Along with the Back to the Future footage featuring Eric Stoltz, the lost scene at the end of The Shining, and live footage of The Replacements in 1984, the audio and motion-capture footage of Chris Farley as Shrek seemed to be one of those things that would remain lost forever, doomed to join lore of mythical, what-was-it-like content.
Perhaps tangentially—or directly—related to the release of the new documentary I Am Chris Farley, that previously locked-up audio has made its way online somehow, and it’s kind of upsetting.
Completely different in tone from what eventually became the Academy Award-winning Mike Meyers version in 2001, Farley’s Shrek appears to have been a more somber, less cartoonish character—which hits hard considering that his tragic overdose occurred about one week before his principal dialogue was set to have been finished. Rather than use a new voice actor to mimic the part and finish it, Dreamworks instead chose to start from scratch and rework the movie drastically.
Hard to say whether this version would have ultimately been as good, but all the same, it’s sweet and sad and nice to see. You can listen to the audio below.
(via Slate)
