TheThreeStooges Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Oh, Paul Giamatti. He's the man you can't help but love and respect. He's got acting chops on all sides of the fence, being able to play it straight and serious just as much as over-the-top ridiculous and campy -- in other words, the perfect combination. Giamatti has come a long way since he popped up as Kissing Man in Singles, and these days, he's the kind of actor who might even lead you to movies you would not have otherwise considered. But now the man needs to get a little more selective.

For ages, he's been attached to Bubba Nosferatu, a project that got immensely worrisome when Bruce Campbell exited over the screenplay (only to get Ron Perlman). It might seem like a project going nowhere, but according to the new Elvis, the film will finally play out during Perlman's Sons of Anarchy hiatus. And Giamatti is still on-board. Strike one: Sticking with this project post-Campbell when the original barely made it to the screen and the film's fans don't want Bubba without Bruce.

Peter and Bobby Farrelly's long-suffering project The Three Stooges has added and subtracted two more names to its cast, according to Boston.com, who caught up with Peter at a show at Fenway Park. Paul Giamatti, who can be seen on a limited number of arthouse screens in the wonderful new movie Cold Souls, will be taking on the role of Larry, the curly-haired comedian of the trio. (Oscar-winner Sean Penn ducked out of both The Three Stooges and Cartel earlier this summer.) Beleagured Wolf Man Benecio Del Toro is still on board to play slap-happy Moe, but Curly remains a mystery. According to Peter, who was trying to watch Paul McCartney while the reporter sussed out this info, the rumors that Jim Carrey will be playing the big-mouthed baldie are incorrect.

So who is willing to take the significant amount of Stooge abuse in the trio? Personally, I nominate Shia LaBeouf. Because someone needs a few noogies after Transformers 2.

If you're dying to participate in your own Stooge-y slapfight, you can download the iStooges app to your iPhone and n'yuck to your heart's delight. See a video demo after the jump.

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?

Whenever you imagined a dream cast to play the Three Stooges in a movie, did you ever imagine an Academy Award-winning gay activist would be the first to sign? Sean Penn (?!) has agreed to play Larry in The Three Stooges, according to Variety, and Jim Carrey is negotiating for the part of Curly. Reportedly, Carrey is preparing to gain 40 pounds so he can play the role. And to play Moe? None other than Benicio Del Toro is being targeted by MGM and the Farrelly Brothers.

Jim Carrey would be a natural, of course, but Sean Penn? Does he have a funny bone in his body? His last attempt at a humorous role came in 1989's We're No Angels, a woefully unfunny film in which Penn was teamed with Robert DeNiro. Sure, he made his bones as the stoned surfer Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but it takes a real stretch of imagination to think he can play a Stooge. Stranger things have happened, though, and maybe Penn will pull a rabbit out of his ultra-serious persona and shock us all.

Del Toro doesn't have much of a comedy resume, either, though Variety's article claims he "showed comic chops" in Guy Ritchie's Snatch. Peter and Bobby Farrelly have written the script and will direct. The film is intended to be "not a biopic, but rather a comedy built around the antics of the three characters that Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Howard played in the Columbia Pictures shorts." Production is scheduled to begin in the fall for a 2010 release.

Am I underrating Sean Penn's comic abilities? Are you itching to see Penn, Carrey, and Del Toro as The Three Stooges?

In 1937, nine year old Moyer "Sonny" Bupp was the highest paid male child extra in Hollywood. That was the year he co-starred as a crippled boy in the well-known Three Stooges short Cash and Carry. The same year he appeared in minor roles in Frank Capra's Lost Horizon, Busby Berkeley's Hollywood Hotel and the movie debut of Ronald Reagan, Love Is on the Air, in which Bupp also sings "London Bridge is Falling Down" and shares the screen with his older brother Tommy.

A few years later, Sonny Bupp played his most famous character, Charles Foster Kane III, son of the title character of Citizen Kane. In 1943, he appeared in his final film, Eyes of the Underworld (aka Criminals of the Underworld), then according to his death notice in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he served in the army during World War II -- although he must have been only 17 by war's end. His death notice says he went on to work as an automotive warehouse manager, while the IMDb claims he was an executive at Ford Motors. Either way, it is sad news that Bupp passed away November 1, in Henderson, Nevada, leaving behind no more known remaining survivors of Kane.

Bupp, along with brother Tommy and sisters June and Ann, became child actors when their family moved from New York City to California in the early years of the Depression with some intentions of getting the kids into showbiz (a fifth sibling, Paul, never ended up getting in). Sonny and Tommy had the greatest success, and in addition to Love Is on the Air, they both appeared in San Francisco with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, Swing Your Lady with Humphrey Bogart, When Tomorrow Comes with Irene Dunne and Kid Millions, which also featured Ann. Aside from his recognizable roles in Cash and Carry and Citizen Kane, Bupp may also be familiar for playing President Lincoln's terminally ill son Willie in 1940's Abe Lincoln in Illinois, as well as for a significant role in Three Faces West with John Wayne. He appears as an extra in other major films, including Sergeant York, San Francisco, The Devil and Daniel Webster and Angels with Dirty Faces. He was profiled in Tom and Jim Goldrup's book Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Classic Film and Television, in which he's quoted as saying, "I never liked being a child actor in films. In fact, I dreaded seeing [his agent] Mr. Olynick's car parked in front of our house, knowing it meant going on another interview for a movie part ... There is no camaraderie at all in motion pictures."

You can see his few moments as little Charlie Kane in this section of Citizen Kane:

The idea of a new Three Stooges movie has been floating around various studios for years now -- most recently accompanied by a Farrelly brothers script which has apparently impressed at least some of the people at C3 Entertainment, the rights holding company. At some point in the not too distant past, Warner Bros. had an option on the project, and in probably the wisest move made by the studio in decades, they let it drop. This means, however, the Stooges film went back on the market, where it was quickly snapped up by the eager First Look Studios. First Look says they plan to stay true to the "original flavor" of the studios, and C3 Entertainment is said to still be impressed with the contemporary script penned by the Farrellys.

Look, I loved the Stooges growing up. I'm not picking on this film idea because of any sense of ill will towards the old boys -- I just fear the results of a "contemporary" Stooges film written by the guys who brought us Stuck on You. I can see nothing but great evil emerging from such a deal. However, maybe I'm just a cynic. What say you, Stooge fans? Are you glad to see your old buddies finally getting some attention from studios again, or is it sacrilege to replace the iconic actors?

Cinematical Flashback: Another Stooges Movie?