It is not unusual for a fairy-tale character to act larger than life, but in the case of Puss In Boots this is especially true. Banderas explains, “Puss has a tremendous sense of honor and a very strong personality, but his body doesn’t exactly correspond to how he presents himself to the world. He’s really an adorable, little kitty cat—you just want to cuddle him—and that contrast makes him very appealing to anybody…except Donkey.”
It turns out that Puss In Boots had not come upon Shrek and Donkey by chance. He had been dispatched by Princess Fiona’s father, King Harold, for the king’s own ends, unbeknownst to Queen Lillian and Fiona.
As befits royalty, Queen Lillian and King Harold are portrayed by two legendary actors: Julie Andrews and John Cleese. “They have both influenced so many people, and you realize why when they step in front of the microphone. The characters just pour out of them,” says Vernon.
Asbury notes, “John Cleese is the king of Far Far Away. He loves his daughter, but he has other issues to deal with, and an ogre coming into the picture doesn’t fit in with his plans. Julie Andrews is the ultimate fairy-tale queen, who just wants her daughter to be happy. She is much more accepting than the king is. We wanted that warmth and patience and all that we know and love about Julie to come through in the queen.”
Rarely in animation do actors work together, usually recording their lines individually with a director feeding them their cues. So it was a particular thrill for the filmmakers to have Julie Andrews and John Cleese on the recording stage at the same time for some of their scenes. “It was really fun recording John and Julie together, because they obviously know their stuff and were able to play off of each other a lot,” Adamson remarks. “As a director, working with performers of that caliber makes it very easy. You just give them the basic idea and they give you everything you need and more.”
Vernon observes that having Andrews and Cleese together added another dimension to the royal couple. “It totally fleshed out the king and queen’s relationship. The way the characters interact with each other, you really feel that these two have been married for a long time.”
Both Andrews and Cleese also relished the chance to work together. “It’s much better than working singly,” Andrews offers. “When you work alone, you have no idea what the other actor is doing, so it was just heavenly to work with John. The most challenging thing for me about animation is that you are only working with your voice so you wonder if you’re over the top. Are you being too animated when you should be being real? It’s sometimes hard to thread that needle, but it’s fun and rather freeing in a way.”
Cleese says, “The lovely thing about doing animation is that it’s like radio, which is where I started all those years ago. It’s my favorite medium because you don’t have to memorize lines and you don’t really have to shave unless you want to. It’s all about getting the performance right and trying things to see what’s fun, instead of people coming in and saying, ‘I’m afraid that light up there isn’t quite right.’”
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