Movies

If you were to pick a film as the natural backdrop for a real-life marriage proposal, it probably wouldn’t be 2001’s Shrek, an animated fantasy-comedy featuring Mike Myers as the voice of a green-skinned ogre. But that’s exactly what made it a charming and creative choice for a man named Carter, who popped the question to his longtime girlfriend by editing himself into a climactic scene.

The secretly filmed footage, which has since gone viral, shows the couple watching Shrek from their couch. Carter, decked out in shorts and a T-shirt, excuses himself from the room and tells his partner, Andressa, "You can keep it playing. I’ve seen this already. I’ll be back in one second." The clip then cuts to 50 seconds later, right before the moment Shrek confesses his love to Princess Fiona and frees her from a marriage to the evil Lord Farquaad.

But when Shrek enters the church, it’s not an ogre at all—it’s actually Carter, who yells "I object!" and recruits the Gingerbread Man to play Talking Heads’ 1983 classic "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" from a boombox. "There’s Carter in this version," Andressa says, stumped. "What the hell?" Her boyfriend then reemerges, decked out in a suit, as pictures of the couple appear on the screen. "Hello. Babe, I’ve thought a lot about what I want to say at this moment," he says, taking a knee. "But I’m just at such a loss for words. Would you do me the honor, Andressa Da Silva, of becoming my bride?"

The whole thing is ridiculously sweet, and the Reddit reactions are priceless.

People were impressed by this creative proposal

"Dude is like 'HONEY! WE HAVE TO WATCH SHREK TONIGHT! WE HAVE TO WATCH IT TONIGHT NO MATTER WHAT!!'"

"I can picture the rehearsal trying to find out what time in the movie to leave to change"

"Your gf’s reaction was too cute when she sat up on the couch in her pjs! Congratulations!"

"Lucky girl, very original, she seemed genuinely surprised and happy. Good luck for both of you in this new start."

"It’s 5:25am and I'm crying. Thanks a lot!"

Upworthy reached out to Carter and got the scoop on how this whole thing went down. First up: Why Shrek?

"[It’s] just one of those movies that everyone seems to think fondly of," he says. "She suggested we watch it as a casual movie date the month prior, so I knew there was a good chance she would say yes if I suggested we stuck it on. Thankfully she said yes right away—there's only so hard I could have pushed for watching Shrek before she would get suspicious [Laughs]." Andressa adds that she loves Shrek "the same amount as all zillennial kids seem to," adding, "It always feels like I'm watching it again for the first time, which makes it special."

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"I’ve had the idea for months"

This movie-related proposal is even more perfect for these two, given that they originally met on a film set and both work in the industry. It was all about the stars aligning. "I’ve had the idea for months," Carter says, "but only settled on the specific movie and recorded about two weeks before." He worked on the project while his partner was sleeping to "edit in privacy" and was able to finish it in two nights—"one for recording the footage, one for compositing/sound work." Even the costume change required some expert choreography: "I rehearsed secretly placing the phone twice before but didn't practice the suit change! I was very down to the wire, and almost skipped the socks to save time [Laughs]." (All the details in the footage were intentional: He picked the Talking Heads song because it was "one of the first songs [they] played together" when they started dating.)

Of course, it’s been "wild"—but also heartwarming—to see the video go viral. "I work in advertising, so it's not unusual to have my phone blow up with notifications after a successful work campaign," Carter says. "But it's a much more personal and unique experience to have it happen for a personal post rather than professional. Received a few messages for sure [laughs]." Andressa adds, "I’m feeling very celebrated and it's phenomenal to see strangers on the internet cheering for one of the happiest moments of my life. I'm feeling very loved!" Then there’s the Mike Myers of it all: "I'm a huge Austin Powers fan," Carter says. "We actually went as Austin and Fembot for Halloween one year, so I guess this is the second time Mike Myers has influenced our relationship."

There have been other viral film-edit proposals in recent years. Back in 2020, a man hacked his girlfriend’s favorite Disney movie, Sleeping Beauty, to pull off an equally impressive move.

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