French Wrestler Maurice Tillet is the Model for Shrek and not Magic Johnson!
Have you seen the movie “ Shrek “? To give you a short flashback about its plot, here it is:
There is this heartless and minuscule ruler named Lord Farquaad in a land far far away called Duloc who has banished all the fairy tale beings from the land so it can be as boring as he is. But there are three characters who will stand in his way. The first is a green, smelly ogre with a heart of gold named SHREK ( Voiced over by Mike Myers yes Mr. Austin Powers himself ), his faithful stallion, Donkey, who will do anything but shut up, and the beautiful but tough Princess Fiona whom Lord Farquaad wishes to make his wife so he can become king of Duloc.
Although the movie is purely fictional, I cant help but wonder if Shrek has its real-life counterpart. I would love to see this obnoxious yet bubbly creature in person! Until I came across with a very interesting trivia that I have read on the internet.
Photo Credit: www.digititles.com
Some self-acclaimed Shrek Lovers and Hollywood animation enthusiasts are asserting that the character of Shrek was stirred by Russian-born French American professional wrestler Maurice Tillet’s appearance. Dreamworks haven’t directly admitted this rumor as a fact, but the great resemblance between them says otherwise.
According to some sources, Shrek Animators may have seen the death mask of Maurice Tillet, "The Angel" at York Barbell Museum, and it was there the inspiration for Shrek began. At that time the only publicly viewable Maurice Tillet death mask / life cast, was at York Barbell.The other two known death masks were in private hands and were not donated until 2006 to museums.
Who is Maurice Tillet?
Maurice Tillet was born in 1903 in the Ural Mountains in Russia to French parents , In his twenties, he developed acromegaly, a rare disease that causes bones to grow wildly and uncontrollably. Soon his whole body was disfigured as a result. Afterwards, he fled France, became a professional wrestler in the United States, and won American Wrestling Association World title. Tillet was dubbed as the "freak ogre of the ring."
Evidence that Dreamwork really Modelled Shrek from Maurice Tillet
Here are some pictures or early sketches of the original Shrek:
Now tell me they didn’t modify their own Shrek and make it look like Mr. Tillet!
Shrek isn’t sculpted after Former NBA Superstar Magic Johnson’s looks
There you go, I have already provided a handful of concrete evidences that compares Maurice Tillet to Shrek so may I finally ask you guys to stop tagging Magic Johnson as Shrek? LOL.
