When actors leave projects, you usually don’t get to hear a reason why other than the usually mentioned “creative differences.” But when Jim Carrey left the Farrelly brothers THREE STOOGES film it seemed like it would have been a perfect fit, but talking to MTV, he explains his rationale behind his departure from playing Curly in the film.
“For me, I don’t really want to do anything halfway, and I don’t feel like a fat suit does it,” said Carrey. “I started experimenting with it a little bit, and I gained 35, 40 pounds. I wanted to gain another 30, 40. When you’re [Robert] De Niro in your 20s or early 30s, you can kind of come back from that. It’s a tough thing to come back from when you’re upwards of 30. Your body can’t carry it or you can have a cardiac arrest.”
Yes, unless you’re an insane person like Christian Bale, it’s probably not the best to gain and lose 60-70 pounds. But Bale is 36, and Carrey is pushing 48 at this point. If he was younger I’d probably yell “where’s your commitment? Do it for the craft!” but I can hardly blame a guy who’s almost 50 not wanting to add 50% to his BMI for a part that could end up killing up.
No word on why Sean Penn left the project as well, but presumably it’s because he didn’t want to part with his facial hair.