“Shrek”: He’s Big, he's green, and he’s gone

Sooner or later every fairy tale reaches its happily ever after. For “Shrek,” the long-running animated fantasy franchise about a curmudgeonly ogre (voiced by Mike Myers), his human-turned-ogre wife, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), and his pals Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), that time is now. On Friday, DreamWorks Animation and Paramount will release “Shrek Forever After,” the fourth -- and, the studios say, final -- instalment in the series. In a recent interview, some of the “Shrek” stars spoke about the series and what its ending means to them. Excerpts from the conversations.

Mike Myers, Shrek
How were you originally recruited to play Shrek?
Myers: I went to the premiere of “Saving Private Ryan,” and at the party afterward Jeffrey Katzenberg's daughter and friends were doing the opening dance number from “Austin Powers” for me. I didn't know what to do, because I'm very awkward and very Canadian often. And Jeffrey [the chief executive of DreamWorks Animation] came over and said, “Would you ever be interested in doing animation stuff?” I was really not in the head for it, but I said: “Yes, of course. Out of curiosity, what's it called?” And he said, “Shrek.” And I was like, “Oh, wow, that's not a really good name.”
How does it feel now that the “Shrek” series is coming to an end?
Myers: I think it's very elegant. I think that they've managed to keep the integrity of the series. It's all about that one line: “But you are beautiful to me,” from the first movie. By the ogre falling in love with the ogre girl, he is saying: “I too am beautiful. And you are also beautiful.” That's a very potent thing. We've been doing it for a long time. The door's probably not locked. But it's tastefully latched.

Antonio Banderas, Puss in Boots
How were you approached to join the “Shrek” series?
Banderas: It was a very straight call from Jeffrey Katzenberg. At that time, I was on Broadway doing “Nine,” and the first thing that I had to record was getting a hairball out of my throat. So I was, for like 45 minutes, doing this strange noise. When I got to the theatre that night, I practically couldn't sing.
Why do you think you were chosen as the cat?
Banderas: I suppose because of my accent. People recognize my voice immediately. Because I did characters that were bigger than life, like Zorro and “Desperado.” It gave me the possibility of laughing at myself.

Cameron Diaz, Princess Fiona
Did you have an appreciation for cartoons before you started working on “Shrek”?
Diaz: I grew up on the barest of cartoon animation. I grew up with Tom and Jerry and the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. All the great, violent, sardonic characters of the good old days.
Those characters seem much more aggressive than you.
Diaz: Good. You don't know me. [Laughs.]
What's changed about your life during that time?
Diaz: I think that I'm definitely more mature. In some ways. I finally turned 15.

Source: The New York Times