The problem with most films about "Hollywood legends" is that they usually suck. This probably has to do with Hollywood's baffling penchant for shoehorning legendary characters into dreary, cliché-ridden biopics that tell us as little about the real person as they do about the talent that made them a legend, Chaplin notwithstanding.
Word that Bobby and Peter Farrelly were behind project was reassuring; that it wouldn't be a biopic but rather a full-on comedy feature--i.e., an actual "Three Stooges movie"--was even more interesting. And it made sense. With a film catalog that includes such films as Dumb and Dumber (1994), Kingpin (1996), and Me, Myself and Irene (2000), the Farrelly brothers have essentially been doing Stooges movies their entire career. Their films are frequently disgusting and often sophomoric--as Roger Ebert observed, "Good taste is not their strong suit"--however few other filmmakers are capable of making audiences laugh as loudly or consistently. The funniest movie I had seen prior to Borat (2006) was 1998's There's Something About Mary. If anyone could pull off a Stooges movie, I thought, it would be the Farrelly brothers.
AS THE PROJECT wended its way through development, strange casting rumors began to swirl, some of which were so spectacularly insane, they could only have been leaked as part of a disinformation campaign by somebody with a twisted sense of humor. (Say, one of the Farrellys?) The most bizarre of these was that big, pumped up, bull-chested Russell Crowe was being considered for the role of the diminutive, chimp-like Moe Howard, which would be only slightly less ridiculous than casting Arnold Schwarzeneggar as Einstein.
According to
The Atlantic Wire, a year later--around March 2009--more leg-pulls were the order of the day when the snickering Farrellys elbowed each other and "announced" to gullible journalists that Russell Crowe had been replaced by
Benicio del Toro as Moe, and that Larry and Curly would be played by
Sean Penn and
Jim Carrey respectively.
MTV News called it "the most bizarre casting revelations in recent Hollywood memory."
Sean Penn as Larry? Lanky, dimpled, button-eyed Jim Carrey as Curly? Ridiculous! But the Farrellys knew that, of course, which is why they continued to prank us. Next thing you know, del Toro and Carrey were out, along with Sean Penn, who was replaced by Paul Giamatti--who was subsequently replaced by Sean Penn again, who later dropped out yet
again. Meanwhile, Woody Harrelson, Justin Timberlake and Larry David were all reportedly jostling to play Larry.
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| Dueling Larrys?: (L-R) Sean Penn, Paul Giamatti, Woody Harrelson, Justin Timberlake, Larry David (see additional photo credits at end of page) |
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Were the Farrellys yanking our chains? Who knows. Given the avalanche of coverage that's been lavished on the story, it's possible they wanted to play their cards close to the vest. In any case, when the smoke cleared, their final casting choices were as brilliant as they were unexpected: Moe would be played by Chris Diamantopoulos, Curly by Will Sasso, and Larry by Sean Hayes--three of the funniest, most wildly talented young actors in Hollywood. That they are all relatively new to the big screen isn't a bad thing, because it means viewers won't be prejudiced by any preconceived expectations that would normally accompany the attachment of some massive A-list movie star to the project. (Diamantopoulos, Sasso and Hayes may not be household names at the moment, but I suspect they soon will be.)
THE THREE STOOGES
"Moe" (Chris Diamantopoulos)
IN HOLLYWOOD, superlatives are overused to the point of meaninglessness, however it's hard to think of an actor more deserving of the hyperbole than
Chris Diamantopolous, who will be leading the famous trio of knuckleheads as their perennially cranky ringleader, Moe.
Diamantopoulos began acting at the age of nine and never stopped. He has appeared in, among other things, two Broadways shows (
Les Miserables,
The Full Monty), three theatrical films (
Wedding Daze,
Three Days to Vegas,
Under New Management) and dozens of television shows (
Nip/Tuck,
The Sopranos,
Boston Legal, etc.,), where he's played everything from a no-nonsense presidential press secretary (
24) to an over-the-top, Fernando Lama-esque restauranteur (
Up All Night). However, it was Diamantopoulos's jaw-dropping star turn as Robin Williams in the 2005 biopic,
Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Mork and Mindy', that showcased his astonishing talents. He channeled Williams so completely that some viewers forgot they were not watching the
real Robin Williams. It's an extraordinary performance, that earned him
Gemini and
Prism Award nominations the following year. (He should've won an Emmy.)
ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT THINGS for any actor to do is to portray another performer, especially an icon whose every gesture and inflection are indelibly burned into our consciousness. It takes more than just
looking like that person, or "pretending" to be them. One must be able to submerge the self and disappear into that character. In the new
Three Stooges trailer, the chameleon-like Diamantopoulos does just that with an uncanny rendition of Moe, using no makeup other than the signature mop haircut. He somehow even manages to make himself look shorter and stockier; when he orders Curly (Will Sasso) to "come here!", he perfectly replicates the famous Moe growl. Hilarious!
"Curly" (Will Sasso)
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| The original Curly Howard (left) and Will Sasso (right) |
IT ISN'T NECESSARY to be a serial killer to play one in the movies, but drama isn't nearly as difficult as comedy, and if one is playing a comical character, it's important to be funny. Many actors could have played Andy Kaufman in
Man on the Moon (1999), for example, but few "serious" actors would have brought Jim Carrey's lunatic brilliance to the role. That's because Jim Carrey is a funny guy. He knows what makes comedians tick because it's in his DNA.
The great thing about
Will Sasso, aside from the fact that he
looks like Curly Howard, is that he's one of the most effortlessly funny people on the planet. He doesn't even have to try. He just can't help it--it's a gift. The sketches he did on
MADtv were funnier than almost anything on
Saturday Night Live; It says something about Sasso that, while he looks nothing like Robert De Niro or Arnold Schwarzeneggar, he does the most painfully funny impressions of
De Niro and
Arnold I've ever seen.
(click the hyperlinks to watch)
Curly was easily the most knuckleheaded of the three Stooges, so there ought to be plenty for Sasso to do. I was impressed by what I saw of him in the trailer, especially when he asks
Kate Upton if she's had a haircut. (I'm laughing just thinking about it.) Over the years, I've seen a lot of people try to do impressions of Curly, but they never get the voice quite right. Will Sasso
nailed it.
If you need any more convincing about how funny Sasso is, listen to his hysterical impression of Hulk Hogan on the Bryan Callen Show (
contains language):
"Larry" (Sean Hayes)
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| The original Larry Fine (left) and Sean Hayes (right) |
Of the three leading actors in the new Stooges film,
Sean Hayes is likely the most widely recognized due to his Emmy and SAG Award-winning portrayal of Debra Messing and Eric McCormack's amusingly vain, flamboyantly gay friend, Jack McFarland, in the popular sitcom
Will & Grace.
The casting of Hayes seemed unusual at first. He's a talented actor with a great natural wit, however his subtler, more sophisticated brand of humor made him an odd choice in light of the burlesque, knockabout comedy normally associated with the Stooges. However, this is the same Sean Hayes who was nominated for a SAG award for his very
physical performance as a young, manic Jerry Lewis in the 2003 CBS movie,
Martin and Lewis, so he knows something about physical comedy.
In spite of Larry's wild hair, he's actually somewhat less cartoonish than the other Stooges. He isn't as chuckleheaded as Curly and he's not as confrontational as Moe, and there's hint of irony about him, so it makes sense to cast an actor who would bring a certain droll subtlety to the part. And as anyone who's seen
Will & Grace can attest, Hayes does
droll like nobody's business.
IT TAKES GIANT, elephant-sized
cojones to try and make the first original Three Stooges comedy in half a century. Make that
whale-sized
cojones. Any film that features characters as familiar as the Stooges is going to be difficult to pull off. The bar for a Stooges sequel is much higher than it would be for, say,
Hangover 3 or
Big Momma's House IV. The more famous and beloved the characters, the greater the expectations--and the greater the risk of disappointment. Which is why the new Stooges movie can't just be good, it's got to be
great. With the Farrellys at the helm and actors the likes of Diamantopoulos, Sasso and Hayes, I suspect the material is in good hands.
