Paul Giamatti Replacing Sean Penn as Larry in THE THREE STOOGES

I like Sean Penn, I really do.  He’s an intense and indisputably fantastic actor (we’ll forget the misfires like “I Am Sam” and “All the King’s Men”).  And while it was a bit of a bummer to see him drop out of playing Larry in The Farrelly Brothers’ adaptation of “The Three Stooges”, I think they’ve gone up a step in their replacement casting of Paul Giamatti.  Hit the jump to learn more and find out about the continuing saga of finding a new Curly.

According to The Boston Globe, Giamatti has officially signed on to replace Penn and to be honest, I had a little trouble picturing Penn as Larry due to Penn avoiding comedies since 1999′s “Sweet and Lowdown” (again, not counting “I Am Sam”), but Giamatti is like dream casting.

The story also mentions that although Benecio Del Toro is still on board to play Moe, Jim Carrey isn’t quite as attached to Curly as we’d previously been led to believe.  Carrey’s not officially out of the project but The Farrellys will only say that the role has yet to be cast and they wouldn’t say who they had in mind.  I would add “if anyone” but it’s Hollywood; everyone has someone in mind.