Shrek Forever After - Production

Production

Following the success of Shrek 2, a third and fourth Shrek film, along with plans for a final, fifth film, were announced in May 2004 by Jeffrey Katzenberg: "Shrek 3 and 4 are going to reveal other unanswered questions and, finally, in the last chapter, we will understand how Shrek came to be in that swamp, when we meet him in the first movie." Katzenberg announced a title for the fourth film in October 2007, Shrek Goes Fourth, explaining it: "Shrek goes out into the world, forth!" However, in May 2009, DreamWorks Animation retitled the film to Shrek Forever After, indicating that it would be the last in the Shrek series. In November, Bill Damaschke, head of creative production at DreamWorks Animation, confirmed with "All that was loved about Shrek in the first film is brought to the final film."

Tim Sullivan was hired to write the script in 2005, but was later replaced by Darren Lemke and Josh Klausner. Klausner said about the script's evolution: "When I first came onto the project, it wasn't supposed to be the final chapter – there were originally going to be 5 Shrek movies. Then, about a year into the development, Jeffrey Katzenberg decided that the story that we'd come up with was the right way for Shrek's journey to end, which was incredibly flattering." Mike Mitchell would on board to direct the new installment, shortly before the release of the third film. There were also rumors in September 2008, while the film was still in pre-production, that Tom Cruise was considered voicing the movie's villain, but these would be later wrecked. Much of the film was written and recorded in New York City.