Shrek Was Never Supposed To Have A Scottish Accent

It's hard to imagine but Shrek was never supposed to have a Scottish accent and in an earlier version of the character had a slight New York twang.

The movie's creators originally cast Chris Farley to voice the character, with the comedian recording most of his lines before sadly passing away in 1997.

Farley's brother Kevin said the character of Shrek was also quite different, speaking to Yahoo in 2015, he said: "Originally the Shrek character was a little bit more like Chris, like a humble, bumbling innocent guy."

But after his tragic death at just 33, the studio were forced to find themselves another Shrek and Austin Powers' star Mike Myers was signed up and the script re-written.

DreamWorks

It was at this point we got the second version of how Shrek could have sounded, with Myers originally recording the part in his own Canadian accent.

However, the actor says he didn't think his own voice did justice to the ogre, so he asked if he could re-record the whole thing, which the studio agreed to.

Explaining why he decided to switch up the accent, Myers told USA Today: "There is a class struggle in Shrek between the fairy-tale kings and queens and the common people.

"I always thought that Shrek was raised working-class. And since Lord Farquaad was played English, I thought of Scottish."

And the accent was a big success, with Steven Spielberg even reaching out to Myers to say it had 'improved the movie'.

PA

"I got a letter from Spielberg thanking me so much for caring about the character," Myers said.

"And he said the Scottish accent had improved the movie."

Believe it or not, it's been 20 years since we first met Shrek - and while it's a much-loved classic to millions, a recent review in the Guardian ruffled a few feathers after it was called out for being 'unfunny' and 'overrated'.

The feature from writer Scott Tobias, goes on to say the movie was a 'low for blockbuster animation'.

Tobias writes: "Shrek is a terrible movie. It's not funny. It looks awful.

"It would influence many unfunny, awful-looking computer-animated comedies that copied its formula of glib self-reference and sickly sweet sentimentality. Three of those terrible movies were sequels to Shrek and one was a spin-off with a sequel in the works. The curse has eased but not lifted."

Ouch.

Topics: TV and Film

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19