DreamWorks has pitched an all-star lineup — Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow — to provide voices for its computer-animated feature, Shrek, the story of an ogre who rescues a princess. As you pile into matinees this weekend to check out this one-of-a-kind comedy adventure, keep these little factoids in mind.
1) To study fluid dynamic simulation for the film, the special-effects department took mud showers on their own.
2) The ogre Shrek was modeled after a bulldog — ugly and appealing at the same time.
3) The 31 fairy-tale creatures that appear in Shrek include the Three Bears, the Three Blind Mice, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Pied Piper, the Gingerbread Man, the Old Woman in the Shoe and Robin Hood.
4) Mike Myers provides the voice for both Shrek and one of the Blind Mice.
5) For the climactic love scene, Mike Myers actually read opposite his wife, Robin.
6) While voicing her The Matrix-style fight scene, Cameron Diaz broke out into the Cantonese she’d picked up while making Charlie’s Angels.
7) The creature Shrek has 585 body animation controls.
8) The late Chris Farley was originally cast as the voice of Shrek.
9) Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy, who voices the donkey, are both alumni of Saturday Night Live.
10) Eddie Murphy previously lent his voice to the Disney feature Mulan and his own claymation series, The PJs.
11) John Lithgow voices the 4 ½-foot Lord Farquaad; the actor is actually 6-foot-4.
12) DreamWorks’ first computer-animated film, Antz, featured the voices of Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Lopez and grossed around $90 million.
