Inside Chris Farley’s Lost Version of Shrek

Katzenberg: I want this dark and edgy. Also Katzenberg: This is dark and edgy. You're all fired.

Fun fact: The song “All Star” was only a placeholder for test screenings until a new song could be found. But test audiences loved it, and the producers kept it in.

Fun Fact: Mike Myers got a letter from Steven Spielberg thanking him for caring so much about Shrek and saving the project also William Seig was concerned that Sherk was gonna be Disneyfied even regretting selling the rights but when he saw the movie he was relieved and loved the adaption of his book

I prefer the version we got but wish I could see the Farley version. I like how Shrek turned in to almost an anti Disney movie with how it handled fairy tales and expectations for it.

Wow, this story should have its own documentary/mini series complete with the cast and production interviews. To go from development hell to nearly finished then your lead actor dieing right at the end to then save it and not only ends up a good movie but a cultural phenomenon and classic is amazing. Great job, as always.

The fact this movie came out of nowhere and became the cultural phenomen it did was amazing, I must of watched this movie about a million times due to my oldest child always having it when he was little

a prime example of why not having a faithful adaption of the source material is sometimes for the best

Speaking of What Could Have Been, there’s a really interesting original version of Shrek 2 where he abdicates the throne and campaigns are made by Gingy and Pinocchio. I don’t think there’s enough info on it to make a video, but it would have been interesting to see

RIP 🙏 CHRIS FARLEY... he was such a huge influence for me growing up i loved how he could make everyone laugh but was able to be vulnerable too...i was devastated when he died i was in middle school then and i still wonder now what it would be like if he was still here in movies like grown ups and so many others that he couldve been the lead in and wouldve been original...on hard days i still rely on his movies to cheer me up, Tommy Boy is my ho to ❤ Black sheep is great too & i love him in Billy Madison & Dirty Work he was so great in that small role " a siagon whore bite my nose off" 😂😂😊 classic

I have nothing against Chris Farley, but the Shrek we got with Mike Myers was absolutely perfect

Shrek is a film near and dear my heart so I wouldn’t want to lose it, but the tragedy behind its productions makes me wish I could step into an alternate universe and see what would’ve happened if Chris Farley’s version was made. I truly hope in that world, he got the recognition he deserved

Great job. They should put together the original film and get his brother back now. He said he would do it now if asked. Missing media is so mysterious.

While the original version would’ve been interesting to see, the original as a childhood favorite so I’m happy with what we got. Sad about Chris Farley, I heard he was gonna play Fatty Arbuckle in a bio film written by David Mamet, that would’ve been really interesting to see.

I’m glad Bob Odenkirk and others have been vocal about that Chippendale’s sketch. I know the sketch writer Jim Downey ardently defends the sketch but I genuinely think it’s a mean spirited piece that no doubt contributed to harming Farley’s mental health. I would really love to see Farley’s lines all released one day. Thanks for the video, great stuff as always

I miss Chris Farley. He was such a a great actor.

Other unrealized projects of Chris Farley (due to his passing) included his role as Atuk in a film version of Mordecai Richler's "The Incomparable Atuk" (which would've also had Phil Hartman as the antagonist); Ignatius J. Reilly in a film adaptation of John K. Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces"; a young male "height-fearing" Brachiosaurus named Sorbus in Disney's "DINOSAUR" (his character was changed in the final version as an elderly female named Baylene); and his first serious acting role as the tragic silent-film comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in a biopic that was written by David Mamet.

This is crazy just watching Shrek with friends last Friday and someone mentioned this about Chris Farley- now I've got the story!

hmmm, the Fiona alternate origin is a new thing I've learned from this video. I see part of the whole locked in a tower thing and suppressing the info that their daughter is an ogre I feel like little detail kind of got spread into Shrek 2 and 4 as far as the King and Queen's reasons and what they did. The Witch potion thing was a different angle that i thought was kind of interesting as far as giving her day and night human forms. I think i prefer what we got with Meyers and Diaz with the Shrek movies that were released in our timeline. But I think I have some morbid curiosity to maybe see what a completed Farley and Garaffalo Shrek would've been like as far as style and tone. Seeing that test footage version that got leaked a while back was really creepy and a little nightmare inducing 😅. But I really wish there's some alternate timeline out there in the cosmos where Chris Farley's support network were able to help him with his addiction demons that were plaguing him back then to get the help he needed as well as fighting his body dysphoria (i think that might've been part of it, i might be labeling it wrong) and healing his pyche. And maybe see the movie as they were originally trying to make. like you mentioned with Garaffalo being a little more sarcastic and cynical with her performances and comedy, I'm kind of curious what her Fiona would act and look like in both human and Ogre forms. I wonder if they had any character designs for that or some test footage that's around somewhere. Also thank you for including the other works of the author who wrote the book version of Shrek. I saw the cover of the book, but have yet to have a chance to read the whole thing and see everything in it. The B-roll made me remember something. I have seen this author's stuff before. I think I read one of The Dr.DeSoto books as a kid. Thanks for the memory-blast.

Wow! This was fantastic man!! You do such a great job on these. I would've never known all this stuff about the movie. My daughter was a toddler at the time this came out and she loved Shrek. So, naturally I took her to see all the films and sat with her to watch them all again when they came out on video. I can't see this franchise being as successful with Bill Murray, Nick Cage or even Farley. This to me, couldn't have worked without the vocal talents of Mike, Eddie and Cameron. Not to mention Lithgow as the villain. Who'd have thought this potential disaster would become the cash cow and household name it is today? Now that I know this backstory, I'm amazed that it ever saw the light of day, being that it languished in development hell as long as it did. Thanks again for this background on this beloved movie.

Wow, the character Shrek probably wouldve been alot different had Chris Farley lived long enough for his original lines to be completed. RIP Granted the Shrek we ended up getting with Mike Myers is truly a classic.