I see this latest news out of The Hollywood Reporter as further evidence the proposed Farrelly brothers filmed adaptation of The Three Stooges should be squashed altogether, but Borys Kit wonders if the production will now wait for Sean Penn to return from a one year leave of absence from Hollywood or push through without him.

Yup, that's the word folks, Penn is taking a leave from his Hollywood career to focus on his family and will not be starring alongside Benicio del Toro and Jim Carrey in The Three Stooges and has also backed out of the Universal crime thriller Cartel. Penn has already informed both productions and now it is up to them which direction they will go.

The Three Stooges was eying a late August start and will have to stick to that or risk losing both del Toro and Carrey. As for the Asger Leth directed Cartel, that film plans on recasting and moving forward. The film follows a man who journeys to protect his son after his wife is murdered by Mexican drug cartels.

This doesn't mean Penn will be absent from theaters anytime soon as he has already shot Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life with Brad Pitt for Summit Entertainment and an anticipated 2009 release. THR also reports Penn did indeed sign on to star in Doug Liman's Fair Game and not only did he sign on to star opposite Naomi Watts, but the film is already in the can. No distributor is known for that one as of this moment.

Related post categories: Casting News : Fair Game, Sean Penn, The Three Stooges

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