Jennifer Saunders, who is the voice of “Shrek 2’s” very atypical Fairy Godmother, couldn’t agree more. “Animation is great because you don’t have the pressure of what you look like. It’s a perfect career move as you get to be an older actress. If you’re resisting the odd nip and tuck here and there, animation is the way to go,” she laughs.
The Fairy Godmother arrives in the movie as one might expect—floating down in a bubble and bursting into song. But that’s not the only bubble she is going to burst. As it turns out, Fiona’s Fairy Godmother is Prince Charming’s ambitious, meddling mother, who only waves her magic wand to make her own wishes come true.
“The whole thing about ‘Shrek’ is that it’s a parody of other fairy tales, so she couldn’t be the nice, happy, sweet Fairy Godmother,” Saunders comments. “She’s a bit of a showbiz celebrity Fairy Godmother. She is simply determined that her son should marry Princess Fiona, but Shrek has gotten in the way of her devious plans. She’s quite an arch character, which I like. It feels familiar.”
“Jennifer was somebody we really wanted to work with from the beginning,” Warner says. “Once we cast her, we started to build the character around what we knew of her, from ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ mostly. But she took it and ran with it. She’s a great ad-libber, incredibly smart and just able to hone in on the character. It was a great experience working with her; she was always able to give us the best and funniest performance.”
Despite the fact that Fiona is already married to Shrek, the Fairy Godmother has no intention of allowing such a small detail to ruin her plans for her son to rule the kingdom of Far Far Away. After all, her son, Charming, is every bit the dashing prince of every princess’ dreams…even if he does say so himself.
Rupert Everett, who gives voice to Prince Charming, offers, “He believes the dream of Prince Charming. He thinks he’s handsome, sexy, athletic, brave—a person who could be refused by no one really. He is all about image and hair products and living in a world where beauty and success are truly only skin deep. He wants to marry Princess Fiona, who is married already, but no matter.”
Asbury says, “Charming is a spoiled brat who wants what he wants. He is the height of egotism, but at the same time, he’s a mama’s boy. Rupert Everett did a great job with his voice. He made him come across as a much funnier character than any of us had first pictured.”
“We didn’t think we’d need Prince Charming to be particularly funny because he takes himself so seriously,” Adamson expounds. “But I hadn’t realized what a wonderful comedian Rupert is. He was able to have Charming take himself seriously, but in a very comedic way, which was interesting to see.”
The voice cast also includes some fun cameos, including Larry King as an ugly stepsister tending bar at the Poison Apple, and Joan Rivers spoofing herself as she announces the arrival of such fairy-tale luminaries as Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb and Thumbelina, and Hansel & Gretel on the red carpet for the royal ball. Other storybook favorites from “Shrek” are reuniting for the sequel, including the Gingerbread Man, Pinocchio, the Three Little Pigs, and the Three Blind Mice.
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