8 Movie Villains Created Out Of Spite
2. Lord Farquaad (Shrek)
One of the reasons Shrek has endured is because it works as a fun, harmless movie for kids, yet it also contains a bunch of "wink-wink nudge-nudge" jokes that only adults will understand. Hell, if you say Lord Farquaad's name really fast, it basically becomes Lord F**kwad.
The origins of Farquaad's character can actually be traced back to a 1990s feud between studio executives Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner. They both worked at Disney during this time, with Eisner serving as Katzenberg's superior - however, tensions arose between the pair when Katzenberg was denied a promotion, which eventually resulted in him leaving the company and founding DreamWorks in 1994.
And this is where Shrek's pint-sized baddie comes in. Still pretty pissed at Eisner, Katzenberg decided to take a shot at his former boss when producing the animated mega-hit, and created Farquaad as a mockery of him: a short, short-tempered, and ruthless ruler of a fairytale empire, a direct parallel to Eisner's reign over Disney.
Furthermore, Eisner and Farquaad even look a little similar, and just to make it clear that Farquaad was meant to be one massive insult, there's that aforementioned "F**kwad" thing. Not very subtle, Katzenberg. Not very subtle.