14 things you probably didn't know about 'Shrek'

More than a decade before the animated movie was released in theaters, author William Steig wrote the children's book, "Shrek!"

The book had similar characters and storylines as the movie, but it didn't include as much of the film's cynical wit.

The four main writers who worked on "Shrek" were Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S.H. Schulman.

Before "Shrek," Elliott and Rossio worked together on Disney's "Aladdin" (1992). Stillman and Schulman worked on MTV's "Beavis and Butthead" and the film "ALF Tales" (1988), respectively.

Mike Myers was the voice of Shrek, but he wasn't the first actor cast in the role.

Before his sudden death in 1997, "SNL" star Chris Farley was cast to voice Shrek, and clips of his voice work have since surfaced online.

According to a 2015 Yahoo! interview with his brother Kevin Farley, the actor recorded most of the movie before his death.

"Originally the Shrek character was a little bit more like Chris, like a humble, bumbling innocent guy," Kevin said. "The studio needed to do what they needed to do. It was a bad time, bad timing … a tragedy. Mike did a great job with 'Shrek.' He knocked it out of the park."

Once Myers took on the role of Shrek, he tried to give the ogre a Canadian accent before he eventually changed it to a Scottish one.

Nicolas Cage has taken on many roles over the years, but one that he turned down was the voice of Shrek.

During a 2013 interview on the "Today" show, Cage explained why he didn't want the role saying, "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 do care about that."

He said he doesn't regret turning it down.

Shrek isn't the only character in the film who was passed from actor to actor. Princess Fiona was once voiced by actress Janeane Garofalo.

According to Vulture, after losing the role Garofalo said, "I was never told why [I was fired]. I assume because I sound like a man sometimes? I don't know why. Nobody told me."

In an interview with The Age, DreamWorks cofounder and "Shrek" creator Jeffrey Katzenberg said, "That first 'Shrek' saved the company financially. We're here today because of it. It's been a great blessing. I refer to it as the gift that keeps on giving."

In a 2009 interview with the Los Angeles Times, John Lithgow said "I always said I would never play anyone short, and then came ["Shrek's"] Lord Farquaad."

He went on to describe the role in "Shrek" as "something new" for his filmography.

Before "Shrek," Lithgow was known for playing the high commander of a highly trained alien unit on NBC's "3rd Rock from the Sun," and he went on to play a killer on Showtime's "Dexter."

Animated films didn't win many major categories at the Oscars until the best animated feature award was created in 2002.

"Shrek" was the first film to take home the award in this category, winning out against Nickelodeon's "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" and Pixar's "Monsters, Inc."

One might think "Shrek" is just a random name given to a swamp-dwelling ogre, but it actually stems from the Yiddish word shreklekh, which means awful/terrible/horrible in English.

The word schrecklich is also found in German, which similarly means dreadful.

After its success in the early 2000s, "Shrek" was adapted into a Broadway musical in 2008.

It ran on Broadway until 2010 starring Brian d'Arcy James as Shrek and Broadway legend Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona.

At the 2009 Tony Awards, "Shrek the Musical" won the award for best costume design in musical.

"Shrek" premiered before the age of social media, but it has found a resurgence online in recent years.

On Reddit, there is a whole subreddit where fans talk about theories and parodies.

There have also been plenty of memes and tweets created about the films — including a popular reminder that "Shrek 2" had an "American Idol"-inspired bonus feature on the DVD.

According to IMDPro's Box Office Mojo, when "Shrek 2" was released in 2004, it was the highest-grossing movie worldwide, beating out "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Spider-Man 2."

To date, "Shrek 2" is the fifth-highest-grossing animated film. It's the only non-Disney film in the top five, behind "Incredibles 2" (2018), "The Lion King" (2019), "Finding Dory" (2016), and "Frozen 2" (2019).

"Shrek 5" is reportedly in the works under the Universal banner, since DreamWorks was sold to Universal in 2016.

Screenwriter Michael McCullers told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017 that the script for "Shrek 5" is completed and the film is being developed.

In 2018, the CEO of Universal's Illumination studios Chris Meledandri also told Variety that the sequel was in the works.

According to Cinema Blend, in 2016, Eddie Murphy said that the movie was supposed to be released in "2019 or 2020." However, ScreenRant reported earlier this year that the film has since been canceled.

Currently, Universal has a few untitled DreamWorks films set to release through 2023, but no confirmation of "Shrek 5." Representatives for DreamWorks didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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