USA: "Shrek the Third" high profile co-stars already talking about a fourth installment

Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Antonio Banderas, and the rest of the cast of "Shrek the Third" sat down in Los Angeles, California on Sunday (May 6) to talk about their hugely successful franchise. "Timberlake is I think the most talented person I have ever met. Cameron Diaz is insanely talented and very very beautiful, Julie Andrews was a goddess in my house and maintains her goddess like status. G-d John Cleese, Eric Idle, Eddie Murphy I think is , he might be, the greatest comedic actor that United States has ever produced," Mike Meyers, who portrays the voice of Shrek, told Reuters. A day after the Los Angeles premiere on Sunday comes news by the Hollywood Reporter that DreamWorks Animation is already lining up a director for the fourth instalment in the hugely successful CG-animated fairytale comedy series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mike Mitchell from "Sky High", "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" is in negotiations to helm the next outing for Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and Puss in Boots. "I always will do these Shrek movies until they stop making them until the audience says (in donkey character voice) 'No more damn Shrek" then I will say all right," said Eddie Murphy, who portrays the voice of the donkey. Many members of the original cast are still a part of the series since the first film debuted in 2001, but newbie Justin Timberlake was dumbstruck the first time he heard his voice on screen. "Well the coolest part was I finally get to see the movie because you do so many sessions and you don't know exactly what's going to happen and who it's going to translate and then you see it. The first time I heard my voice in it I was like 'I am in Shrek!," Timberlake said. This instalment in the extraordinarily profitable animated franchise catches up with Shrek (Mike Myers) as he and Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are facing a royal crisis: Fiona's father King Harold (John Cleese) dies suddenly, and a successor must be found. Shrek wants nothing to do with running affairs of state, so they embark upon a quest to track down Arthur, a rebellious royal relative (Justin Timberlake). Familiar friends Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) reprise their roles, and a predictable level of chaos ensues when Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) attempts to engineer a coup. "I love when he is like 'the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man oh no not the gum drop buttons.' I can never say it. I want to be able to say it. I try to say every time and I can't say it," Diaz said about the Gingerbread man. "Shrek the Third" is expected to be a powerful force at the box office this year. The original Shrek made 267 million (U.S. dollars) in North America alone, while the second film raised the bar to 441 million. Now, after the record-breaking opening of "Spider-Man 3," all eyes will be on the animated ogre to see if he can give Spidey a run for his money. "Well I don't care about Shrek, I only care about Prince Charming and I want him to be rehabilitated and I want him to be embraced into society. If he is going to go into acting I want him to get some good roles and I want him to realize looks are not everything obviously and wealth isn't everything, ambition isn't everything. There is a whole another area of life apart from just that," Everett said while talking about a fourth instalment of the film. "Shrek the Third" opens in North America on May 18, 2007.

ITN Source | May 17, 2007

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