🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐 

As The Out-Laws enters its third act, Owen (Adam Devine) is in a bit of a pickle. His fiancée Parker (Nina Dobrev) has been kidnapped, and the mild-mannered bank manager is in the unenviable position of having to scrape together $5 million to pay her ransom. Fortunately, he’s got a couple of experts on his side: his future in-laws, Billy and Lilly (Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin), who just happen to be notorious bank robbers. Soon, the unlikely trio are holding up a bank — with Devine in a rather unexpected outfit. 

There’s a long cinematic history of bank heist disguises — think the Ex-Presidents in Point Break, or The Dark Knight’s clown masks. But this is almost certainly the first time we’ve seen a character rob a bank while wearing a Shrek costume. “It was originally a clown,” director Tyler Spindel tells Tudum. “And we were just like, ‘How the hell can we beat a clown? Who’s funnier than a clown?’ And then I was just like, ‘Let’s try Shrek. Shrek would be funny.’ ” 

The choice to dress Devine as the curmudgeonly protagonist of the iconic 2001 animated film was one that the filmmakers made not just for shock value. It also added an extra layer (yes, ogres, like onions, have layers) to Owen’s character. “We just thought it’d be so funny if Owen had a little quirk, like he loved a thing that’s a little weird,” Devine adds. “And I was like, ‘What if he just loves Shrek? That’s kind of a fun character for him to just love.’ ” 

The film’s makeup team quickly turned to the challenge of Shrek-ing up the star of Workaholics, and Devine’s co-star made a special detour to the makeup trailer just to ogle the ogre. “I wasn’t in the scene, but I was shooting something while they were testing the makeup to see what it would look like,” Nina Dobrev tells Tudum. “And so I got to see it and it was like the most hilarious thing in the entire world.”

Once the makeup was done, Devine says finding his motivation was easy. “Who hasn’t seen Shrek a million times?” he asks. “I didn’t need to go back and watch it. That one’s burned in the old noggin.” 

But shooting the scene itself, complete with green makeup and false nose, came with some unexpected complications. “One of the biggest challenges in this scene was that Devine was sick while we were shooting it,” Spindel recalls. “And having a runny nose while wearing a fake nose is one of the worst experiences that you could ever have.” 

But perhaps the greater injury was to Devine’s ego. “I have to be in full Shrek makeup on a cool bank robbing scene where I’m finally getting to kind of be a badass for once in my career,” he sighs. “I’m going to rob a bank and do a crazy car chase scene, and money’s flying out the back, and meanwhile, I’m dressed as Shrek.” 

The things we do for art.  “I did it to myself, so I can’t complain,” Devine makes sure to point out. “But it ended up being a very, very funny scene.”

The Out-Laws is streaming on Netflix now.