The lost test footage of Chris Farley voicing Shrek to sketches of the character first surfaced on Reddit in 2015, and according to Fast Company, Farley recorded roughly 85% of his lines for the film. With that much time invested in the character, “Shrek” director Andrew Adamson was left in a huge quandary.
Adamson said the production considered hiring a Farley impersonator to complete the actor’s dialogue, which of course didn’t materialize. Instead, Mike Myers joined the cast, a last-minute actor replacement that saved the movie. “We spent a year banging our heads against the wall until Mike Myers came onboard,” Adamson told Splitsider (via Fast Company). “Chris’ Shrek and Mike’s Shrek are really two completely different characters, as much as Chris and Mike are two completely different people.'” To make the separation, Adamson said, Myers requested a rewrite of the “Shrek” screenplay “so that he wouldn’t be starring in the Chris Farley version of the film.” However, a video from YouTube creator Just Hannah that shows comparisons between Farley’s and Myers’ reads on “Shrek” reveals that some of the original lines remained in the film. Since the first batch surfaced in 2015, the YouTuber located more test footage featuring Farley’s voice.
“Shrek” went on to make history by becoming the first winner of the best animated feature film Oscar, leading to Myers becoming a permanent fixture in the entire “Shrek” timeline, which reaches across multiple movies, video games, short films, and TV series.
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