Zendaya Reveals Her Love of the Shrek Franchise

From the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Dune, Zendaya has already made her stamp on a number of noteworthy franchises. As the Emmy-winning actor revealed in a recent interview, she counts some pretty popular movies among her proverbial comfort food, including the beloved animated satire Shrek. In a recent interview with InStyle, Zendaya shared her love for the animated franchise, revealing that it is a “staple” in her house alongside the Harry Potter films.

“Yeah. I haven’t done that as much this past year, but I used to watch [the Harry Potter films] to get through the first season of Euphoria,” Zendaya revealed. “Some days I just want to go home, cuddle up with my dog, and watch a little Harry Potter. I also love Shrek. That’s another staple in my household when I have heavy days at work.”

It’s safe to say that Zendaya isn’t alone in her love for Shrek, with the film and its sequels becoming significant parts of our popular culture. The original 2001 DreamWorks animated film has spawned countless forms of tributes, including an annual convention and a fan-made remake.

“We didn’t even really know how it was going to be received just as a movie,” director Vicky Jenson told ComicBook.com earlier this year. “When we were working on it we were up in Palo Alto, it was kind of like a satellite studio, it was it’s own studio at PDI and DreamWorks was working with them, and then eventually bought them while we were working on the movie, but we were removed from the main studio and so it just sort of felt even more like a small production where we were putting on a show for each other. Sequences would come up, we’d be working with them and you’re in the details, and then you kind of sit back and watch it and go, “Wow, this is really weird. I mean, it’s fun, but it’s so different. I wonder how people are going to feel about it, but I think I like it.” So we had no clue that the reaction was going to be what it was.”

“It was sort of a parody of these kinds of movies, animated fairy tales, and the only one doing that at the time was Disney over the years,” Jenson continued. “The Disney model was still very reverential, and very aspirational, and inspirational and the musicals were composed for the movie, so you would never have this indie influence of existing songs dropped in for score, to set a mood. So no one, as far as I know, had done that in an animated movie and relied on that to hit the key emotional moments in the movie as a live action movie would. And then the tone, the reverential irreverent humor, was also a bit different. Not taking itself too seriously, but at the same time letting real feelings come through. Shrek used humor to keep everybody away, but he had a broken heart and when he revealed it to Donkey, you felt it. So yeah, finding the balance, it was trial and error. That’s the benefit of animation.”

Zendaya can be seen in Dune, which arrives in theaters and on HBO Max on October 22nd, as well as Spider-Man: No Way Home, which hits theaters on December 17th.