Shrek

Shrek is a 2001 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book Shrek! by William Steig. It is the first installment in the Shrek film series, and stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow. In the film, an embittered ogre named Shrek (voiced by Myers) finds his home in the swamp overrun by fairy tale creatures banished by the obsessive ruler Lord Farquaad (Lithgow). With the help of Donkey (Murphy), Shrek makes a pact with Farquaad to rescue Princess Fiona (Diaz) in exchange for regaining control of his swamp. After purchasing the rights to Steig's book in 1991, Steven Spielberg sought to produce a traditionally-animated film adaptation, but John H. Williams convinced him to bring the project to the newly-founded DreamWorks Pictures in 1994. Jeffrey Katzenberg, along with Williams and Aron Warner, began development on Shrek in 1995, immediately following the studio's purchase of the rights from Spielberg. Chris Farley was cast as the voice of the title character, recording most of the required dialogue, but died in 1997 before his work on the film was completed; Myers was hired to replace him, and gave Shrek his characteristic Scottish accent. The film was originally intended to be created using motion capture, but after poor test results, the studio hired Pacific Data Images to complete the final computer animation. Shrek parodies other fairy tale adaptations, primarily Disney animated films. Shrek premiered at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood on April 22, 2001, and was later shown at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or, making it the first animated film since The Missing Link (1980) to be...