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CGI ■ ■ ■ ■ LE! At top, the star of his own fi lm, , takes a swig of his favorite refreshment. At bottom, Humpty, Kitty, and Puss, sometime partners-in-adven- ture, are the three main characters in the animated feature. as he did for the same character in the Shrek fi lms, and Zach Galifi anakis voices Humpty. Salma Hayek is Kitty. "We usually record the voice ac- tors separately because these fi lms are made over such a long period of time," Miller says. "It's diffi cult to get the actors in the same town at the same time. But, it did happen with Antonio and Salma for one session. Even apart they had great chemistry, but when they could play off each other, it was great." Miller began working on the fi lm in January 2008, immediately after Shrek 3. Th e opportunity came as a surprise. "It was when we were doing a promotion for Shrek 3," Miller recalls. "Jeff rey [Katzenberg, Dream- Works CEO] said to Antonio, 'Chris is directing Puss.' Th en he asked me, 'Can you pitch it out to Antonio? He's really excited.' I told him, 'OK, but I have no idea what the story is.' He said, 'Call someone.' " Th e idea of spinning Puss in Boots out of the Shrek series and into a fi lm of his own had been bumping around the studio for several years, but until Katzenberg told Miller he was directing it, Miller didn't know the studio had moved the project forward. "After Shrek 3, the studio saw a script that had potential and committed to it," Miller says. "When I learned I was directing it, I took a pass at that script. Th ey greenlit it. And then, they brought in a real writer." Th e story takes place before Puss meets Shrek, and stars, in addi- tion to the three main characters, two murderous outlaws called Jack Images ©2011 DreamWorks Animation LLC. October/November 2011 11 P uss in Boots