Topics: Film and TV, Conspiracy Theories, Hollywood, Reddit, YouTube, Celebrity, Nostalgia, Netflix, Eddie Murphy
People are just realizing there's actually a random picture of a woman hidden less than half an hour into the Shrek movie.
While there are countless characters in the four animated Shrek movies, with a fifth on the way for 2026, there appears to be an apparent blunder with one mysterious woman who doesn't look like your average fairytale creature to belong in Shrek's world.
The 2001 comedy is the gift that keeps on giving, even more than 24 years later, as eagle-eyed fans claim to have spotted a photograph of a real-life woman in the background of a scene.
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In the first Shrek, our favorite ogre, played by Mike Myres, and his 'trusty steed' Donkey, voiced by Eddie Murphy, are making their way towards Lord Farquaad's castle in Duloc when the scary image is spotted in the window of a ticket stall.
Now, you probably don't need reminding that all of the characters are animated - meaning it's impossible a bad camera shot could just 'accidentally' pick up any faces from the cast and crew in the movie that don't belong there.
Fans have since raced to social media, saying that they can spot the 'Duloc woman' on both the Netflix copy (at about 00:21:18 if you want to see for yourself) and on the original 2001 DVD.
One Reddit user even put the theory to the test, claiming to have owned 'the oldest physical copy' of the DVD version that was mailed out to Academy Awards voters at the time 'in order to assure they see the film during a period before the official home release'.
The Redditer revealed to the forum: "I checked this release tonight and found that the woman has always been in the film, even in 2001. This doesn't mean a ton, but it does mean that it's not a Netflix thing and an edit in this spot didn't happen to the film between 2002 and today."
Shrek fans say it is difficult to get a high-quality shot of the woman's photograph, which has only fuelled exciting conspiracy theories about who the woman could be even further.
The investigator on Reddit added: "As for what's next in the mystery, my mind goes to cross referencing with photos of animators and other crew members who worked on the film, along with their family members.
"This feels sort of creepy and I'm hesitant to do so, but at the same time I would love to see this mystery solved."
Now, many have jumped to the conclusion that the image could've been a shot of Hollywood's superstar actress, Cameron Diaz, who landed the role as Fiona's voice in the Shrek movies.
LEO Film Facts on YouTube said: "Some people suggested that it was Cameron Diaz and that this image was a small Easter egg since the actress voices Princess Fiona."
Others on Reddit backed the Diaz theory, further finding that the star was in another movie called She's the One just years earlier in 1996, sporting a similar hairstyle, earrings and white t-shirt.
Yet modern technology appears to debunk the theory before it's even started, as the YouTuber said the 4k version shows it is 'clearly' not Diaz.
However, that's not the only weird part about the clip, as simultaneously in the opposing ticket window, another image appears to show a headshot of the protagonist from the 1998 Dreamworks movie, Antz.
That's the same studio that made Shrek, which the YouTuber goes on to explain means the inclusion of the woman's image 'was not accidental'.
"Hopefully this is an innocent prank, like an animator including a photo of his sister, girlfriend or wife - and not something creepy like an animator obsessing over a coworker," the YouTuber added.
The mystery continues...
LADBible Group has contacted Dreamworks for comment.
