Bobby Farrelly: The Stooges Movie, Buddy, & More
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The Farrelly Brothers have long been Hollywood’s kings of over-the-top slapstick humor, breaking onto the scene in 1994 with Dumb and Dumber and striking comedy gold with 1998’s There’s Something About Mary. Born and raised in Cumberland, Bobby and Peter Farrelly have never forgotten their Rhode Island roots; in fact they revel in them, often filming on location in and around Providence.
Rumors are abuzz surrounding the dynamic writer/director duo’s long-awaited Three Stooges movie, which is set to go into production in the coming months. Bobby checked in with GoLocalProv this week to catch up on Mount hockey results and answer questions about Stooges rumors, share why he loves filming in Rhode Island, and even weigh in on Arlene Violet’s new Rhode Island mafia musical.
Congrats on Hall Pass. Although it was set in Rhode Island, you filmed in Georgia. Was that weird?
It did take a little bit of legwork. In Atlanta, where we filmed, the architecture is completely different. There are a lot of brick homes, and there aren’t that many in RI. We wanted to capture a New England feel to it.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhat do you like most about filming in RI? And the least?
The thing I like the most? Being around Rhode Islanders. I like Rhode Islanders, they’re fun. RI is a good place to shoot because it has a lot of different looks to it - there's ocean, mansions, and rural areas; there’s really everything but mountains. Providence is a great city to shoot, also.
The thing I like the least? When I want to shoot there but I can’t. Since the economy is tough, the studio dictates where you go. We went to Georgia because it’s the cheapest, although we would have rather shot in RI.
Will Three Stooges be filmed in Rhode Island at all?
Right now Stooges is in pre-production. We are probably going back to Georgia because of budget issues. We tried to get RI to match the price, because we would much rather shoot there, but it would practically take an act of Congress or the State Legislature to match the deal, and they weren’t able to match it. But these things change from year to year, so the first chance we get, we’re back in RI.
Can you give me any scoop on casting?
Sean Hayes is definitely a guy we have circled, and Will Sasso for Curly. We don’t have a guy yet for Mo, and we haven’t signed off on anyone we like yet because there’s more than one in play. We’re hoping to have the cast together pretty soon, and we want to start shooting as soon as next month. We’ve been working on this for at least 12 years. We wrote it with Mike Cerrone, another Rhode Islander, and have been trying to get it on the boat for a long time, and now it looks good.
If you were in RI now, which restaurant would you want to have the interview in?
My favorite restaurant is Capriccio’s. I love the décor, the waiters, Gino the host, and of course the food. But there’s about 20 other places that are all tied for second place. RI has so many great restaurants.
Have you heard about Arlene Violet’s new musical about the Rhode Island Mafia? Who would you cast in a film version?
[Laughing.] It sounds very interesting! I haven’t heard much but I’d like to know more. I would cast Buddy Cianci in the movie if he was willing to act, because who knows RI better than him? He’s probably a pretty good actor but people haven’t realized it yet.
You may or may not know, but the Governor is proposing a new tax on hair cuts. What do you think about that?
Maybe it’ll bring back the old days when people grew their hair like hippies.
Did you get a Christmas card from Mayor Sue Menard?
No I didn’t, it must have gotten lost in the mail.
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