ShrekDirector Vicky Jenson Admits Love for the 2001 Film Was 'Big Surprise' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

‘Shrek’ in 2001.Photo:Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

No one could’ve predicted the cultural impactShrekhad on audiences — least of all the directors.

Vicky Jenson, one of the directors of the firstShrekfilm, admits that the movie’s critical acclaim was a “big surprise” to her and the team.

“It just felt very small because it was a tight team,” she says in an exclusive chat with PEOPLE, noting much of the production onShrekwasn’t done at the Glendale DreamWorks Animation studio. “We felt like we were on our own for a lot of the time.”

“It really wasn’t until a few sequences started coming back in lighting, and we were watching full screenings, [that we] were going, ‘Wow, this. This is different,’ “ she continues. “This could either work really well or not at all.”

It wasn’t until the film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival that Jenson and the rest of the DreamWorks team realized thatShrekwas a movie that could make some serious waves.

The film’s franchise has continued to thrive, even inspiring a “Shrek Rave” for fans of the film’s bouncy beats to meet up and dance together. In 2020,Shrekwas selected as one of the 25 films to be preserved in theLibrary of Congressalongside Christopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knight.

Jenson was one of five different directors to be tied to the film at one point or another, though she and Andrew Adamson were the final co-directors credited at the film’s conclusion.

Though Adamson continued to work with theShrekfranchise, directingShrek 2andShrek the Third, Jenson departed the franchise after the first film.

“I was busy onShark TaleforShrek 2and the beginning of [Shrek the Third],” Jenson says. “[The films] were in really good hands, and I was just moving on to other other arenas.”

Shark Tale, another DreamWorks film that was released in 2004, may not have left as big of a splash on the face of animation as theShrekfranchise did, but Jenson admits she feels the film is “a bit underrated.”

‘Shark Tale’ in 2004.Dreamworks/Kobal/Shutterstock

Dreamworks/Kobal/Shutterstock

“It was so fun working with that cast too,” she says ofShark Tale, which features voice acting from A-listersWill Smith,Robert De Niro,Renée Zellweger,Angelina Jolie,Jack BlackandMartin Scorsese.

Jenson’s newest directing venture,Spellbound,is yet another animated family film, which released on Netflix on Nov. 22.

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The director says she has no plans to return to Far Far Away as development forShrek 5is underway, though she says “the spirit of the original is still there in theseShreks.”

“I’m very curious, just like everybody else, to see the fifth one," she shares. “It’s just like watching your kid graduate high school and go to college and then graduate college and go and get married — it’s like, it’s not up to me anymore. This is your life, you know?”

source: people.com