Andy Samberg, Johnny Knoxville To Star In 'The Three Stooges' Remake?: Report

They've got some big shoes to fill -- and trip over.

TheWrap.com is reporting that, after a long and winding saga of casting calls and budget issues, Andy Samberg and Johnny Knoxville, along with Australian Shane Jacobson, are the leading candidates to play the iconic early 20th century comedians in a 'The Three Stooges' film.

If all goes down as planned, 'Jackass' star Knoxville would take the lead as Moe, while 'SNL' and Lonely Island man Samberg would play Larry; Jacobson would take on Curly, the site said.

Getting to this point hasn't been easy. Originally, the movie was to be produced by MGM, but after bankruptcy, 20th Century Fox took over.

At one point, an older, star-studded cast was attached: Benicio Del Toro (Moe), Sean Penn (Larry) and Jim Carrey (Curly) were slotted to take the roles of the three slapstick brothers. Penn pulled out of the project in June, 2009, though his spokesman said at the time that if the project was pushed back, he would participate. Obviously, that latter part hasn't transpired.

Peter Farrelly, who co-write the script, is still at the helm to direct, and in December, Farrelly said:

"We'll make it with the best possible people. Our feeling is that no star is too big to audition and no matter who it is, we're going to have to see him in the role... You've got to be Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard, and that could be a major movie star or an unknown."

If this is the cast, he'll be going with two medium sized stars and one unknown.

The film, which Farrelly said will have, 'non-stop slapping," and be, "very respectful of who the stooges were," is set to have three, 27-minute parts, an homage to the way the original Stooges films were structured.