Johnny Knoxville Won’t Be Playing Moe In ‘The Three Stooges’ After All

With the April start date for the Farrelly Brothers‘ “The Three Stooges” getting closer and closer we presume some kind of casting news should be coming down any day now. But wait, wasn’t it just announced that Johnny Knoxville set to play Moe? Turns out it was wrong.

THR reports that Variety’s previous story on Knoxville being lined up for the gig was all very premature. While the actor did sniff around the project, negotiations and offers were never made with Knoxville turning his attention to a couple of other movies instead. What are they?

Well, there’s “First Man,” a pitch recently sold by fledgling filmmaking duo director/writer Max Winkler and producer/writer Matt Spicer to Paramount. The film would star Knoxville as a rambunctious troublemaker who, after a well-behaved reprieve during his wife’s presidential campaign, wreaks havoc once again when she is elected and he is First Man. Also catching the “Jackass” star’s eye is “Mustache Riders” written by Robbie Pickering (SXSW selection “Natural Selection”), Jase Ricci (”School of Fear,” “The Mallusionist”) and Paul Soter (”Super Troopers,” “Beerfest”). The film will feature Willie Nelson as a man who takes the three petty crooks to find some ancient treasure, with Bam Margera and Ryan Dunn slotting in the other roles.

So what does this say about “The Three Stooges”? Hard to say. Knoxville might not have liked the material and simply wasn’t interested in starring in a more family oriented movie and moved on, but the Farrellys still have plenty of options. Hank Azaria was previously mentioned as a contender for Moe while Andy Samberg and Canadian actor Will Sasso (“$#*! My Dad Says”) were vying for Curly and Shane Jacobsen, Justin Timberlake, Woody Harrelson and Larry David are all said to have been approached as prospective Larrys.