Hallelujah! Sean Penn Backs Out of 'The Three Stooges' ... and Unfortunately, Hollywood Too

by Monika Bartyzel Jun 16th 2009 // 9:02PM

Filed under: Casting

I've got nothing against the thought of Sean Penn getting funny. In fact, I wished for that very thing earlier this month. But grabbing the funny by becoming one of the Three Stooges? Sean Penn as Larry Fine? Surely Mr. Penn had fallen on his head, partook in the drugs, or entered into some other type of shenanigans to become that crazy. Luckily, while he may not have come to his senses about the project, he's also no longer involved. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Penn has dropped The Three Stooges as well as his much more desirable project, that crime thriller called Cartel.

Ideally, this would the result of the actor taking a cue from Happy Harry Hard On and saying: "Hey wait a minute, what is wrong with this picture?" But no, this Nicole Kidman-like move has nothing to do with the parts themselves. It turns out that he wants to leave the movie biz for a while to focus on his family. I imagine that he wants to work things out with Robin Wright Penn so that he doesn't have to keep filing and rescinding divorce proceedings. The man is most definitely confused. There's no definitive word on how long this will last, but THR sources say it'll be a year.

One can only hope that this will mean the end of the dreaded Stooges, but hopefully Asger Leth's Cartel won't be as hurt by the sudden decision. What do you think of Penn's sudden au revoir from Hollywood, and can the Farrellys find a suitable Fine replacement? And who should fight Mexican drug cartels?

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Tags: Cartel, Cinematical, Larry Fine, LarryFine, Sean Penn, SeanPenn, The Three Stooges, TheThreeStooges, Three Stooges, ThreeStooges

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