Meet the New Orleans Man Behind the Viral Shrek Movie Uber | Latest News | Gambit Weekly

It’s a typical Saturday night in New Orleans, and you’re getting ready to meet up with friends for a night out on the town.

Naturally, you’re running late, so when you open your rideshare app, you don’t notice the strange license plate number listed for your driver. Soon, your phone vibrates, letting you know your ride is coming up.

As you step out into the street, which is even darker because of the constantly out street lights, you glance at your phone. He’s about to turn onto your street. You slip your phone into a pocket and look around the corner.

Instead of the familiar blue or pink glow of a standard carpool sign, you’re startled by a bright green glow coming your way. It takes a moment for what you’re seeing to register in your brain… a giant, green, glowing ogre head floating out of the darkness toward you.

Moments later, the 2018 Dodge Caravan pulls up in front of you, decked out in decals. You open the door and the night air suddenly fills not with the sounds of WYLD or WWOZ, but with a scene from DreamWorks’ 2001 film “Shrek.”

Welcome to Shrek Mobile New Orleans. Your night out just got 1,000% more interesting.

During the ride, the man behind the mobile, Milton Ladner, offers you to hold a variety of Shrek plush toys. He’s also ready to line up for “All Star” by Smash Mouth at any time. Sometimes, he even dresses up as Shrek.

“It’s a midlife crisis,” says Ladner, who grew up in Bywater and now lives in Chalmette. “I’m 57, and instead of trying to get a Porsche or a girlfriend, I’m Shrek.”

When passengers book the Shrek Mobile, they have only one clue that this might not be a regular Uber ride: the license plate number that says SHREK1.

The surprise arrival of the mobile was a great success, both with customers and passers-by.

“They’re like, ‘Oh my God, it’s Shrek!’” Ladner says. “They’re like, ‘Oh my God, that’s the best thing ever. You made my night.’”

The Shrek Mobile is especially popular with Gen Z and younger millennials who grew up with the films.

“I get told all kinds of stories about what Shrek meant to them and stuff like that. ‘You take me back to my childhood,'” Ladner says. “At Tulane University, I’m a legend.”

But at this point, his fame extends far beyond Uptown college. On June 21, a passenger in the van posted a TikTok video that has garnered more than 1.3 million likes and 4.8 million views. “The universe gifted me… Shrek Uber,” the caption read.

@420blazemelup the universe gave me… shrek uber #shrek #uber #fyp ♬ I am a believer – From the original soundtrack of the movie “Shrek” – Smash Mouth

“Someone said to me today as I was leaving work, ‘Do you know you’re famous?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know,’” Ladner says with a laugh.

He’s already had a taste of internet fame. Shortly after installing the holographic Shrek head, a passenger took a video that ended up airing on Barstool Sports in 2022, which dubbed the Shrek Mobile “the most electric thing you’ll encounter today.”

No one followed the stats from the latest video more closely than Ladner, and he enthusiastically kept his wife updated on every milestone.

“I love every minute of that video,” he says. “I’m like, ‘Look, it’s got 100,000 views! Look, it’s got a million views in 24 hours! Oh, it’s got 3 million views!’”

“She says, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.’”

Ladner has been driving trucks for 10 years. When ride-sharing apps started popping up in New Orleans, he thought it would be a good way to make some extra money.

It wasn’t until 2022 that he decided to transform the van he uses for his Lyft and Uber rides into the Shrek Mobile.

The bright green glow wasn’t entirely unexpected for Ladner. In addition to being a truck driver, Ladner has also been a Shrek superfan since the first film came out in 2001.

“It’s a movie that kids enjoy, but adults enjoy it even more because they get the jokes,” he says.

“Shrek is just a regular guy who fell in love with his Fiona,” adds Ladner, who has been married to his own Fiona, Ramona, for 35 years.

The similarities between the two don’t end there. Ladner bears an uncanny resemblance to Shrek, especially once he puts on his costume, and like Shrek, he’s a lovable character.

In the early 2000s, the now-abandoned Jazzland, now Six Flags, was hosting a Halloween event. Ladner’s wife suggested he go dressed as Shrek. Ladner jumped at the idea, even though he hadn’t yet nailed the look.

“All I did was paint myself green, and people thought I was the Hulk,” he said.

Ladner has since acquired ogre ears, a tunic, and a vest, leaving no room for confusion. He has attended many conventions dressed as Shrek, including Big Easy Con and Wizard World, with his wife sometimes accompanying him dressed as Fiona.

If that wasn’t enough to prove his fanaticism, just ask Ladner who his favorite Shrek character is – besides Shrek himself, obviously.

While most people have limited knowledge of the Shrek cinematic universe after the second film, Ladner has an encyclopedic knowledge of the entire franchise. And he doesn’t shy away from listing trivia from “Shrek 4: The End of Time,” the fourth installment in the series.

It turns out that Rumpelstiltskin, from “Forever After,” is Ladner’s favorite non-Shrek Shrek character, “because of his voice and the way he acts,” he says. “The animator couldn’t find the right voice actor for the character he created, so he voiced him himself.”

So when Ladner decided he wanted his van to have a theme, it was pretty obvious that it would.

It’s a smart business strategy, with customers tipping more than they would for a ride in a non-Shrek-decorated vehicle. He says one customer tipped him $50 a few weeks ago.

He sells green T-shirts with a picture of himself dressed as Shrek and smoking. “NOLA SHREK MOBILE HAS A POSSE,” it reads. “8 FEET 450 LBS.”

Ladner also swears that the Shrek set has kept him safe in certain situations. After all, who wants to mess with the Shrek Mobile?

Since TikTok exploded, Ladner says requests for private rides have poured in. His goal is to provide transportation for bachelor and bachelorette parties to bars—entering each bar with them dressed as Shrek, of course.

“I just wanted to be different. That’s the whole point,” Ladner says. “I wanted people to have fun and have something to remember when they go home.”

Over the years, the Shrek Mobile has accompanied people through good times and bad.

One client enjoyed his mobile experience so much that he asked Ladner to come back and drive him and his partner on their wedding night a few months later.

When the time came, Ladner was ready, even installing the LED sign in his back window to congratulate the newlyweds.

Except when he went to pick them up, the guy was only with friends.

“He said, ‘Things have changed. Take me and my friends for a ride,'” Ladner says.

Another customer had just broken up with his boyfriend and was depressed. “I don’t deserve to be in the Shrek Mobile,” he lamented. “I’m really sad.”

“I said, ‘Well, you won’t be sad at the end of the trip,’” Ladner said. “He started laughing.”

But of all the feedback Ladner receives, he is most touched by people who tell him they feel safe riding with him.

“I have an impact on people,” he says, “and I like that.”

Find Ladner on Instagram and TikTok @nola_shrek_mobile.