Daily Dialogue — March 3, 2017
SHREK: Donkey? What are you doing?
DONKEY: I would think, of all people, you would recognize a wall when you see one.
SHREK: Well, yeah. But the wall’s supposed to around my swamp, not through it.
DONKEY: It is, around your half, see? That’s your half and this is my half.
SHREK: Oh, your half. Hmm.
DONKEY: Yes, my half. I helped rescue the princess. I did half the work, I get half the booty. Now, hand me that big old rock, the one that looks like your head.
SHREK: Back off.
DONKEY: No, you back off.
SHREK: This is my swamp.
DONKEY: Our swamp.
SHREK: Let go, Donkey!
DONKEY: You let go!
SHREK: Stubborn jackass!
DONKEY: Smelly ogre.
SHREK: Fine!
DONKEY: Hey, hey, hey, come back here. I’m not through with you yet.
SHREK: Well, I’m through with you.
DONKEY: Uh-uh. You know, with your it’s always “Me, me, me!” Well, guess what? Now it’s my turn! So you just shut up and pay attention! You are mean to me, you insult me and you don’t appreciate anything that I do! You’re always pushing me around or pushing me away.
SHREK: Oh, yeah? Well, if I treated you so bad, how come you came back?
DONKEY: Because that’s what friends do. They forgive each other!
SHREK: Oh, yeah. You’re right, Donkey. I forgive you…for stabbin’ me in the back!
DONKEY: Oh! You’re so wrapped up in layers, Onion Boy, you’re afraid of your own feelings.
SHREK: Go away.
DONKEY: See? There you are, doing it again just like you did to Fiona, and all she ever do was like you, maybe even love you.
SHREK: Love me? She said I was ugly, a hideous creature. I heard the two of you talking.
DONKEY: She wasn’t talking about you, she was talking’ about, uh, somebody else.
SHREK: She wasn’t talking about me? Well, then who was she talking about?
DONKEY: Uh-uh, no way, I ain’t saying anything. You don’t wanna listen to me, right? Right?
SHREK: Donkey!
DONKEY: No.
SHREK: Okay, look. I’m sorry, all right? I’m sorry. I guess I am just a big, stupid, ugly ogre. Can you forgive me?
DONKEY: Hey, that’s what friends are for, right?
SHREK: Friends?
DONKEY: Friends.
— Shrek (2001), written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, & Roger S.H. Schulman, additional dialogue by Cody Cameron, Chris Miller, & Conrad Vernon, based on the book by William Steig
The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Sidekick, suggested by Angry Cyborg. Today’s suggestion by Will King.
Trivia: Mike Myers originally voiced Shrek with his natural speaking voice before the film was test-screened. Then he tried country Canadian accents for Shrek. However, after viewing a rough cut of the film, he felt that something was missing from his performance, and re-recorded all of his lines with a Scottish accent, based on the voice his mother used when reading him bedtime stories as a child. The original voice can still be heard in the technical goofs on the DVD. The decision to revoice Shrek in a Scottish accent ended up costing an additional four million dollars as it took him twenty sessions to complete the re-voiceover. It can also be stated that Shrek’s accent is similar to the one Mike Myers uses for his character Fat Bastard in the Austin Powers series. This was his first voice performance in an animated film.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “The dramatic function of the sidekick can be to offer a contrast to the main character. When the main character is serious, the sidekick can play comic relief; when the hero is depressed, the sidekick offers a pick-me-up; and, as here, when the hero needs to learn a lesson, the sidekick can shift into mentor mode.
What’s interesting about this exchange is that Donkey (and the audience) remain privy to a secret about Fiona. While the immediate rift between Shrek and Donkey is repaired, we see the seeds of yet another potential problem in the future planted when Donkey refuses to be completely truthful with Shrek, so not all the tension in the relationship is relieved.”
