Comedy icon Chris Farley was originally supposed to play the ogre Shrek in the DreamWorks animated classic, and even recorded most of his lines--but his tragic death in 1997 meant that would not happen. Now, a newly leaked audio recording--complete with storyboards and Eddie Murphy voicing Donkey--has emerged, giving us an idea what Farley's version of Shrek would have sounded like.
Farley's Shrek sounds quite different from what his Saturday Night Live colleague Mike Myers eventually brought to the character. He sounds less crabby, and of course, he's not Scottish.
Take a listen to the clip below.
The late actor's brother, Kevin Farley, told Yahoo Movies recently that Chris recorded almost all of his lines for the movie before he died of a drug overdose.
“Originally, the Shrek character was a little bit more like Chris, like a humble, bumbling innocent guy," Kevin Farley said.
Chris Farley's death impacted the production of Shrek in a major way, including a full rewrite, according to this detailed account.
Ultimately, the first Shrek was released in 2001 to critical acclaim and box office success. DreamWorks made numerous sequels, and now there are rumors of a fifth entry in the series.