Animated movies are a massive part of the movie business, and the biggest studios in the world are able to turn their biggest projects into lucrative box office blockbusters. Aside from amazing animation and creative stories, a studio also needs the right voice actors for each role. Stars like Brad Pitt, Ellen DeGeneres, and Dwayne Johnson have all lent their voices to animated movies.
Shrek was a groundbreaking film from DreamWorks, and it showed that Disney wasn’t the only game in town. Mike Myers gave an iconic performance as the titular character, and that first film spawned a massive franchise. Before Myers landed the job, another comedic performer voiced the character.
Let’s see who originally voiced Shrek!
Chris Farley Was The Original Voice
Shrek was an animated film that took some time to come together, and even though the film was initially put into development back in 1995, it would take years before it ever saw the light of day. One of the many reasons that this occurred was due to the passing of the original voice actor for the lead character.
Chris Farley was a comedic dynamo on the big and small screen alike, and he was the original actor voicing the lead character. Prior to being cast as Shrek, Farley had been putting together an impressive resume. He had been a star on Saturday Night Live, eventually transitioning into hit movies like Wayne’s World and Tommy Boy.
Farley would have brought something totally different to the role than Mike Myers did, and there are clips of early animation with Farley’s voice that can be found online today. Unfortunately, Farley passed away before being able to finish all of the recordings for the now iconic film.
From there, the studio was forced to move on and find other people who could potentially fill the role. Interestingly, before Farley had signed on board and had spent some time recording his lines, there were a few other actors that had been in consideration.
Other Actors Were In Consideration
As mentioned earlier, bringing Shrek together took quite some time, and before Farley was hired, there were some notable performers that were in contention for the job, including none other than Nic Cage.
Now, hearing any voice other than Mike Myers’ for the character is already bizarre enough to think about, and the thought of Nic Cage voicing Shrek just feels flat out wrong. Cage, however, declined the part.
When speaking with Today, Cage would say, “That is in fact true. Well, the news said it was because of vanity. I think that's a bit strong. But the truth is, I'm not afraid to be ugly in a movie.... When you're drawn, in a way it says more about how children are going to see you than anything else, and I so care about that."
Aside from Cage being considered early on, Steven Spielberg, who was once in the running to make a Shrek project of his own, wanted Steve Martin to voice the character while having Bill Murray voice Donkey, according to Bustle. While these two had name recognition and plenty of comedic talent that they could bring to the table, this film would not have caught on with them on board.
Instead of going back and hiring someone that was in contention early on, the folks bringing Shrek to life decided to look no further than a fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus who could take the character in a different direction.
Mike Myers Gets The Gig
Prior to Shrek hitting theaters, Mike Myers had already made a name for himself as a hilarious performer who could thrive on the big and small screen, much like Farley had before getting the gig originally.
According to Jim Hill, Myers wanted the script to the film redone so that it could be completely different from what Farley was bringing to the table. In fact, Myers himself wound up going through an accent change for the character when working on his own version, eventually settling on the one we hear now.
The first Shrek film was a monumental success, and since then, the franchise has been a global force. According to The-Numbers, each film in the franchise, including the spin-off Puss in Boots, has been able to generate over $490 million at the box office, with the first film being the lowest grosser.
Shrek would have been a lot different with Farley, and while tragedy robbed fans of what could have been, Mike Myers made the most of things and helped usher in a genuine animated classic.