Looks like Sean Penn might be a Stooge after all.
It’s been six months since Penn, that well-known comedy genius, pulled out of his role as Larry in the Farrelly Brothers’ new big-screen version of The Three Stooges, citing a desire to focus on his family as the reason.
Since then, the Stooges movie, which has been in development for a loooooong time, fell apart, with Jim Carrey (who would have played Curly) also bailing, while the Farrellys were unable to find a replacement for Penn in time for the film’s mooted August start date.
That forced the Farrellys to quickly rustle up another movie, the Owen Wilson comedy Hail Pass, which will start shooting next month in Atlanta. But after that, they’ll turn their attentions back to the Stooges movie… and, according to the Boston Herald, Penn – who’s in the middle of a divorce from his wife, Robin Wright Penn – will be back on board.
“We got him back,” Bobby Farrelly told the paper’s Inside Track. “He always said he wanted to do it after, you know, taking care of his family.”
With Benicio del Toro apparently still interested in playing Moe, the Farrellys are still a Curly short of a full Stooges pack. But, with filming unlikely to begin before next summer, they have time. Now, will they go for a professional comedian, a la Carrey or Will Ferrell or Simon Pegg, or will they go for someone who, in the vein of Penn and del Toro, has never had their funnybone knowingly tickled? If so, we suggest… well, we’re not going to tell you who we’d suggest, because they’d shout at us.
Big thanks to Cinematical for the heads up.