My wife informed me this morning that the Farrelley Bros. are slated to shoot a "Three Stooges" remake (actually, three 27 minute shorts) and the first question I thought of was, "Who's the cast?" Apparently, this isn't a very easy question to answer. From what I've been able to gather online, the only confirmed casting is Will Sasso in the role of Curly. However, here are some of the other actors that were "in" and then "out" or "being considered" in the past few years: Moe: Benicio del Toro, Hank Azaria, Johnny Knoxville, Russell Crowe Larry: Sean Penn, Larry David, Andy Samberg, James Marsden Curly: Will Sasso, Jim Carrey Focus: Who would you cast for the Three Stooges? Alt. Focus: Discuss the actors listed above in those roles. Could you really see Russell Crowe, Sean Penn and Jim Carrey as the Slapstick Magi?
Nobody. Any modern day adaptation will fail miserably, because the film production capabilities (or lack thereof when compared to today) were a big part of their humour. Might as well go re-shoot Charlie Chaplan bits. Fuck Hollywood; just leave it be.
I completely agree. I was never a huge Three Stooges fan (I always preferred Laurel and Hardy), but I just can't see any modern actors giving those roles justice. Also, you know that the way Hollywood is these days that they would absolutely shit all over this...fuck, it would probably even be called the "Three-D Stooges" and filmed entirely in 3D. Also, Sean Penn as Larry? Really? Gag me with a spoon.
I didn't think it was a Three Stooges "remake" so much as kind of a biography. At least, that was what I thought it was when they were talking about it, and a bioflick of the Three Stooges would actually be a pretty interesting movie, in that it could be both serious and funny if handled properly (with heavy emphasis on "If Handled Properly"). Another rumor I had heard was that it would be shot as three "mini-movies," from the POV of each of the main Stooges, hence the three mini-movies idea. However, if it is just three short "remakes" of Three Stooges films? Fuck that, don't even bother. No one should even try it.
They've done this already. I thought it was pretty good. It tried to show what the actors were like off the stage and their backstories. Michael Chiklis played a good Curly.