The Princess Inquiries

From left, Amy Sedaris, Maya Rudolph, Cheri Oteri and Amy Poehler. Though they play characters in "Shrek the Third," this was the first time all had been together. Each actress had recorded her lines while alone in sound studios in either New York or Los Angeles. (By Jonathan Alcorn For The Washington Post)

"It's way easier."

"You just show up and read it."

"In sweat pants," says Oteri. (At least we think it's Oteri, because on the tape recording of this interview, the princesses keep laughing, and other people, like publicists and makeup artists and photographers and waiters, keep showing up and laughing, too, as though it's a free seat at the Groundlings improv).

Rudolph confesses that between her first day of work and her second day of work (months later), she "forgot which character I was."

Several others add: "Me, too!" They all agree that it is a little challenging to keep all the princesses straight.

"They showed us storyboards of what our characters would look like," Rudolph explains. "Because there's some historical stuff they have to stick to. Like Cinderella. She was of African descent."

"Hey, Bill!" One of the princesses is snapping her fingers, telling us to pay attention. "Rapunzel? You know she's not a real person, right?"

"I didn't know anything about her," Sedaris says. "Except the tower and the long hair."

"But there was so much more to her," Rudolph says.

Such as?

"Like she was bald," Rudolph says. (It's a gag in the film.)

"In the porn version," Oteri says.