It's a pretty typical move for a politician to resign from their job and claim they want to spend more time with their family, which is essentially code for "I am resigning in disgrace." But when Sean Penn, second Oscar securely on his mantle, backs out of two projects and plans to spend the next year with his family? I know he recently played a politician and all, but I'm not buying the same excuse.

THR is reporting that Penn is officially out of both the Farrelly Brothers' Three Stooges movie and the drama Cartel, about a man protecting his son after his wife is murdered by Mexican drug cartels. Both roles will probably be recast, though I'm sure the Farrellys are scrambling right now to keep their August start date on Stooges so that Jim Carrey and Benicio del Toro stick around in the other two roles.

The Cartel role could be filled by pretty much anyone. But for Stooges, that's a tough one. You've got to find an actor who can be funny, who is in touch with the Stooges brand of humor, and who can match Carrey and del Toro in starpower. Hollywood Elsewhere is suggesting, based on some kind of insider information, that Paul Giamatti, Adrien Brody , Simon Pegg and even Zach Galifianakis could all be up for the part. I figured they'd want to skew older, making only Giamatti appropriate. But in a scramble like this, there's really no predicting who might wind up in that lead role.