Sean Penn, Jim Carrey and Benicio del Toro to star as The Three Stooges

[ken]

It may be hard to imagine Sean Penn performing slapstick comedy, but the double-Oscar winner is being lined up to star as one of The Three Stooges.

Penn will appear alongside Benicio del Toro and Jim Carrey in a new feature film about the vaudeville trio, who were popular from the 1930s until after the Second World War.

The film will be directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly – the director brothers known for films such as Dumb & Dumber, Stuck On You and There’s Something About Mary – who are said to have been keen to make a movie about The Three Stooges for more than a decade.

The film will not be a biopic but a comedy based on the lives of the popular trio, Variety magazine said.

Penn will play Larry Fine, del Toro the leader Moe Howard, and Carrey is in negotiations to star as Curly Howard, who was known for his hitch-pitched voice and his “nyuk nyuk nyuk” catchphrase.

Carrey, who has worked with the Farrelly brothers twice before, is reported to have begun planning to gain the 40lb needed to play Curly.

It will be the first comedy for Penn – who won his second Oscar this year for Milk, and who is considered by to be one of the finest actors of his generation – since the crime caper We’re No Angels in 1989.

The Three Stooges were a popular act who featured in many musical comedy shorts and feature films throughout the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

News of the feature film sent fans flocking to watch old clips of the Three Stooges on YouTube, with many leaving comments about the casting announcement.

[nugunz]

The casting is beautiful man- Just beautiful.

But I'm a bit worried about the stooges being put into the hands of the Farrelley Bros. They're movies are the definition of hit or miss. And I'm worried this could turn out to be a Dumb and Dumber clone.

I mean, did you see Stuck on You? Sweet lord, that movie sucked!

Fingers crossed.

[The_Disturbed_One]

I don't know man. I wouldn't like to see Penn or del Toro in a film with a comedy genius like Jim Carrey. Not looking forward to this.

[nugunz]

Del Toro was a blast in Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.

If iron man can be funny in tropic thunder..... who knows? haha.