UPDATE: Casting rumors not true.  Entertainment Weekly has spoken with Peter Farrelly, who responded to The Wrap’s story. He notes the whole process is still “wide open to everybody,” and that “there is no leader in the clubhouse.” And also mentions neither Knoxville or Samberg have even auditioned for a part – plus the production has been pushed back on month.  Farrelly also elaborated on what he envisions the film to be… a fictional comedy, not a bio-pic of the original actors.  They intend to take the Moe, Larry and Curly personas and place them in a new story.

“It’s The Three Stooges just like the [old shorts],” Farrelly says. “They’re going to look the same, dress the same, sound the same, act the same, with the same sound effects.”

The film will be structured in three acts, each a stand-alone story like the original episodes, but loosely connected. Most of it will be set in the present day, except for the first act, which begins 40 years ago. “A car whips by an orphanage, throws a duffel bag out its window and keeps going,” Farrelly says. “A nun sees the duffel and opens it up, and a little baby hand comes out and — Boink! — hits her in the eye. So that first episode is them growing up in the orphanage.”

The second act picks up with them as adults, in their early 40s, leaving the orphanage and heading out on the road together. After various misadventures, the trio splits up and the third act starts with them alone — and finding that all the slapping, eye-gouging, and head-bonking isn’t a useful way of dealing with the outside world.

“Suddenly, when Moe hits somebody he doesn’t know, that’s assault and battery,” Farrelly says, laughing.
Despite the brother-on-brother-on-brother violence, the Farrellys will aim for a PG rating by keeping the smacks and pokes “cartoony.” As for casting, they want actors who are willing to give themselves over to impressions of the numbskull characters created by Moe Howard, Curly Howard and Larry Fine.

“I don’t want ‘somebody’s version of Moe,’” Farrelly says. “It’s not like Batman where you can have your own take on Batman.”

Okay, tell us your thoughts on this in the comments.  I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of conflicting opinions on what they’re planning here.  Either way, if this all comes together, it should be interesting to see the result.  Our original report is below.

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Rumors had been circulating that Peter and Bobby Farrelly were working on a movie of THE THREE STOOGES, and at one point the proposed cast was Benecio del Toro as Moe, Sean Penn as Larry, and Jim Carrey as Curly. But since then the studio changed from MGM to 20th Century Fox, and those actors backed out, leaving many to wonder if the project was completely dead. Now it looks like some new named have come up. The Wrap is talking to an agency insider, and reporting that “And though nothing yet is confirmed, advances have been made, representatives have been approached and discussions have taken place, the agency insider said.”

And just who would be the Holy Trinity of Silver Screen heroes?  Try on Johnny Knoxville (JACKASS) as Moe, Andy Samberg SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE) as Larry, and Australian comedian Shane Jacobson as Curly.  “The plan is to divide the PG-rated film into three, 27-minute segments driven by physical comedy, with a start date of March 14.”

I actually think these could be really good choices, especially since each actor has their share of experience with comedy.  Peter Farrelly was quoted to say “The script is ready to go, and we are opening up these roles to the world right now. We’ll make it with the best possible people. Our feeling is that no star is too big to audition and no matter who it is, we’re going to have to see him in the role. This is not The Flinstones. You’ve got to be Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard, and that could be a major movie star or an unknown.”

With the success of JACKASS 3D and continuing popularity of SNL, the American side is already pretty bankable.  Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

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