JEFFREY Katzenberg, head of DreamWorks Animation, and Chris Miller, director of Shrek The Third, talk about some of the challenges of getting the latest adventure made…

Q. You were initially somewhat nervous about Shrek The Third and its box office potential – but such nerves proved unfounded. Can you explain?
Jeffrey Katzenberg: This is such a competitive summer. May in the United States saw Spider-Man 3, Pirates 3 and Shrek all opening within three weeks of one another. I was just very, very anxious about whether we’d get our moment in the sun. But in the end we had an amazing turnout and great support for the film in the States, we broke all records, and I’m happy to say that’s also been the case in every country that we’ve opened in around the world – Russia, Korea, Malaysia, South America. It was a nice surprise for all of us.

Q. Is it true that you can also perform impressions of the whole voice cast of Shrek?
Chris Miller: It’s true. It’s something that I hope benefits these guys in the studio. They’re alone with the microphone in front of them, so I try and do my best to make it as authentic an experience as possible. It helps to give them a sense of time and place and some bad impersonations!

Q. Who gets the credit for the John Cleese croacking scene?
Chris Miller: A storyboard artist of ours named Dave Smith. That was a one shot deal, really. Even at the pitch he had Live & Let Die and played it and everything fell into place. We were actually a little bit worried that John Cleese might really pass away in the recording studio [laughs].

Q. Everyone now seems to have animated films. What do you think of the state of animation and where do you see it going in the future?
Jeffrey Katzenberg: I think that there is a lot of great work going on in animation all over the globe right now. There has clearly been a renaissance for it and it’s probably more in the mainstream today than it’s ever been in the history of cinema. I think that’s a good thing. I think the more quality films that are made, the more interest there is from audiences around the world and the better it is for all of us.

I know I’m looking forward next year to the new [Hayao] Miyazaki movie and there’s interesting talent coming into the field. I think Jerry Seinfeld coming from great success as a comedian in another form and offering an animated film and producing it is great [he’s written Bee Movie, out in December]. There’s a lot of exciting stuff going on.

Q. Can you tell us anything about the fourth Shrek film and your television special, Shrek The Halls?
Jeffrey Katzenberg: Um, no!

Read our verdict on Shrek The Third

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