Farrelly brothers to start 'Stooges' soon

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. filmmaker Bobby Farrelly says he and his brother, Peter, plan to start shooting their "Three Stooges" movie this spring.

"We've been working on it for about 10 years, maybe longer, and we've finally gotten it into pre-production," Bobby Farrelly told reporters in Los Angeles recently while promoting his new film "Hall Pass."

"So, we are going to shoot ['Stooges'] a little later this spring. Right now, we're diligently casting it, trying to figure out who the right guys are for it, which is not an easy job because even great actors might struggle with those particular roles, so we're looking at everyone," Farrelly said during the press conference. "But we are going to make it and we're very excited about it."

Asked if the Three Stooges comedy trio -- Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard -- were a big influence on him and his brother, Bobby Farrelly replied, "No question they had a big influence on us.

"We grew up watching them," he recalled. "We would come home from school and watch them on TV and we would laugh. These are guys from the 1930s and 40s and we just felt that type of slapstick humor they did was timeless and funny and we wanted to try and recreate it."

The Farrelly brothers' film credits include the outrageous comedies "Dumb and Dumber," "There's Something About Mary," "Me, Myself & Irene," "Stuck on You" and "Shallow Hal."

"Hall Pass" is in theaters now.