There are certain film roles where it’s just impossible to imagine anyone else playing them.
Whether it be an older classic like Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones or a newer one like Margot Robbie as Barbie, there’s just some casting that is so perfect you cannot picture a world where anyone else was picked.
Shrek is undoubtably one of these, with Mike Myers’ performance as the beloved green ogre so iconic that it’s impossible to think of anyone else playing him.
It’s inconceivable to think of anyone else playing Shrek, but that almost happened (Dreamworks)
That is just what was originally set to happen however, because Myers wasn’t even the original casting for the role.
In actual fact the original actor cast for the role had reportedly recorded ‘85 percent’ of the lines needed for the film, with Myers cast way down the line.
The original actor in the role was Chris Farley, the iconic comedian best known for his time on Saturday Night Live.
Chris Farley died at 33 (Steve Granitz Archive 1/WireImage via Getty Images)
Farley was plagued with drug problems, and tragically overdosed on a combination of cocaine and morphine in 1997.
Farley was just 33 at the time of his death and was stated to have recorded most of his lines already after being cast in Shrek.
The comedian’s original take on Shrek was quite different to Myers, going closer to his own voice as opposed to the faux-Scottish accent that became iconic.
There is actually test footage partially drawn of scenes Farley voiced alongside Eddie Murphy, which can be seen below:Play
Myers spoke about the role years later and revealed he hadn’t even been told that he was brought in as Farley’s replacement.
He spoke to Vulture, where he said: “They had created this maquette, a little statue made of clay of all the characters, and Shrek looked exactly like Chris Farley.
“I was at my third meeting, and I go, ‘Guys, was this offered to Chris Farley and then he died?’ Everyone looked at their shoes.
“I said: ‘No, but seriously, really?’ (Pause.) ‘No.’ ‘Oh, okay.’
Both Mike Myers and Chris Farley appeared on SNL together (Mitchell Gerber/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
“I get in the parking lot, and I go, ‘I think this was Farley’s.’ It was! I was right, but they didn’t tell me.”
Farley’s brother John was offered by the studio to complete his lines, as he apparently only had five days left of filming. He stated that he just wasn’t able to do it however, and the role was recast.
Farley’s death was a shock to the American comedy community, of whom he was a trailblazer in the 90s.
Myers said in a documentary of his death: “I wasn’t shocked but I was very sad”.
Adam Sandler, who was also close to Farley, wrote a tribute song called the ‘Chris Farley Song’ in his 2018 Netflix special Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh.Play
In the song Sandler sings: “We laughed all night long because of Farley/ But a few months later the party came to an end/ We flew out to Madison to bury our friend.
“Yeah I miss hanging out/ Watching you try to get laid/ But most of all I miss watching you torture [David] Spade.
“You’re a legend how you want it, but I still wish you were here with me/ And we were getting on a plane to shoot Grown Ups 3”.
Meanwhile, Chris Rock said on the 25th anniversary of his death: “No one was competing with Farley.
“It’s sad when our friend’s not here, but it is curious to [think] ‘Wow, what would that guy have done?’
Farley’s best friend David Spade along with Chris Rock and Chris Farley (KMazur via Getty Images)
“He’s literally that level of actor, and that level of like, you just felt for that guy.
“Whatever ride Chris Farley was going to take me on, I was definitely ready to go on it.”
A biopic covering Farley’s life is in the works starring Paul Walter Hauser, with Josh Gad directing.
Meanwhile, Myers went on to star in four Shrek films, with a fifth confirmed to be in the works and coming out in 2026.Featured Image Credit: DreamWorks/YouTube
Topics: Saturday Night Live, Film, TV and Film
Michael Slavin
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Updated 09:54 20 Dec 2024 GMTPublished 14:55 9 Dec 2024 GMT
Pete Davidson addressed question everyone had about his relationship with Kate Beckinsale on live TV
Davidson, known for his quick wit and sharp sense of humour, finally addressed the elephant in the room
Back in 2019, Pete Davidson was at the centre of media attention – not just for his work on Saturday Night Live, but also for his high-profile relationship with actress Kate Beckinsale.
The couple, who made headlines with their unexpected pairing, left fans with one burning question about their relationship that Davidson eventually addressed on live TV.
Pete addressed the relationship on SNL at the time (NBC / Contributor / Getty)
For months, the duo had been spotted holding hands at various events, including a memorable courtside appearance at an NHL game, where their PDA practically broke the internet.
Social media was rife with opinions, memes, and endless commentary, but one topic dominated the conversation: their 20-year age gap.
At the time, Davidson was 25, while Beckinsale was 45 – a fact that many simply couldn’t stop talking about.
The chatter only grew louder, and it seemed like everyone had an opinion.
Was the age difference a big deal to them? Were they bothered by public scrutiny?
Davidson, known for his quick wit and sharp sense of humour, finally addressed the elephant in the room during a Weekend Update segment on Saturday Night Live.
With his trademark comedic timing, he tackled the relentless public fascination head-on, delivering a response that was equal parts funny and insightful.Play
“Apparently, people have a crazy fascination with our age difference,” Davidson began, drawing laughs from the audience. But he wasn’t done. Rather than brushing it off or dodging the issue, he used the platform to point out the double standards often applied to relationships like his and Beckinsale’s.
While he admitted the attention didn’t bother them as a couple, Davidson highlighted how relationships involving older men and younger women rarely receive the same level of scrutiny. He cheekily referenced Hollywood heavyweights like Leonardo DiCaprio and Alec Baldwin, who have long been linked to younger partners, asking why such relationships rarely provoke similar reactions.
The relationship between Davidson and Beckinsale lasted only a few months and eventually fizzled out later that year, but his comments on SNL and their relationship remained a standout moment.
Their brief but high-profile romance was marked by frequent paparazzi sightings and public appearances, drawing attention wherever they went.
Kate Beckinsale and Davidson dated in 2019 (Gilbert Flores/Golden Globes 2024 / Getty)
As of 2024, both Davidson and Beckinsale have moved on from their brief relationship in 2019. Davidson has continued his string of high-profile relationships, most recently dating Outer Banks star Madelyn Cline. The pair, who were first spotted together in late 2023, enjoyed a low-key romance for several months before amicably parting ways in mid-2024.
Prior to Cline, Davidson was linked to actress Chase Sui Wonders, as well as other well-known names including Kim Kardashian.
Beckinsale, on the other hand, has kept her love life largely private in recent years. While she was previously linked to musician Goody Grace in 2020, the relationship ended amicably. Currently, Beckinsale seems to be focusing on her career, with no confirmed romantic ties.Featured Image Credit: NBC/Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage
Topics: Celebrity, Saturday Night Live, Sex and Relationships, Pete Davidson
Sara Keenan
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Published 09:21 23 May 2024 GMT+1
Jennifer Lopez had to wear ‘guards on her chest’ in sex scene with actor who wore ‘d**k tie’
The scenes featuring Jennifer Lopez might seem steamy but there was a whole lot going on in real life
A ‘d**k tie’ sounds like some kind of torture practice. Well, or something a little extra kinky.
But throw in a woman with ‘guards on her chest’ and you’ve got an odd picture of a tied-up pair of people.
And yet that’s what the real behind-the-scenes was like for the 2015 film, The Boy Next Door.
The Boy Next Door: Official Trailer
Credit: Universal Pictures
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Getting to live out the fantasy of plenty of teenage lads, Ryan Guzman starred opposite Jennifer Lopez in the thriller with steamy sex scenes.
Only it wasn’t so sexy in real life, as he wore a ‘d**k tie’ and the singer had guards on her chest. The then-28-year-old admitted the filming wasn’t as enjoyable as it might seem in your head as Lopez had a load of ‘cool gadgets’ and he had to get nude in front of a load of people he’d only recently met.
Guzman played a 19-year-old in the film, who develops a dangerous obsession with his high-school teacher (Lopez) after they have a one-night stand.
Having to be ‘baring all’ in front of the ‘On the Floor’ singer, he had to have his private parts strapped up to make it as tight as possible.
Guzman and Lopez got steamy in the film. (Universal Pictures)
So yeah, the ‘d**k tie’ would prevent blood flow to the area – you know, stopping any awkward accidental boners.
He explained to Cosmopolitan during promo for The Boy Next Door: “It’s this elastic thing on this sock where you make it as tight as you can so that you get no blood flow or anything going on, and it kind of holds on to your man parts so the sock isn’t, you know, pulled off during the scene.”
Guzman admitted to being a little jealous of Lopez, who was pretty well protected.
Guzman and Lopez during promo in 2015. (Jim Spellman/WireImage)
“There’s a guard there. She was wearing something on top of her and there was no full-on hand-to-genitalia, I mean… it was just, yeah. We kept it professional,” he said.
“Even when I’m grabbing on her chest, there were guards on them too, and my hand had to be positioned in a certain way so it didn’t show any of the guards [in the shot].”
He added that he ‘didn’t even know’ the guards existed before he was involved in making films himself.
“And do you have them for men? Because all I’m getting right now is a sock,” he recalled thinking.
So yeah, while you might watch those scenes thinking Guzman is getting quite a handful, all he’s really grabbing is a ‘guard’. Kind of ruins the ‘magic’, right?Featured Image Credit: Universal Pictures
Topics: Jennifer Lopez, Film, TV and Film, Sex and Relationships
Jess Battison
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Published 13:22 8 Apr 2024 GMT+1
Viewers brand film banned in 46 countries ‘sick’ and it had to be edited to be allowed in UK
It became the UK’s most heavily censored cinema release in three decades
Srđan Spasojević made quite a splash with his directorial debut, but it wasn’t really in the way he had hoped.
The filmmaker, 48, unintentionally managed to create the UK‘s most heavily censored cinema release in three decades with his macabre 2010 movie, which most viewers still can’t sit through despite the most disturbing parts being cut out.
Talk about making an impression, eh?
The terrifying film is banned in 46 countries. Unearthed Films
So if you’re in the market for some sleepless nights, possible physical sickness and being mentally scarred for life, A Serbian Film will be the perfect watch.
But if you want to hold onto your sanity, viewers reckon you should avoid it at all costs.
Festival director Angel Sala was led away in handcuffs after screening the exploitation horror film at the Spanish ‘Sitges Film Festival’ to an adult audience in October 2010, so that should give you a good indication of just how unsettling it is.
The dark thriller, famed as one of the most vile movies of it’s genre, follows the journey of semi-retired porn star Miloš, who agrees to take part in an ‘art film’ to keep his family afloat before turning his back on the business for good.
But he soon realises that the job advert was a little more than misleading and that he has actually been hired to make a snuff film with themes of paedophilia and necrophilia.
Throw in some violence, drugs and murder and you’ve got yourself one of the most mortifying movies to ever be released. Take a look at the trailer here, if you can stomach it:
A Serbian Film trailer
Credit: Unearthed Films
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Due to the downright disturbing contents of A Serbian Film, a whopping 46 countries – including Australia, Malaysia, Norway, New Zealand and Spain – banned it.
The people who still braved watching it despite this reckon they have been traumatised for life, so do keep that in mind before you grab the remote.
One viewer said: “If you haven’t seen A Serbian Film, do yourself a favour and never watch it.”
Another wrote: “There is NOTHING more disturbing than this film. It makes The Human Centipede look PG.”
And a third warned: “Please don’t watch A Serbian Film, it has explicit scenes that will haunt you forever. Traumatising.”
A fourth added: “That’s still embedded in my brain. I wish I’d not watched it.”
While a fifth chimed in: “I’m a big horror lover and A Serbian Film made me physically sick and I couldn’t sleep for a few nights.”
Viewers said they had sleepless nights after watching A Serbian Film. Unearthed Films
Spasojević’s outrageous project first debuted at the South by Southwest festival in the US in March 2010 and was scheduled to be shown in the UK in August that year, before Westminster Council put the mockers on it.
Amid fears about some of the really disturbing scenes, they said that A Serbian Film needed to be classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) before they would play it at that year’s ‘Film Four FrightFest’.
Although the BBFC said that it ‘rarely cuts’ cinema releases with an 18 certificate, they ordered a staggering 49 compulsory cuts, totalling up to four minutes and 11 seconds of removed footage.
This made it one of the most heavily censored UK cinema releases, only just behind the 1994 Indian film Nammavar, which lost five minutes and eight seconds due to it’s violent content.
The organisers eventually decided to pull A Serbian Film from the festival instead, before it was released in cinemas in it’s edited form – making it’s duration 99 minutes – in December 2010.
The movie was heavily censored before it was allowed to air in the UK. Unearthed Films
You can catch this somewhat tamer version of it on Amazon Prime, but like I said, beware of what you’re getting yourself in for.
Spasojević spoke of the controversy surrounding A Serbian Film and the arrest of Spanish festival director Sala, who was charged with exhibiting child pornography in May 2011 after complaints from a Roman Catholic organisation.
The charges were later dropped, but the director reckons all the kerfuffle around it just ‘proved his film was right’.
During an interview with IndieWire about Spasojević said: “On the one side, it’s very funny that someone can still find movies and editing so mysterious, like some kind of devil’s work.
“Of course, on the other hand, it’s very sad. It proves my film was right. One of the things the film’s saying is that we’re not living in the free world. The way the film was made also represents our resistance to political correctness, to fascism.
“These kind of reactions are fun, interesting, stupid and very, very sad. It’s evidence that we’re not free people.”Featured Image Credit: Unearthed Films
Topics: Film, Weird, TV and Film, World News
Olivia Burke
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Published 15:08 25 Jul 2024 GMT+1
Rule actor set himself as reason behind why he refuses to kiss anyone in movies or TV shows
He’s even lost jobs over his tough stance, but he won’t back down
If you want to make it as a movie icon or a star of the small screen, you better be just as good of a negotiator as you are an actor.
Underneath all the glitz and glam of the entertainment world is a boatload of paperwork – which explicitly outlines the agreement between both parties and what the studio expect of the performer.
But the actor can also make some demands before signing on the dotted line too… such as one particular actor who point-blank refuses to lock lips with anyone on set.
Blake Lively on Ryan Reynolds sex scene
Credit: NBC
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Neal McDonough, 58, from Boston, Massachusetts, has lost jobs over his unwavering stance on kissing anyone except from his wife.
To recruit McDonough for the cast, you have to ensure that there isn’t a single snog or sex scene in the storyline for his character.
The Band of Brothers star simply will not compromise on the kissing clause in his contract due to his religious beliefs, because even a quick smooch on camera would count as infidelity in his eyes.
“I won’t kiss any other woman because these lips are only for one woman,” the devout Catholic previously said.
The lucky lady in question is his wife of 21-years, Ruvé McDonough.
McDonough first met the South African film producer, 58, while shooting Band of Brothers in the UK in 2000, before they tied the knot three years later and went on to welcome five children together.
Dubbing her his ‘good luck charm’, the actor added: “Everything that I am today is because of Ruvé.”
There’s no wriggle room around Neal McDonough’s contract clause (Netflix)
Although his dedication to his wife is super sweet and all, producers don’t take the same view, as the father-of-five’s refusal to perform in intimate scenes has proved quite an obstacle throughout his career.
McDonough revealed he was fired from the ABC series Scoundrels in 2010 because he would not hop into bed with his on-screen wife in the show, which was a ‘hard’ time in his life.
Speaking to Closer Weekly, the American Horror Story actor said: “I was [surprised], and it was a horrible situation for me.
“After that, I couldn’t get a job because everybody thought I was this religious zealot,” McDonough explained. “I am very religious. I put God and family first, and me second. That’s what I live by.”
McDonough said of his wife: “To have her as my partner in everything, I’m just the most blessed guy I know.
“That’s why I go to church every day and say thank you to God for everything he’s given me. And most importantly, thank you for giving me Ruvé, because without her, I most certainly would not be talking with you right now.”
He also reckons that his stance on sex scenes shouldn’t rule him out of roles too, as if they wanted him enough, they would found a way around it – like Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry did.
The actor says his ‘lips are only for’ his beloved wife Ruvé (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
The dad played villain Dave Williams in season five of the hit series, and despite being in an on-screen relationship with man-eater Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), he managed to avoid a smooch with her throughout the entire season.
Discussing how he went about announcing his kissing clause to Cherry, McDonough explained: “When Marc Cherry signed me, I said, ‘I’m sure you know, but I won’t kiss anybody.’
“He was like, ‘But this is Desperate Housewives!’ I said, ‘I know.’ He paused for about five seconds and said, ‘All right, I’m just going to have to write better.'”
He’s not the only star to lay down the law about their limits on set.
Keanu Reeves revealed that he bans studios from digitally altering his face too much once he’s filmed his parts. Meanwhile. if you want Samuel L. Jackson in your film or show, you have to give him time to play golf at least twice a week.