Carrey to star in "The Three Stooges" film!

Variety is reporting that MGM and the Farrelly brothers (Dumb & Dumber, There's Something About Mary, Me, Myself & Irene) are close to sealing the deal on their cast for "The Three Stooges."

The project motivated by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, spans more than a decade and three studios. They first tried at Columbia, again at Warner Bros and have finally found success at MGM.

C3 Entertainment principals Earl and Robert Benjamin will be executive producers.

The film is not a biopic however, but rather a comedy built around the antics of the three characters that Moe, Howard and Larry played in the Columbia Pictures shorts. The Farrellys, who wrote the script, are producing with their Conundrum partner Bradley Thomas, and Charlie Wessler.

Sean Penn is lined up to to play Larry, and negotiations are underway with Jim Carrey to play Curly, which will require him to gain the much needed weight to play the rotund Jerome "Curly" Howard. Perhaps surprisingly, Benicio Del Toro is being lined up to play Moe, who showed his comic skills in the Guy Ritchie-directed "Snatch."

Production will begin in early fall for a release sometime in 2010.