Will Sasso Cast In THREE STOOGES

Hank Azaria and James Marsden may join.

The Farrelly Brothers have finally begun to cast their stooges for their long-gestating movie. The first actor to be chosen is Will Sasso (‘$h*! My Dad Says,’ ‘Life as We Know It’) who has been officially cast as the lovable stooge, Curly.

Ealier this month it was believed that Johnny Knoxville was the Farrellys’ first choice for Moe Howard but those reports turned out to be false. Now it has emerged that Hank Azaria (‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Love and Other Drugs’) is a frontrunner for the role of Moe, the group’s stern disciplinarian and the guy who dishes out the slaps and eye pokes. As for the role of Larry, reports suggest that James Marsden (‘X-Men,’ ’Enchanted’) is the frontrunner for that role.

Until Azaria and Marsden are confirmed you may consider them as rumoured. Originally actors like Sean Penn and Jim Carrey were said to be connected to the project but nothing was solidified. An official announcement on the castings for Moe and Larry is expected to come in the next week or two.

Peter Farrelly tells Deadline, “opening up these roles to the world right now. We’ll make it with the best possible people. Our feeling is that no star is too big to audition and no matter who it is, we’re going to have to see him in the role. This is not The Flintstones. You’ve got to be Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard, and that could be a major movie star or an unknown”

Following the format of the original ‘Three Stooges’ shorts, the movie is to be divided it into three, 27-minute segments driven by physical comedy. “There will be non-stop slapping, more in the tone of Dumb and Dumber than anything else we’ve done ,” Farrelly said. “Our goal is 85 minutes of laughs in a film that will be very respectful of who the Stooges were. It’s by far the riskiest project we’ve ever done, without question, but it is also the one closest to our hearts.”

Peter and Bobby Farrelly will direct from a script by Mike Cerrone filming scheduled to start mid April.