Shrek was the surprise hit of 2001 with its unique comedic take on fairytales. If you were a child, you were immediately drawn in by the hysterical disgustingness of the ogre, Shrek, and his adventure with Donkey to rescue Princess Fiona for Lord Farquaad. And if you were a grown-up bringing your child to the movie, you enjoyed the satirical fairytale story with its subtle crudꦰe jokes 🦹thrown in here and there.

The story itself was based loosely on William Steig's 1990 children's picture book by the same na⛄me, but the writers of the film clearly took some creative licensing with 🎐their version.

The movie not only ended up being a huge blockbuster hit but made its production company, Dreamworks, a household name. They would go on to have several other animated franchises including Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, to name just a couple.

But Shrek was a movie that really stood out from all of the other children's movies that were out at the time. You wouldn't think that a story about a scary and gross ogre falling in love with a princess would be something people would gra🔴vitate to, but it was. It became a staple of many of our childhoods and made us realize that there is always more than meets the eye when it comes to people...or ogres, in this case.

So if Shrek was a childhood favorite of yours, as it is mine, then you will definitely enjoy these 25 Crazy Shrek Facts Oꦚnly Super Fans Knew About The Dreamworks Classic.

25 🐠 Shrek’s Original Concept Art

In any making of an animated film, there tends to be a long process where one or more artists come up with their own concept art of how they think the characters should be seen. They typically will come in, one by one, and pitch their ideas to the film's team, and they will then have to decide who best captured the essence of the characters. And the same was true for the making of Shrek.

In fact, they had four different artists come in for production design and they each submitted their own concept art for the project. One artist who was hired was Barry E. Jackson, and his version of Shrek was something very different than the Shrek we nᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚow know.

He looked far more like a scary, disgusting ogre that was described in the picture book, Shrek!, rather than the human-like version we met in the Shrek films.

Sure, Shrek in the movies was still🐲 pretty gross and not entirely human-looking, but he still was made to be a bit more relatable and funny, with features that are decidedly more human than like an ogre.

In the end, the team went with a different🧸 version, as we know, but Jac𓃲kson's concept art was still pretty incredible if you ask me.

24 Artful References ꩵ 𓆉

There was a certain scene in Shrek whꦐere we finally started to see there just may be more to this frightening ogre that we just have yet to see. And it was all thanks to the ogre himself: Shrek.

Thisܫ particular scene was when Shrek and Donkey were on their quest to Lord Farquaad’s castle to try and ꦍget the fairytale characters out of his swamp.

Shrek starts to explain to Donkey that, “Ogres are like onions.”

This ba🥂ffles Donkey as he attempts to guess what he means by that.

After their guessing game, Shrek clarifies what he meant by saying, “Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. You get it? We both have layers.” Meaning you have to peel each one back to se♎e that there is more going on than just what is on the surface.

This was very deep, especially for Shrek, but it turns out the writers took their inspiration for the quote from a play. The play was Peer Gynt from Norwegian playwright, ღHenrik Ibsen. And he was the first to talk about the notion of a person having more layers to them, much like o🐷nions.

That ♛is quite the artistic reference for a kid’s movie.

23 ✤ 🐷 Eddie Murphy’s Favorite Role

In every actor’s career, they are typically able to pick out their favorite role they have ever played, or at least, the best work they have ever done on a film or television show. The same was true for Eddie Murphy, who was the voice of the beloved waffle-loving Donkey in Shrek.

And funnily enough, playing Donkey in the movie made him realize that this was now his best work he had ever done. That means that Donkey beat out several other iconic roles of his, including Detective Axel Foley in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, Prince Akeem in Coming To America, and several other characters that he portrayed in his Saturday Night Live days.

It is understandable though. Donkey not only was one of the most hilarious characters in Shrek, but he is also probably almost everyone’s favorite character from the entire franchi🌄se.

Murphy has even said he will probably be most remembere⛎d for tha꧋t role over several other roles he has had, including those that were previously listed here. He went on to joke that if he were to pass away, it would be Donkey's photo in the In Memoriam, instead of his own.

That is quite the statement, but also most likel🍬y a true statement.

22 ꧋ A Star Is Born

Anyone who is an entertainer of any kind knows what an honor it is to get a sওtar on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. So many legends have gotten their own stars, too many to count, in fact, so it is truly a great thing to have happen to you at any point in your career. It is a v🐼ery elaborate ceremony, which includes not only getting your star on the Walk of Fame but also having famous friends of your's speak about your fantastic career.

Shrek, the character, was able to find out how great of an honor it was back in 2010. Yes, Shrek as in the ogre we watched for foꦑur different films, has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

That is quite a big deal for anybody, but especially someone who is a fictional - and animated -🗹 character in a kid’s movie. Mike Myers, was, of course, there to honor the character that became such a huge deal not only for children everywhere but Dreamworks, as well as Myers himself.

He g꧟ave quite the speech for his character, and Shrek was there in his ogre get-up to be a part of the ceremony and to hear his speech.

If any fictional character deserves a star, it is Shre✱♛k.

21 ♋ Knock-Off Eeyore

We have talked a lot about the many goings on in making a film. There are many details that may seem minuscule in the grand scheme of things to the viewers, such as us, but it could literally make or break the film in the endဣ.

That is why it is extremely important to get the exac꧒t drawing of a character right, or it may not come across the way you want it to.

So during the drawing stages of an animated film, there are typically many iterations of the same character before they settle on one in particular. The same was true for Donkey, although acc🙈ording to the artists, he wa🗹s the easiest one to sketch.

This was simply because there was no reference for what a talking donkey would actually look like, so they were able to take some creativꦑe licensing when drawing.

The first drawings of him looked a whole lot more like Eeyore🌠 from Winnie Th🅰e Pooh, apparently. Of course, we all know that he went on to look much different than poor, old Eeyore, but that is certainly an interesting tidbit of information. Plus, I much prefer the artistic creation of Donkey they went with in the end, anyway.

20 The Internet’s Shr❀ek Obsession

For those of us who grew up watching Shrek in the ve𒆙ry early-2000s, he was just a part of our childhood and the title character in one🍎 of our favorite funny movies. Even though at times he could be slightly inappropriate, our young minds rarely caught onto it anyways. He was looked at as the hilariously gross but sweet ogre who just wanted to be accepted.

But now, thanks ꦕto the Internet, he has taken on a whole new life🌜.

Apparently, the internet is absolutely obsessed with the ogre….and in some seriously disturbing ways.

It all started in 2009 when the f♏ilm launched its official page on Facebook. It spiraled from there, where a world full of awful and creepy fan 𒐪fiction, as well as fan art, emerged from the depths and left the rest of us here to scratch our heads (as well as recoil in disgust).

I won’t get into the graphics of everything, but basically, a lot of the fan fiction and fan art can go from being disgusting to even grown up in ♐nature, and♑ sometimes, at lightning speed.

These dedicated fans of Shrek’s call themselves Brogres. I'm not๊ entirely sure where this sudden obꦜsession with the character came from, but to each their own, I suppose….

19 DreamWorks’ Saviꦜor

It is always a huge deal when a movie is able to save a production company from extinction. It is even a bigger deal when the movie that is able to do that is aꦆ comical fairytale story that is for cꦡhildren.

But Shrek did just that because it was a box officeജ hit when ♈it came out in 2001, and it ended up bringing in nearly 500 million dollars, worldwide. It eventually went on to become a franchise that also brought in a ridiculous amount of money.

So, in the end, it quite literally saved the Dreamworks company in a financial aspect. But it also saved them by creating a Dreamworks Animation image which further let them make films such as Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, and How To Train Your Dragon. It made people flock to see the new films they would release, all because of the Shrek name.

All of those fꦦilms also went on to become their own franchises, which in turn, meant t🐬hey were also bringing in a lot of money.

Basically, Shrek saved the Dreamworks company a million times over. It is no wonder, though, since the movie was so incredi🧔bly funny and became a huge part of most of 90's babies chil💟dhood's everywhere.

So thank you, Shrek, fওor saving the day, once again.

18 Shrek The Musical ☂

The entirety of the Shrek franchise was such a huge hit, that it spawned other series related to it, as well as a musical. I can only imagine just how difficult it must be to transform an actor into the green ogre we adore in a musical, but I’m sure the results are worth it, judging from the rave reviews it🦋 has receiv♏ed since its conception in 2008.

Since then, more has been told about subtle changes made to the story for the musical, 𒁃including a scﷺene where we see more of a backstory from Shrek, as well as a cameo with a young Princess Fiona.

In this scene, we find out that Shrek had apparently left his hom🃏e at the age of seven to “see the world” - which evidently happened often in ogre families.

During this adventure o▨f his, he is instantly hated by everyone in the streets that he explored, except for a young Princess Fiona. She saw him and waved until she was pulled away by her parents.

It was a sweet scene that showed more of the Shrek we already love. Plus, it lea🧸ds directly into him coming across his fut🍎ure swamp home. And that is just where the story starts…

17 Improvis🥀ation

Often in comedy routines, or sitcoms, or comedic movies, there is some level ꦆof improvisation used during the movie. Particularly if an actor excels at it. So it is always interesting to me, as well as entertaining, when an actor orও actress improvises something, even sometimes unintentionally, and it makes it directly into the project they are working on.

That exact circumstance ended up happening during the making of Shrek. Cameron Diaz had burped one day after partaking in a Coca-Cola, and it ended up making it into th🐟e film. It was because she was actually recording at the time, so they just kept it and wrote it in for Princess Fiona’s character.

Eddie Murphy later improvised the line in response to that moment that also made it into t💧he film. The iconic line I’m referring to, of course, is, “She’s as nasty as you are!”

That is why I have always found that some of my favorite parts of films or lines in movies tend to beꦰ those that weren't even planned in the first place.

And m�🌞�aybe, that is the true mark of a great actor. Although, in this case, we have Diaz's normal bodily function to thank, I suppose.

16 🅰 ღ Children To The Rescue

Those who have talked about children being the future are typically correct. But this next fact shows that kids that are still ve✤r♋y young can make just as much of an impact, even if they don't fully realize it yet.

It is not very often that two children under the age of six are able to take responsibility for making a film such as Shrek, that would go on to beꦑ quite successful, happen in the first pla🌳ce. For that matter, it is rare for any child, no matter what age they are to be able to do that.

But that is what happened when John H. Williams’ children came to him with the Shrek! picture book. Apparently, the kids, who were in kindergarten and pre-school respܫectively, had read the book multiple times and loved it.

So Williams brought it﷽ to Katzenberg, and the rest is history.

If it hadn't been for Williams' two little tykes, we may have never gotten to see the story of Shrek and Princess Fiona falling in love, while Lord Farquaad antagonizes them, and Donkey being there ju🐻st ꧃to go along for the ride.

﷽I can ꦏhonestly say that is a world I would not want to live in. Dreamworks would probably agree, I'm assuming.