Putting Shrek to bed

Mike Myers loved playing horny, buck-toothed spy Austin Powers and the heavy metal-loving doofus from Wayne's World, but the Canadian comedian says there was something special about crawling into the green skin of the giant ogre, Shrek.

For almost a decade the diminutive Myers provided the deep, Scottish accent for the oversized Shrek in the animated feature film series that earned more than US$2 billion ($2.9 billion) at the worldwide box office from the first three films.

Shrek Forever After, as the title suggests, is the fourth and final Shrek film.

Myers and the studio behind the franchise, DreamWorks, are adamant the movie is the final chapter. Shrek is going out on top.

"I'm very grateful and appreciative and proud about being part of it, I'm also proud how they are ending it very gracefully.

"It's like what they do on British TV. I think it's smart it just comes to an end so eloquently."

In the first Shrek film (2001) the ogre fell in love with Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz). The second followed his struggle with royal in-laws. In the third he encountered the difficult role of being a father and in Shrek Forever After he suffers a mid-life crisis.

"The core of each of them is a 'shame core' in that Shrek feels as though he isn't good enough," Myers explains.

Shrek Forever After features the villainous Rumpelstiltskin, who takes advantage of Shrek's mid-life crisis and tricks the ogre into doing a deal that changes history and puts Rumpelstiltskin and thousands of witches in control of the Far, Far Away kingdom.

Myers says the success of the Shrek franchise is partly due to the decision to turn the established fairy tale world on its head and poke fun at characters like Pinocchio, the Three Little Pigs, the Gingerbread Man, Cinderella and Snow White.

"I think anytime you can take an idiom as if it was a chain letter and add your signature to it, it is an interesting thing," he says.

"In this case, they have taken a fairy tale and made the ogres, usually the villains, the good guys.

"It was an amazing, fresh thing to do and I think each Shrek film has a ton of heart."

The theme continues with Shrek Forever After, with Shrek questioning his new life as a husband and father of three babies. He dreams of his single days when strangers, fearing he would eat them, would run away frightened.

"So many things in Shrek's life are going well," Myers says. "A lot of the characters in this series learn the same lesson. Most characters in any film have a hole in their heart or a character flaw [which] is a lesson they have to learn."

With the Shrek franchise ending (there will be a Puss in Boots spin-off movie that Myers doubts he will be involved in) Myers has a number of other projects on the drawing board, including a fourth Austin Powers film and a biopic about The Who's drummer, Keith Moon - a dream come true for Myers.

"I'm a drummer and the youngest of three," Myers explains.

"My oldest brother was a guitarist, my other brother was the bassist and I was forced to play drums.

"Drumming is not usually a calling. It's usually a falling.

"It's like playing goal in hockey, and as the youngest, I had to play goal with my brothers.

"Keith Moon was the exception. He constantly put the drum kit at the front of the stage.

"The way he drummed was like he was conducting the band. He was one of the first composing drummers. He felt drumming was the lead component.

"That insanity and audacity to view drumming that way is fascinating to me."

- AAP