Trivia / The Three Stooges: The Movie

• Actor Allusion:
  • Sofía Vergara's breakout role involved her relationship with a much older man. The Reveal involves her cheating on her husband with his father.
  • One of the nuns is played by a descendant of Moe and Curly Howard.
• Casting Gag/Irony as He Is Cast: Not only is Sister Mary-Mengele (pronounced "meng-ela") a Crosscast Role, but Jewish Larry David is playing a Christian nun. To needlessly add insult to injury, she's named after Josef Mengele, the monstrous Nazi Mad Doctor who was known as the "Angel of Death".
• Doing It for the Art: Chris Diamantopoulos was so keen to play Moe he offered to do the movie for free. Fox did the next best thing and paid him the bare minimum allowed by union rules. He says he ended up losing money^note he had to pay for his wife and baby to stay with him in Atlanta while also paying to keep their home in Los Angeles, but that it was the role of a lifetime and that he enjoyed the process.
• Mid-Development Genre Shift: The 2012 film was supposed to be a Biopic.
• Milestone Celebration: The movie opened 90 years after the Stooges' debut in 1922.
• Missing Trailer Scene: The Sexy Surfacing Shot of Kate Upton climbing out of the swimming pool in her nunkini isn't in the movie.
• Promoted Fanboy: Chris Diamantopoulos is a lifelong Stooge fan and toughed out the months-long audition process because he desperately wanted to play Moe Howard.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Benicio del Toro, Johnny Knoxville and Hank Azaria were approached for the role of Moe Howard before Chris Diamantopoulos was cast. However, Knoxville turned down the offer due to his reluctance to commit to doing an impersonation, while Azaria declined due to salary disagreements.
    • Johnny Depp, Russell Crowe and Mel Gibson were also considered for Moe Howard before the casting of Diamantopoulos. Gibson previously produced The Three Stooges.
  • Sean Penn was initially chosen for the part of Larry Fine before the casting of Sean Hayes, but dropped out of the project to concentrate on his charitable efforts in Haiti.
    • Justin Timberlake, Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Andy Samberg, Jeff Daniels and Matt Besser were considered for the role of Larry Fine as well before the casting of Hayes.
  • Jim Carrey was originally cast as Curly Howard before Will Sasso was cast. However, despite gaining forty pounds for the part, Carrey departed the project after deciding that he was too old to gain the necessary weight without risking his health.
    • Brian Baumgartner, Bobby Moynihan, Shane Jacobson, Tommy Snider and Bill Chott also auditioned for the role of Curly Howard before the casting of Sasso.

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