Following the impressive–and perhaps unexpected–response to DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the production company is heading back to the well again. In an interview with Variety, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri revealed that talks have already begun to bring back the original voice cast of Shrek for a fifth film.
“We anticipate the cast coming back,” said Meledandri. “Talks are starting now, and every indication that we’ve gotten is there’s tremendous enthusiasm on behalf of the actors to return.” While it wasn’t immediately clear just how many of the original cast members were approached, Variety indicated that Mike Myers, Eddie Muphy and Cameron Diaz were among those in talks.
As DreamWorks began the process of rebooting the Shrek franchise, Meledandri realized that the original voice cast needed to be a part of whatever plans were hatched. “It’s not that dissimilar to the process that we went through with ‘Mario,’ where you look at what the core elements are that audiences have loved, and you do your very best to honor those core elements,” he said, referring to The Super Mario Bros. Movie which releases on April 5th. “And then you’re hard at work to build story elements and new characters that take you to brand new places. The original cast is a huge part of that.”
Meledandri’s comments come on the heels not only of the success of the Puss in Boots threequel but also interest from Murphy in reprising the role of Donkey. “If [DreamWorks] ever came with another ‘Shrek,’ I’d do it in two seconds,” said Murphy. “I love Donkey. They did ‘Puss in Boots’ movies. I was like, ‘They should have done a Donkey movie.’ Donkey is funnier than Puss in Boots. I mean, I love Puss in Boots, but he ain’t funny as the Donkey.” Melendari told Variety that he was “excited” by Murphy’s comments, adding he believed a Donkey spinoff would “without question” be successful.
Source: Variety
