Creator/EddieMurphy, and Creator/JohnLithgow - all of whom were BilledAboveTheTitle. Creator/JimCummings, who has a relatively prominent role as the Captain of the Guard, is the only voice actor by profession to appear in the film.

![[VideoGame/{{Shrek}} The video game]]
* DuelingWorks: The 2001 game with ''VideoGame/OddworldMunchsOddysee''. Both were launch titles for the original Xbox, featured green-skinned protagonists, and used [[{{Gasshole}} flatulence as a game mechanic]].

* RelationshipVoiceActor: In a cross-language example, this is the second time Creator/EddieMurphy and Mexican actor Creator/EugenioDerbez, who voice Donkey, share characters, after [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} Mushu]].

** The line "You're on your way to a smacked bottom" was improvised by Creator/MikeMyers after he got annoyed at one of the directors.

* TalkingToHimself: One of the Three Blind Mice, who bites Shrek's ear after he fails to catch him, is voiced by Creator/MikeMyers doing a Music/JohnLennon impression.

* ImageSource:
** FemaleMonsterSurprise
** HotInHumanForm (shares this with ''2'')
** InterspeciesRomance
** MirrorCrackingUgly
** MonsterFacade (shares this with ''Forever After'')
** InkSuitActor

* QuoteSource:
** GirlInTheTower
** SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace

* DuelingWorks: The 2001 game with ''VideoGame/{{Oddworld}}: Munch's Oddysee.'' Both were launch titles for the original Xbox, featured green-skinned protagonists, and used [[{{Gasshole}} flatulence as a game mechanic]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/Shrek Has its own page]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The film was originally going to be produced by Creator/StevenSpielberg, be hand-drawn (and later on, motion-captured), and star Creator/BillMurray as Shrek and Creator/SteveMartin as Donkey. Spielberg did still serve as the executive producer for the film, but went uncredited.
** The original script had Princess Fiona born an ogre to the late King and Queen of Duloc. They had her locked in the tower under the lie that she was "of such rare beauty" she was kidnapped. They died, and the kingdom was left under the rule of an ambitious regent (implied to be Farquaad). When she "became of age" to ascend to the throne, she escaped the tower and encountered a witch named Bib Fortuna (a reference to the ''Star Wars'' character of the same name) - who narrated the entire sequence through her tarot cards. She gave Fiona a potion which would make her beautiful, but Fortuna warned her of the potion's side effect - she would change between her human and ogress form until she found her true love. Later she was whisked away by her dragon guardian and returned to the tower. This storyline was not adapted to keep the story simple, but is mentioned through the "witch" Fiona tells Donkey about.
** Chris Farley was cast as Shrek and even recorded dialogue, but his untimely death meant that he had to be recast. Early storyboards of Farley as Shrek show that he was originally a WellDoneSonGuy with overprotective parents; he'd recently moved out of his parents' house, and his motivation for rescuing Fiona was that Farquaad would give him his own swamp, allowing him to finally become independent and make his parents proud. In the final film, no mention is made of Shrek's parents, and his motivation is simply to take back his own land. Apparently, this was partially spurred by Mike Myers himself, who wanted to distance his role from Farley's Shrek.
** Originally, Shrek was driven out of his swamp by Farquaad's guards who burned his house down. The filmmakers thought, although it was dramatic, it wasn't funny (like the scene we got in the finished film).
** Creator/JaneaneGarofalo was originally going to voice Fiona, but with the recasting of Shrek's voice actor, Fiona's voice and character were changed so she could contrast with Shrek better.
** Supposedly, Creator/RobinWilliams was approached for a role, but because of the bitter falling out he had with Jeffrey Katzenberg after the latter breached Williams's contract stipulations for ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', he refused to work on this or any [=DreamWorks=] film.
** An IMAX 3-D version that would have added an alternate ending was also planned to be released in either December 2001 or summer 2002, but was cancelled.
** In the first movie, they wanted the crescent moon on Shrek's outhouse to be the [=DreamWorks=] logo moon. [[ExecutiveVeto But the studio said no.]]
** Shrek originally looked [[https://screencrush.com/files/2012/08/shrek-early-concept-art.jpg quite goofy]] (it's the picture on the right), likely while Chris Farley was still involved.
** Creator/NicolasCage was approached to voice Shrek, but he turned the role down, as he felt being cast as a scary ogre would [[MeanCharacterNiceActor make a bad impression on children]].
** Creator/AlanRickman was originally offered the role of Farquaad, but he turned it down to portray Severus Snape in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' film series instead.

** Along with Creator/BlueSkyStudios' ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'', another hugely successful non-Disney CGI film that was released a year later[[note]]Disney would ironically obtain the rights to that film upon buying Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox (Blue Sky's parent company) in March 2019[[/note]], it wound up being the final nail in the coffin for hand-drawn feature film animation in America, which had been on a slow decent in popularity for the later half of the 90s. Dreamworks would close it's 2D animation unit in 2003 and Disney would follow suit a year later, allowing the last few 2D movies they'd produced to die a quick, painless death at the box office so they could jump on the CGI bandwagon as quickly as possible. Despite some conceited efforts to keep the art form alive since then, CGI has remained the standard for all American animated features to this day.