Sean Penn is taking an undetermined sabbatical for possibly as much as a year to focus on his family according to 
Variety.
That means he has bowed out of two films: Cartel and The Three Stooges.
I was looking forward to seeing him as Joe in The Three Stooges. The studio might wait for Penn to return from his long holiday. Cartel is pretty much a cut-and-dried type story we see at least once a year in the movie theaters. The studio is making a list to cast the part, so production can start this fall.
Apparently, Penn’s decision caught the studios by surprise, but I bet his wife, Robin Wright, is happy.
Penn has two films in the can that are to be released next year: Fair Game and The Tree of Life.
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Giamatti as Larry in Three Stooges Movie - Movies, Reviews and More. said
August 11 2009 @ 5:57 pm
[...] Moe. Originally, it was announced that Sean Penn would play Larry, but he is on an indefinite sabbatical with his family. That is why Giamatti was kind enough to step in and take the part of Larry. [...]