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Mimi Leder’s 1997 action film “The Peacemaker” was the first film released by then-fledgling DreamWorks Pictures. The studio released several high-profile films into theaters immediately afterward, releasing Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning drama “Amistad” and Gore Verbinski’s stylish children’s film “Mouse Hunt” before the end of the year. DreamWorks quickly proved itself to be a formidable player in the mainstream animation field, unveiling “Antz” and “The Prince of Egypt” in late 1998. 2000 was also a good year for its animation department, with DreamWorks releasing both “The Road to El Dorado” and “Chicken Run” from Aardman Animations.
Then, in 2001, DreamWorks Animation released “Shrek,” a decidedly anti-Disney satire based on the picture book by William Steig. “Shrek” featured countless cheeky send-ups of fairy tales, and audiences devoured them. The first “Shrek” was a huge box office success and spawned a huge entertainment franchise that still endures today. Indeed, an entire generation grew up watching “Shrek” and its many sequels are now considered classics. The property became so lucrative that Disney itself began imitating its satire, as the studio’s own “Frozen” had the same anti-Disney sentiment that “Shrek” had stirred up.
No one could have predicted how popular “Shrek” would become, least of all the top brass at DreamWorks. Indeed, according to Nicole LaPorte’s book “The Men Who Would Be King: A Near-Epic Story of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks,” “Shrek” was once considered a punishment by the studio. The flagship production of the late 1990s was “The Prince of Egypt”. If you missed anything while animating this movie, the big names at DreamWorks would demote you to producing “Shrek.” There’s certainly an irony in this, because “Shrek” made a lot more money than “The Prince of Egypt” ever did.
If you missed The Prince of Egypt, you’re demoted to Shrek
To remind readers, “The Prince of Egypt” was a full-fledged musical reimagining of the Book of Exodus with an all-star cast including Val Kilmer as Moses and Ralph Fiennes as Ramesses, as well as Michelle Pfeiffer, Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren, Jeff Goldblum, Sandra Bullock, Danny Glover, Steve Martin and Martin Short. Stars like that weren’t yet regularly assembled for animated features. “The Prince of Egypt” was also a high-profile prestige film intended to combat Disney’s dominance of the animation market during the era of the famous Disney Renaissance. A lot of time and energy went into the film, and it ended up winning two Academy Awards, for Best Song. This was a few years before the introduction of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film, otherwise it would have been a success.
“Shrek,” on the other hand, was a silly comedy about an ogre. Although it also had an all-star cast (including Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, John Lithgow and Cameron Diaz), it was considered the “lesser” film. Indeed, a host (who preferred to remain anonymous) spoke with LaPorte, explaining that “Shrek” was being used as a punitive measure:
“It was known as the Gulag. […] If you failed on “Prince of Egypt,” you were sent to the dungeons to work on “Shrek.”
It seemed like no one wanted to be “Shreked.” It’s also worth remembering that “Shrek” was initially envisioned as being more disgusting than it turned out to be. Like Steig’s book, Shrek was supposed to be the grossest creature in the world. He married the second grossest creature and they had revolting children. Nobody wanted to work on a film like that. Additionally, it was a computer-animated film, which many traditional animators considered beneath them.
Shrek started even rougher
As the New York Post noted in 2010, even the “cleaned up” version of “Shrek” was still considered too crude for DreamWorks animators. Recall that the titular character was an ogre who lived in a bog and bathed in mud. In the opening minutes of the film, Shrek emerges from a latrine and then enters a swamp where he confidently breaks the wind, killing nearby fish. In retrospect, it seems tame, but a major studio release beginning with poop and fart gags was a risk at the time. The film’s co-director, Vicky Jenson, recalled feeling nervous at the Cannes premiere of “Shrek,” saying, “Here we are, sitting in tuxedos and evening gowns, wearing borrowed jewelry, and everyone is watching Shrek poop in the water.”
Even DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was also the head of DreamWorks’ animation department at the time, recalled thinking that “Shrek” would spark outrage and outrage when it premiered:
“For the first 10 minutes, nothing. […] My heart was pounding, my forehead was sweating. I thought, ‘They’re going to burn the place down.'”
Instead, “Shrek” became DreamWorks’ biggest hit. A sequel was quickly put into production, and “Shrek 2”, released in 2004, became the highest-grossing film that year at the worldwide box office. The franchise also spawned spinoff films about Antonio Banderas’ character in “Shrek 2,” Puss in Boots, as well as a high-earning Broadway musical. Shrek has also appeared in at least 12 video games since then, as well as theme park attractions. If Shrek was supposed to be the rudest creature in the world, he became a smiling, friendly family companion. Shrek may have farted in a bog, but that wasn’t a bad thing.
