Throughout their career as filmmakers, Bobby and Peter Farrelly have become known for their comedic sensibility, garnering huge commercial success with their raunchy yet heartfelt films. Their latest film (opening on February 25th) is Hall Pass, which follows best buddies Rick and Fred (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis), as they look to revitalize their marriages by taking advantage of a hall pass given to them by their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate). With one week of freedom to do whatever they want with no questions asked, the two men quickly realize that the single life is not everything they remembered it was.

While Collider spoke to Bobby and Peter Farrelly about Hall Pass during an exclusive interview at the film’s press day, we’ll run that portion closer to the film’s release date. This portion of the interview includes what they had to say about their long-awaited feature film version of The Three Stooges, how they’re coming with the casting, their plans to shoot it later this Spring, and why they think it’s been such a long process to bring it to the big screen. Peter also talked about his two shorts in Movie 43, and how that project came about. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

While the entire conversation is below, here's a few highlights on The Three Stooges:

- Shooting begins this spring

- They don't have a cast yet but they've been impressed with a few people that have auditioned

On what type of movie they're making:

"this isn’t a Farrelly version of The Three Stooges. This is The Three Stooges. And, it’s not a biopic, by the way. We’ve written three new episodes. The movie is actually three episodes that go back to back to back. Each one picks up where the other one left off. We want you to look at it and say, “It’s Mo, Larry and Curly!,” so we have very high standards on this route."

On why it's been so difficult to get the film made:

"It’s a terrifying project for actors to try to play such comedy icons, first of all. That’s a little dangerous. I think the studio also looks at it and says, “Oh, The Three Stooges. That’s for guys. That’s not for girls.” In their minds, you only have half an audience to choose from, but we don’t necessarily see it that way. We see it more like when we made the movie Dumb and Dumber. It might appear that it’s for guys, but girls really gravitated towards it too because it’s funny. We’re hoping for the same thing here. I think girls will appreciate The Three Stooges humor too. I think the studio was a little scared of that."

On what is Movie 43 about and how did it come together, Peter says:

"Movie 43 is the brain child of Charlie Wessler, who produces lots of our movies. Basically, he wanted to do a Kentucky Fried Movie type of movie with a bunch of shorts, but we didn’t want to do one that was just one short after another with no connection. So, what Movie 43 is, is that kind of movie with a wrap-around and the wrap-around is two 15-year-old stoners and their 11-year-old egghead brother/computer whiz, who are trying to find the elusive Movie 43. It’s the most banned movie in the world. It was banned in all countries because it’s so subversive. They have heard about it and they are trying to find it on the Internet. They keep breaking into other banned sites and movie archives, and finding these other shorts. After every two or three movies, you come back to these kids who are still looking, but someone is trying to stop them from finding Movie 43 and that starts turning. So, there is a plot within the shorts. We have something happening in the wrap-around."

He goes on to say the film was made for $5 million, it's a hard R, and the cast is made up of Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Richard Gere, Naomi Watts, Halle Berry, Stephen Merchant, Johnny Knoxville, Emma Stone, Chloe Moretz, and many more.

Here's the full conversation on Three Stooges and Movie 43.  Look for the rest of the interview soon.

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Question: How are you coming with the casting for The Three Stooges?

BOBBY FARRELLY: That’s a work in progress. The movie is a go. We’ve finally just gotten it into pre-production, so we are going to shoot it a little later this Spring. We’ve been casting officially for about a month, but honestly, in our heads, for about 10 years. But, we still don’t have anyone yet. We’re getting very, very close.

PETER FARRELLY: We have some very, very good people, but we haven’t made any decisions because we’re trying to be fair to everybody who reads. We’ve had a couple people walk in the door and blow us away, but we don’t want to say anything ‘cause there’s people we haven’t seen yet and maybe they’re better. You’ve gotta be wide open to it. I can assure you the people are going to be really good.

BOBBY: It’s not an easy job because even great actors might struggle with those particular roles. We’re looking at everyone, and we’ll probably have it cast in about a month or so. But, we are going to make it and we’re very excited about it.

Is it a passion project? Were they an influence on you, growing up?

PETER: No question, they had a big influence on us. We grew up watching them. We’d come home from school and watch them on TV and laugh. These are guys from the 1930's and 1940's, but we just felt like that type of slapstick humor that they did was very timeless and funny, and we wanted to try to recreate it.

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What can you say about this version of The Three Stooges? Are you putting your spin on it, or going with the classic version that everyone knows?

PETER: We’re going for spot on Mo, Larry and Curly. Our feeling is that this isn’t a Farrelly version of The Three Stooges. This is The Three Stooges. And, it’s not a biopic, by the way. We’ve written three new episodes. The movie is actually three episodes that go back to back to back. Each one picks up where the other one left off. We want you to look at it and say, “It’s Mo, Larry and Curly!,” so we have very high standards on this route.

With as popular as The Three Stooges are, why do you think it’s been so difficult to get this going?

BOBBY: It’s a terrifying project for actors to try to play such comedy icons, first of all. That’s a little dangerous. I think the studio also looks at it and says, “Oh, The Three Stooges. That’s for guys. That’s not for girls.” In their minds, you only have half an audience to choose from, but we don’t necessarily see it that way. We see it more like when we made the movie Dumb and Dumber. It might appear that it’s for guys, but girls really gravitated towards it too because it’s funny. We’re hoping for the same thing here. I think girls will appreciate The Three Stooges humor too. I think the studio was a little scared of that.

Is it difficult to do a high profile film like that nowadays and still be able to keep some things secret?

PETER: Occasionally, you read things in the paper that are disturbing, only because you’re afraid that, if someone reads that, then the other actors who we’re talking to might say, “Oh, fuck it. They’ve already cast the thing.” But, it hasn’t been so bad.

BOBBY: When we make this one, I think we’re going to have to have a little bit less access on set ‘cause I’d like to have a little bit of the mystique of, “What do they look like? How are they going to be?” If you see too much of it beforehand, with The Three Stooges, that may be a mistake, but I’m not entirely sure about that. Typically on a movie, you like the publicity. But, with The Three Stooges, ideally, we’d like to be able to make the movie and then just bring it out and surprise everyone.

PETER: But, on the other hand, there is something nice about people talking about a movie that we haven’t even started shooting. That’s rare. Usually, nobody’s heard of it. We were almost done shooting Hall Pass and I hadn’t read one thing about that movie. You’re like, “Is anybody going to know about this?” Obviously, Warner Bros. has done an unbelievable job promoting it since then. It’s a double-edged sword.

What is Movie 43 and how did you get involved with that?

PETER: Movie 43 is the brain child of Charlie Wessler, who produces lots of our movies. Basically, he wanted to do a Kentucky Fried Movie type of movie with a bunch of shorts, but we didn’t want to do one that was just one short after another with no connection. So, what Movie 43 is, is that kind of movie with a wrap-around and the wrap-around is two 15-year-old stoners and their 11-year-old egghead brother/computer whiz, who are trying to find the elusive Movie 43.

It’s the most banned movie in the world. It was banned in all countries because it’s so subversive. They have heard about it and they are trying to find it on the Internet. They keep breaking into other banned sites and movie archives, and finding these other shorts. After every two or three movies, you come back to these kids who are still looking, but someone is trying to stop them from finding Movie 43 and that starts turning. So, there is a plot within the shorts. We have something happening in the wrap-around.

Who’s in the film?

PETER: The cast that Charlie got for it is insanity. This is a $5 million movie and it’s Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Richard Gere, Naomi Watts, Halle Berry, Stephen Merchant, Johnny Knoxville, Emma Stone, Chloe Moretz, and on and on and on and on. It’s an amazing cast, and it’s got all different writers and all different directors. Basically, everybody did it for nothing. And, it’s a hard R. So, you’re seeing Richard Gere and Kate Winslet do things that you can’t believe they’re doing.

Who’s in your short?

PETER: In mine, it was Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Stephen Merchant. I did two of them.

How do you guys decide on what you’re going to write and direct, what you’re going to produce, and what you’re going to work on independently?

BOBBY: It’s all about what inspires you. When we read Hall Pass, we thought, “This is a movie that we have to make. It’s just perfect for us.” You just look for inspiration.

PETER: Yeah. The Stooges is something we obviously both loved, growing up. We always wanted to do that. I don’t think there’s ever been a script that one of us really wanted to do and the other one didn’t. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten to that. We seem to find the same one and say, “Let’s do this. Let’s focus on this.” And then, as it starts getting better when you start rewriting it, you get excited. It’s very organic. It’s not a conscious effort like, “Hey, we’ve gotta sit down some week and think of what’s next.” There’s always a next. I don’t know why. It’s just always there. We know what the next is. There’s never been a long gap where we’re like, “I don’t know what the next one will be.”