Sean Penn Back On ‘Three Stooges’ Carrey Still Out; Farrelly Brothers Jump To ‘Hall Pass’ Comedy With Owen Wilson Next

Is Sean Penn coming back to his role as as Larry in the Farrelly Brothers’ long-gestating attempt at bringing the “Three Stooges” tale to the big screen?

Sounds that way.

Penn, originally dropped out of the project — which was scheduled to shoot late last summer — in June of last year when he ran into marital problems once again (he and his wife Robin Wright had both filed for divorce and she had put in a third divorce petition). His family on the brink of collapse, Penn decided to take a sabbatical from acting for one year to salvage things hence his decision to bow out of ‘Stooges.’

Well, it was a noble attempt and all, but Penn and Wright are now all but divorced. Alas, reconciliation did not work; technically they’re still separated, but both are dating others and Wright has dropped Penn from her surname and has been pretty definitive in interviews that her marriage is now over. Divorce now just seems like an official legal matter that probably will take a little bit of time.

So does that free up Penn? According to Bobby Farrelly, yes. “We got him back,” Farrelly told the Boston Herald. “He always said he wanted to do it after, you know, taking care of his family.”

According to the interview Benicio del Toro is still interested in playing Moe, but it’s Jim Carrey that is the odd man out. The Herald makes it sound like Carrey’s involvement was overstated in the first place or even false, writing, “There was word, way back when, that Jim Carrey was interested. But Bobby claims otherwise.” Carey was said to have dropped out of the project in August of last year, but because Penn had first exited, not because of disinterest. Clearly there’s some discord in the various reports, but what appears clear is that the Farrelly Brothers still need to cast a Curly.

Maybe Johnny Depp? They apparently wanted him back in the day (evidently the Farrelly’s did attempt, as reported, to replace Penn with Paul Giamatti, but that didn’t pan out).

So with a hole in their schedule, what did the comedic duo directing team helm instead? “Hall Pass” a comedy with Owen Wilson in the lead. Honestly, it’s the first we’ve heard about this project and it’s not on Wilson’s IMDB page, but apparently it’s going to shoot next month in Atlanta. The Herald says the project is about a “ho-hum hubby whose wife, looking to spice up their sex life, gives him a ‘pass’ to play the field for a week. Hilarity is presumably meant to ensue, but god, that sounds like something we’d avoid (and frankly, we can’t remember the last Farrelly brothers project we were interested in outside “Three Stooges”).

So, “Three Stooges.” Maybe they can shoot later this year if they find a Curly and those superstar schedules synch up? With big names like the ones thrown around, they might have to wait until 2011, we’ll see.