The Boston Globe recently caught up with the Farrelly Brothers (in town to see Paul McCartney perform in Fenway Park) and took the opportunity to get the lowdown on how their recently-announced feature-film of The Three Stooges is coming along.

The production hit a road bump earlier this year when Sean Penn, who was set to star as zany middleman, Larry, dropped out of the film due to personal reasons.

Since losing Penn, there's been wide speculation and name-tossing about who should replace him as Larry, as well as continued inquiry into the early rumors that Jim Carrey would playing the most loony Stooge of them all, Curly.

Well, the Farrellys managed to provide answers on both fronts:

Actor Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, John Adams) has signed-on to replace Penn as Larry in The Three Stooges, joining the already-cast Benicio Del Toro, who will be playing the Stooges' no-nonsense leader, Moe. As far Jim Carrey completing the trio as Curly: sorry Stooge fans, the Farrellys shot that down as pure rumor.

No word yet on who will be taking on the daunting task of playing Curly (the character IS a comedy legend). However, since it's pretty much what we do here at Screen Rant, lets have a bit of fun and discuss amongst ourselves which actors we think would make a good Curly in The Three Stooges. My personal preference: Russell Crowe. You heard me.

Three Stooges is still in development and is aiming for release sometime in 2010.

Source: Boston Globe via Slash Film