Now that Sean Penn has dropped out of the Farrelly Brothers’ “The Three Stooges,” and or at least delayed the picture, so he can take a year off to spend with his family, the picture is potentially in trouble, right? The picture has taken nearly a decade to come to fruition and casting was a big part of the puzzle, but with Penn out for now, Peter Farrelly worries Benicio del Toro and Jim Carrey could bail as well. “I’m fearing a domino effect now. He wants to devote a year of his life to family.”
“You can’t fault the guy for that, my God,” Farrelly said. Harold Ramis, sitting next to him at a round table amended his comment. “You can fault him for that,” he said. Whether that’s a joke or not it’s written too flat too tell, but we would assume so, Ramis is so amiable.
As for the screenplay and the ‘Three Stooges’ story, well it sounds really thought out and meticulously crafted. “It will be three half-hour episodes rolled into an hour-and-a-half movie.” The ‘Stooges’ film was supposed to shoot this August with a fall 2010 release date. But if everyone bails, you can probably expect this project to go dark for a few years unless they can score another amazing casting coup. Waiting around for Penn is probably not the smartest option in these uncertain and tenuous times. [Vulture]