Unfortunately, the comedian died unexpectedly, and colleague “SNL” alum Mike Myers took over the part.
SHREK
The DreamWorks animated movie Shrek, which debuted in 2001 and made $484 million worldwide, won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It was a cultural sensation that gave rise to three sequels (Shrek 2 would nearly treble the first film’s box office receipts) and a Puss In Boots spinoff.
The animation, the sound design, and particularly the casting of former Saturday Night Live cast members Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy as Shrek and Donkey made everything work. You may not be aware of this, but Myers wasn’t the original option to portray the green ogre.
Chris Farley, another seasoned SNL performer, receives that honor. It was challenging to find an actor who was brighter than Farley in the mid-1990s. With the help of the 1995 breakthrough film Tommy Boy, Farley immediately rose to stardom in Hollywood after his successful time on the skit comedy series.
Chris Farley was at the pinnacle of his profession :
Farley was cast as Shrek, following the upward trajectory of his career. He finished roughly 85% of his lines before passing away in December 1997. In addition to a Shrek who sounds entirely different from Myers’ portrayal, a leaked YouTube clip of the recordings also features Chris Farley in a way we’ve never heard him before.
Then Mike Myers appeared :
Due to his appearances on Saturday Night Live and the success of Wayne’s World, Mike Myers enjoyed a similar level of popularity as Farley in the 1990s. He would have another big hit after the decade with the Austin Powers movies. His performance as Shrek was just another triumph
Myers provided us with a creature in Shrek who could be obnoxious, irritable, crude, and infantile. Given that Myers had previously been using the same speech in So I Married An Axe Murderer and, of course, as Fat Bastard in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, the decision to give the ogre a Scottish accent seemed pointless.
However, the decision that would seem unusual ended up working, possibly because fans had already grown to appreciate and embrace that peculiar accent.
Audiences aren’t precisely searching for anything too unconventional in animated family movies. For whatever reason, Myers’ decision to utilize the Scottish accent once more was successful, and Shrek became, in the eyes of many, her most beloved creation.
Shrek, as seen by Farley :
Myers’ perspective seemed to be the reverse of Chris Farley’s. We would have received a more tender and helpless creature with his take on Shrek. We would have received a Shrek that more closely resembled Chris Farley in real life.
The Chris Farley viewers were familiar with Saturday Night Live, movies, and television shows may occasionally be two separate individuals. On television, Farley was animated and noisy, resembling a real-life cartoon.
Only a few comedians have ever had his degree of aggressiveness. We adored him because of that. Off-screen, he might be like that too, according to reports, but primarily when he was under the influence or feeling uneasy.