Twentieth Century Fox is taking over The Three Stooges from MGM now that the latter has received approval for the pre-packaged bankruptcy. Deadline says that Fox has scheduled a March 14 start date (that’s not confirmed yet) for the comedy, that will still be directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly from a script they wrote with Mike Cerrone.
The project is without a cast at the moment, with Jim Carrey and Sean Penn leaving the project a while back. It is unclear if Benicio Del Toro will still play Moe, though casting is expected to begin immediately. The Farrellys are looking at filming in Atlanta.
According to the site, the movie “takes place when the trio are dumped out as newborns at the door of an orphanage, and they are talking with Richard Jenkins to play the head nun who is terrorized by the precocious Stooges. The comedy follows them to adulthood and is very much in the spirit of the original shorts, in which the blue collar bumblers got the best of the wealthy society matrons that tried to exploit them.”
Deadline adds that The Three Stooges “will be divided into three segments, each 27 minutes long, which gives the Farrellys the chance to use all three of the signature theme songs that started the classic shorts.”
Conundrum partner Bradley Thomas will produce with Charles B. Wessler. Earl Benjamin will executive produce.
