Sean Penn is a Stooge

Sean Penn is a Stooge

Hollywood appears to be in the process of putting together a Three Stooges film starring several superstar actors:

To his allies, Sean Penn is a wise guy; to his adversaries, he’s a stooge. Now they’re both correct: the actor has joined the cast of “The Three Stooges,” a new MGM comedy based on the vintage film shorts of that knockaround trio, Variety reported. Mr. Penn, who recently won his second Academy Award, for playing the title role in Gus Van Sant’s “Milk,” is set to play Larry, the wire-haired, Stradivarius-wielding Stooge. The studio is also said to be in final negotiations with Jim Carrey, who will gain weight to play the rotund Curly, and is pursuing Benicio Del Toro (“Che”) to play the irritable Moe. The film is to be written and directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly (of “There’s Something About Mary” and “Kingpin” fame), and is planned for a 2010 release.

It sounds like an interesting concept, but alas it is also an illustration of the desert of ideas that is modern Hollywood. If this is successful, maybe they could create a new Abbot and Costello film with Seth Rogen as Lou Costello and Billy Bob Thornton as Bud Abbot.