‘The Three Stooges’ are premiering in theaters on April 13 and given the Stooges’ iconic stature, casting the three principals was a formidable task. A unique chemistry was required because, says co-writer/director Bobby Farrelly, “They’re always beating the crap out of each other.”

Moe, says Peter Farrelly, “is the leader. He comes up with the ideas. Curly is the big funny guy that makes the other two laugh. Larry is a blend between Moe and Curly. Sean Hayes, Will Sasso, and Chris Diamantopoulos synched right up with the original Stooge characters.”

“If one of these three guys can’t dance with the other two, you’ve got a big problem,” adds Bobby Farrelly. “The physical aspect of the comedy, the hitting and moving, was a tricky balance. After watching Sean, Will and Chris for 52 days, you got the feeling that they had been working with each other for twenty years.”

“Chris Diamantopoulos had the mannerisms, the voice, the look, every little detail, things that we had never thought of. And, Sean Hayes just totally channeled Larry Fine. Will Sasso, was born to play Curly. He looks the part, he gets the part. So, we know we have the three best guys for the roles.”

Diamantopoulos, a longtime fan of The Stooges, pulled out all the stops to land the part of Moe. “I fought for this role like I’ve never fought for anything in my life,” Diamantopoulos admits. Standing 5’10” with a middleweight boxer’s build, the actor is much leaner and taller than the character he embodies in the film.

For his first audition, Diamantopoulos even put together a makeshift padded suit to replicate Moe’s doughy physique. “Then I borrowed an oversized suit,” Diamantopoulos recalls. “And, I went to a wig store and cut a wig and drew in some eyebrows and drew in some undereye bags and drove to the audition looking like that. I was the only guy auditioning in costume.”

With an additional week before his next (and final) audition, Diamantopoulos hired a makeup artist to apply prosthetic undereye bags that were more convincing than the actors’ earlier hand drawn versions. At his own expense, he got a professional wig made and called in a favor from a wardrobe friend at another studio, where he rented a vintage 1940s suit, and where he found an upgrade to his fat pad that, he says, “changed everything for me.”

The physical transformation was impressive, but Diamantopoulos came to understand there was much more to Moe than duplicating his physique and outfits. “So much of how Moe sounds comes from his expressions,” he notes. “I was trying to get the voice without making my face like Moe’s and it wasn’t quite there. It got closer when I started shifting my face.”

The part of Larry, whom some called “the middle Stooge” and who served as the trio’s straight man, was in some ways the most difficult to cast because unlike his two cohorts, Larry lacked a distinctive voice. “It’s also hard to define exactly what made Larry so funny,” says Sean Hayes, who like Diamantopoulos, attended several auditions to land the coveted role. “He certainly was a great reactor.”

Will Sasso, who made an impression as MADtv’s resident impressionist, where he brought to life the likes of Elton John, Kenny Rogers, Bill Clinton and Elvis Presley, worked hard to capture the unique rhythm and cadence of Curly’s voice. Sasso states that “The first step in playing Curly was making sure I could do his voice. And it got better and better and better as production progressed. When the movie was done shooting, my Curly voice was so good I felt we should probably go back and do the movie all over again.”

Image Courtesy of   The Three Stooges

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About the author

Claudia Sondergaard
Specialised in American foreign policy media discourse, I have a real passion for media and writing and feel comfortable in subjects such as human rights, politics, environment, social issues, movies, TV and books. Reporting from Denmark. Follow me @swirlgirlversus

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