Chris Diamantopoulos Is The Frontrunner To Play Moe In The Three Stooges

Russ Hanneman in landfill in Silicon Valley
(Image credit: HBO Max)

When Sean Hayes was cast as Larry Fine in the Farrelly brothers' The Three Stooges earlier this month, I all but completely gave up faith in the project. Our own Josh Tyler gave the script a positive review and Will Sasso is the closest we have to a Curly look-a-like, but the whole thing feels very "B movie" and is based on a concept that probably shouldn't be executed. I have said that the right actor for Moe could change my opinion about everything, but it looks like that isn't going to happen.

Variety is reporting that Chris Diamantopoulos is now the frontrunner to star as the bowl-cutted Moe in The Three Stooges. The studio still has to approve the choice, but it is expected that an offer will go out shortly (Fox declined to comment on the news). According to the story it was Diamantopoulos' portrayal of Robin Williams in 2005's Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork and Mindy that caught the Farrellys' eye. Rather than being a biopic about the stooges, the film will instead be set up like a series of back to back episodes, the first of which is set in an orphanage where the three were dropped off as babies.

What happened to the Hank Azaria idea? You have the choice of a comedic veteran who can morph into any role and looks the part, but choose a guy because he once portrayed Mork from Ork? This project needs to go away.

Eric Eisenberg
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Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.