Nicolas Cage has done it all. He’s been an action star, a superhero, and a voice actor. The Oscar-winning actor has had such an enviable career in Hollywood that he doesn’t even think twice about the time he missed out on one of the most iconic comedy roles of all time.

Everyone knows Mike Myers as the voice of Shrek, but in an alternate timeline, Cage could have been the world’s favorite ogre. When directors Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson adapted “Shrek” from a 1990s children’s book, they needed a top-notch performer for the lead role. The actor playing Shrek needed to be equally adept at eliciting laughs and sympathy from the audience, and several performers were considered for the role. Famously, Chris Farley voiced Shrek in test footage before his death in 1997, but the filmmakers also considered Cage for the part.

In 2013, Cage shared with The Sun that while he thought about taking the role, he ultimately passed because he didn’t want to look like an ogre, even in animation. “Shrek” went on to win an Oscar, evolving into a sprawling franchise with sequels, TV tie-ins, and spinoff movies. Though he missed out, Cage holds no regret for turning down “Shrek,” later clarifying that his rejection had more to do with how he relates to kids than Shrek’s appearance.

Cage turned down “Shrek,” but soon found himself in a vocal booth anyway. Cage first lent his voice to an animated character in 2001’s “Christmas Carol: A Movie,” and voice acting has become a staple of his career since. By 2013, Cage was promoting a new animated film where he voiced a lead character. In “The Croods,” Cage plays Grug, a caveman bent on keeping his family safe from the perilous world beyond their cave. Grug is a bit rough around the edges, similar to an ogre, which led to Cage being questioned about his connection with “Shrek” on The Today Show.

“Well, the news said [I turned ‘Shrek’ down] because of vanity. I think that’s a bit strong. But the truth is, I’m not afraid to be ugly in a movie,” Cage explained. He noted that in some films like “Adaptation,” he doesn’t look especially attractive. Cage elaborated that his refusal of “Shrek” was more about his views on how children connect with characters in films. Comparing Shrek to Grug, Cage said, “I want kids to look at Grug and think, ‘Well, he’s a little scary, but he’s a big teddy bear.’ And I wasn’t sure I could achieve that with Shrek.” Cage had his reservations about Shrek as a character, and he’s not alone; other actors also initially doubted the film’s potential.

Mike Myers eventually stepped into the role of the beloved ogre, but when he first learned about the movie, he wasn’t convinced it would be successful. In an interview with Vulture, Myers explained that he wasn’t in the best mental space when “Shrek” producer Jeffrey Katzenberg pitched him the film. He had just left an emotional premiere screening of “Saving Private Ryan” and was still processing it when Katzenberg approached him. Myers recalled that when Katzenberg mentioned the film’s title, “I [went], ‘Well, that’s the worst f****** title I’ve ever heard in my life.’ It’s the sound you make after drinking too many Molson Canadians. ‘Agh! Shreck!'”

Katzenberg convinced Myers, in spite of his reservations about the movie’s title, to take a deeper look at the movie. Myers was shocked to find that the movie with the disgusting name had some genuine depth to it. “The fairy tale is a Eurocentric form, dealing with class, right? To say, ‘Yes, we know it’s Eurocentric but it can be more inventive and inclusive,’ and to have an African American voice in Donkey in it, I thought it was brilliant,” Myers said. 

Those deeper themes are some of the things that only adults notice in “Shrek,” and they’re what convinced Myers to make the movie. He experimented with Shrek’s accent, trying to give the character a working-class voice, and that’s how the character ended up with the iconic voice fans know today.