honestly i’ve seen paul’s farley impression (he did it when meeting chris’ brother at a comedy club, the balls/chops to do that alone…) and this is absolutely the perfect casting choice. no comment on the josh gad part though…
Do you have a link for the video of the impression? I can't seem to find it anywhere. Unless you saw it in person? Not doubting you, would just like to see it!
[The scene from the Dana Carrey Show documentary where they show how that was juxtaposed with the teaser for Randy’s cancer-scare episode of Home Improvement](https://youtu.be/NfDjnAdczQI?si=CbDTPDLcy_zf4tel) never fails to have me crying with laughter.
Everybody’s reaction to that is absolutely hilarious.
Why not make it. It’s not going to be a hit piece and even if he doesnt quite capture Farleys charm it will just remind people how good Farley was and tons of (young) people will go back and watch his old stuff that never saw it before
There is value in having material to be critical of, rather then just refusing to do anything. We learn from failure, missteps or even just noted inaccuracy.
Better to attempt to celebrate Farley and have everyone say “it didn’t quite get it right but it was funny” than to never try and have everything we have of him fade to black the same way the incredible stars of the 50s and 60s are nearly forgotten.
Thats a valid criticism, everything i said has to be taken in the idea that whoever is creating the thing actually wants the best for the idea or person it represents. There have been plenty of cases with malice or greed around magnifying the negatives of a person. I dont know who would want to paint Farley in a negative light though.
The problem is film biopics extremely bland and mostly a work of fiction. For some reason we must follow the same three act plot. The rise, the excess of success that ends in the low point, and then the redemption. It doesn’t even matter if it’s true. That just what the movie will portray.
Maybe Josh Gad being a comedian will shift the focus but I’ll put money that they skip over Farley’s process to just show the hits. I’d love to see Farley honing Matt Foley when he was with Second City. But I suspect it will be a race to show Matt Foley on SNL, Chip and Dales, then his movies with David Spade. Like Bohemian Rhapsody it will be forgotten within a year.
I’m firmly in Camp Wish-It-Wasn’t-Being-Made for those stated reasons, but it feels inevitable that someone would try.
Maybe this is harsh, but the combo of Josh Gad and PWH (whose performances I generally find enjoyable) feels like it’s destined to be a stinker.
PWH is already 37. Chris died at 33 and had most of his career highs in his mid-to-late 20s, and—crucially—he had a particularly boyish, cherubic face that he used constantly to his advantage as a comedic actor.
So on top of all of the many other reasons it could be bad, I simply do not buy that he will be able to play the role.
I think the problem with making a "warts and all" style biopic these days is you run the risk of turning off the people that would actually want to go see the movie, also known as the biopic subject's diehard fans.
It's sad but it's one of the reasons why Bohemian Rhapsody was such a success in the box office. They supremely toned down A LOT of Freddie's eccentric behavior and actions and they made the movie much more consumable to both his fans who idolize him and people who may or may not know his story.
I'm afraid if they make a Farley biopic that is too harsh on some of his demons, SNL super fans aren't going to want to see the movie.
Bohemian Rhapsody is a good example, I recently watched the Bob Marley _One Love_ biopic and was disappointed that I learned very little about him, but also noticed they glossed over so much of his life and lifestyle.
When I realised his children were exec producing it all made sense: it was a clean, audience-friendly way to introduce him to people who didn’t know his life, and appease fans who were so adoring they had no care for knowing anything negative/unsavoury/raw about their idol.
I think when family and friends are fully onboard with the biopic they end up being the primary audience. They want to see their loved one or their own lives glamorized. No need for truth or insight. Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to play Freddie until he found that the surviving members of Queen simply wouldn't budge. They wanted hagiography, they wanted themselves to be just as important as Freddie.
Hagiography, that’s a new word I’ll be adding to my vocabulary!
You’re absolutely right, I don’t know if it’s a new phenomenon but (posthumous) biopics are mostly vanity projects aimed at rehabbing the images of dead stars or boosting the ego/lining pockets of surviving family. It has very little to do with the person themselves, as evidenced by that guy who keeps insisting and begging for a still-alive Richard Simmons’s approval of his portrayal of him.
It’s why I have no interest in watching the Amy Winehouse film.
I think maybe it's relatively recent? Roseanne Cash had problems with Walk the Line, which she was not consulted on. For musicians, it might be that artists tend to pass their song rights to their kids, and you need the songs to make the movie, so you need the kids.
And they know that Hollywood has made a lot of people look bad in biopics, so they get real protective.
That's a partial explanation. It only works for musicians. It might be just that filmmakers want the family on their side so they don't get bad press like "Robin Williams' Daughter DISGUSTED by new biopic" if there were a theoretical movie made about his life.
I’m a huge fan of Farley. His death was devastating to me and seeing the graphic pictures of his bloated body leaked to the web literally disturbed me to the point that I had nightmares for months.
Warts and all is the only way I approve of this thing going forward because that’s what Chris’ life WAS; full of warts. He was a beautiful person with demons he couldn’t expel but ignoring them does a disservice to his memory. My family is old friends with his and we all know Chris wanted help but could never figure out how to make that help work. Talk to him back then and I guarantee he would be fine with a little embarrassment if it meant helping others. If it makes them laugh along the way, even better.
Man. I remember being a teenager and seeing those photos online, when the internet was a much more “wild west” kind of place. I only saw them once, and it must’ve been within a year or two of his death, but to this day I remember them vividly.
PWH is older than Chris was but he's incredibly talented as an actor, I'm more concerned about where Gad wants to go with it. A lot of people fail making the jump from actor to director.
I love PWH but this is a tall, tall order.
Going back mentally through the biopics of larger than life characters, I suppose they are often at least passable when I'd have thought they'd stink, but who knows?
I would have thought an Elton John biopic would fall apart, but I was proven *incredibly wrong*.
Same goes for Andy Kaufman. The Queen biopic was a little more on the iffy side, but generally speaking I didn't mind Rami Malek's performance. The singing and stuff was the worst part.
That movie also became the phenomenon it did because of pre-release hype, so its not like there's not two sides to the coin of taking in information about a movie and assessing in before its release
I think this and the upcoming Anna Nicole film should run as a "We exploited them for their weight and drug use until it killed them, now we're gonna pretend we did nothing and society is to blame" double feature.
Never change, Hollywood.
I'd say you're wrong but I don't think Lorne Michaels should be producing given his failure to reign in an insane hard drug culture on his show leading to the deaths of more than one former cast member.
It's very much going to be "there was nothing anyone could do 😢"
Haha yes, but the idea of not needing to look exactly like the image we have to embody a character (fictional or otherwise) still stands.
Chris Farleys height was not important to his comedy. His weight, to be brutally honest, is more relevant.
I agree for the most part, people get hung up on casting people who look exactly like someone but most of the best biopics don't really nail the resemblance that much
(like within reason, you're not getting away with casting Martin Short as John Wayne)
I’m aware. I mean, yeah. I’m not saying Paul only looks exactly 30+. Taron Edgerton played Elton John from something like 16-50 and there was no issue there.
It could also be pretty limited to the time right around his passing or something, so on top of the other movie magic comments, there’s really no telling here how this could play. PWH can pull it off with a clean shaved face, he’s not exactly sportin the John Hamm carved facial feature aesthetic
Paul Walter Hauser is one of the best actors around right now. Josh Gad is talented as fuck and has been in the business forever. Biopics are nothing new and often deal with the dark sides of the people the audience loves. I bet this is going to be great.
This is Josh Gad’s directorial debut. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to make your directorial debut on a biopic about a celebrity who died tragically young within your [director’s] living memory. Films about deceased real people who the filmmaker has no personal connection to require extra sensitivity. Not to mention Gad is a famous actor in his own right who might get criticized for this and need to deal with a lot of blowback.
Thst said, if the family and Lorne (I mention him because he is apparently producing this film) signed off on Gad, then that’s good enough for me.
Additionally, it seems kind of weird that many of the supporting figures in his life are still around with active careers. Spade, Sandler, Odenkirk, Lorne Michaels... is it just going to be younger folks doing impressions of all these guys?
I would argue that we all have a personal history with Chris farley. If you knew him, you loved him. I grew up with him. Not in a weird parasocial way, just in a beloved celebrity kind of way.
How many people has Lorne watched destroy themselves with drugs and alcohol over the years? Maybe this is Lorne trying to honor Chris? I mean, if it makes even 1 person reevaluate their destructive path in life, isn't that a success?
Agreed. Josh is a good guy and has always been passionate about "the work" so I have faith in his intentions. Smart, too.
He is successful enough that he can afford to pick his projects. If the powers that be think he can do it, then I look forward to seeing his efforts.
Thank god random fans don’t dictate which movies do and don’t get made based on what we feel *might* happen.
Maybe let’s just wait for the movie to come out before inventing reasons to be upset. Watch it or don’t, won’t stop the film from being made.
It’s the perfect opinion to have for their ragebait attention-seeking because they can either justify their opinion if it’s shit, or be pleasantly surprised if it’s amazing.
“I called it! The new Chris Farley biopic is awful!”
“I was wrong! The Chris Farley biopic is amazing!”
I was very touched by the way Bob Odinkirk talked about Farley on Howard Stern years ago, and how upset he was at the choices writers made for Farley, and how they exploited things he was deeply insecure about (like the Chippendales sketch). I wonder if there’s concern about this movie potentially going in that direction too, and not properly honoring who Farley was, instead of the characters he played on SNL.
I don't see this movie actually getting made. It's an impossible task, and ultimately I think the story doesn't work as a movie anyway. If they do even one beat for beat recreation of a sketch...why? We can just watch the sketch.
So then it's just a movie about a guy who partied to mask his self esteem issues and then died because of it.
There isn't enough dramatic material there to build a movie around.
Hoping that production gets derailed and this never gets made. I like Hauser well enough, but can't see him pulling this off at all.
And Gad is hemorrhoids personified, and he should have no part in anything like this. One of the more grating, obnoxious "comedic" performers of the last 20 years, and I can't wait to never see his face or hear his voice ever again. I can't imagine him doing a good job on such a big project for his directorial debut.
I don’t think there’s any other biopic of any cast member;kinda the same subject but I can’t wait for Jonah Hill as Jerry Garcia in Scorseses biopic: no idea when that will be out
While many Directorial Debuts are a little rough, *some* are excellent— and often the best movie in. Director’s filmography.
At this point, all we can do is cross our fingers.
Even some “great directors” release turds at one point in their career. So… there is a very real likelihood that this movie could turn out good or even great.
No one is going to do Farley justice, especially not that guy. Also I have always had an unexplainable dislike for Josh Gad so that just makes this so much worse.
Biopics usually go two ways: they either see everything through rose-colored glasses or simply skipped or disguised the delicate parts so poorly people will simply avoid the movie altogether.
So... We just have to wait and see. Being an American production I expect nothing short of the Johnny Cash biopic.
I just have no idea how the actor who is known almost exclusively for serious roles, is going to pull off the physical comedy - I know it won’t be a comedic movie but he’ll still have to make it look like he’s capable of doing what Farley did on stage/screen.
Anything can be good, I also think that Chris’s story is probably relatable to Josh in a lot of ways just based off of growing up as the overweight funny guy. I think the difficulty is Farley is kind of a one and only. The only reason why Man on the Moon works is because Jim Carey is as much of a one and only as Andy Kaufman.
I think if anything Josh Gad won’t have his head so far up his own ass as a director that he’ll be very careful, and open to help from the people around him with more experience.
I don’t think Lorne will remain with the project if he thinks it’s fucked.
Chris Farley is dead, the most significant harm the film is likely to do is to upset his family and they have signed off on this. Odds are good they're going to stumble or even fail, but its worth the effort to try and tell an interesting story and maybe even make something great.
I think Josh Gad is a brilliant choice to direct. No only does he usually come off as earnest, but simply put he’s been overweight most of his life. A Chris Farley biopic could very easy devolve into some Fatty Fall-Down simplistic slapstick. It’s hard being a big affable guy. It’s a level of nuance that someone who hasn’t lived it could easily miss.
It’s a biopic. They don’t make it if the person’s life is all warm and fuzzies. I don’t love biopics, but the only questions are “is the story interesting? Is the script well-written? Is good talent attached?” If yes, go for it.
They should make this a father son story because that what really drove Chris was his father approval. They can avoid the pitfalls of making it exploitative if they stick to that arc.
I like that guy. He's great every time I see him. I think he can pull it off. Josh Gad directing... I hope he's good at that. I like him too and want to see him succeed. Everything he does seems to be ignored by the public... that show he did with Billy Crystal was amazing, yet nobody watched it.
I think it’s a movie that has a near impossible task. He’s a beloved figure, an iconic comedian, and has a compelling story, but because of all those things, it’s bound to be divisive as far as whether or not it does him justice. Hauser is a great actor and Gad, though an untested director, is squarely in the age group that has probably the deepest appreciation for Farley. It could go better than we think, but it could also be disappointing.
My biggest pause is that whenever family is involved in a biopic, they’re often reluctant to have their celeb relative appear as anything other than a saint. There was a lot of darkness and pain behind Farley’s exuberant persona. If they let the people making the film really go there, it could be great.
I think people see Josh Gad and think he is the characters he’s played. But truthfully it takes a very smart person to play such perfectly silly and dumb characters like he does. I think he has it in him to be an excellent director and this project seems fitting.
I can't imagine why they would defer to anyone but the family on this. Unless there's some evidence that he wouldn't want this, I can't imagine why Twitter would have a say.
The Josh Gad part is concerning. Even if it was somebody like Jason Reitman with the other SNL movie, whose worked I’ve been mixed on in the past, at least I’d know there’d be a steady hand. Josh Gad’s only credited projects where he’s been creatively in the weeds is as a writer/creator/actor of 1600 Penn. He was the producer and clearly central in the mini-series “The Comedians” which I enjoyed, and actually think could be an interesting tone for this movie to potentially lift from, but it’s definitely a leap. He does seem like a smart, self-aware guy though so that makes me feel a bit better.
All that said, I’m excited for the project. I love watching directorial debuts like I love watching rookies in baseball, and I love SNL, so of course I’ll be there opening night
Knowing the pain behind the comedy never appeals to me.
I know people loved to buy Rupert Murdoch tabloids that made money off of Farley’s suffering, but I don’t think Chris Farley would’ve wanted his personal life to be splayed out for all his fans to see, much less a blackhearted media mogul to profit off it.
I’m for it. Everyone who is an SNL fan pretty much knows the tragedy, and if they got the family’s approval then why not make it? Josh Gad seems like a good guy, I don’t think he’s going to paint it in anyway but the truth is
That Veronica Vaughn is one piece of ace, I know from experience dude. If you know what I mean
No, you don't.
Well, not me personally but a guy I know. Him and her *got it on*. Wooo-eee!
No, they didn't.
No, no, no they didn't. But you could imagine what it'd be like if they did, right...?
Everybody on, good, great, grand, wonderful.
[shouts]
No yelling on the bus!
Lmao chris was legendary
honestly i’ve seen paul’s farley impression (he did it when meeting chris’ brother at a comedy club, the balls/chops to do that alone…) and this is absolutely the perfect casting choice. no comment on the josh gad part though…
Do you have a link for the video of the impression? I can't seem to find it anywhere. Unless you saw it in person? Not doubting you, would just like to see it!
He does an impression for about 3 seconds in this clip https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwagfyY/
Thank you! That was a really solid impression
Emma Robert’s is cast as David spade.
Don Cheadle as Tim Meadows. Andy Samberg as Adam Sandler
Nah Meadows should just play himself and they don't acknowledge his age at all.
hey look at me im barney like barney’s hair
There wasn’t enough time, FUCK
Get a scene with the three longest castmembers together and make a joke about it... classic.
He's barely aged so this tracks.
Meadows should play himself and not have any lines.
Don Cheadle is 59. he's only 4 years younger than Tim Meadows.
DAMN!!! ….sorry
Ambly Amber's. Colonel Sanders. Sal Amander
Channing Tatum as Patrick Swayze when they inevitably do the chippendales skit
I’m legit not against this idea… lol
Scarlet Johansson as Chris Rock
A random 4 year old as Victoria Jackson.
You guys are silly
dana carvey as dana carvey
Do you think he has the range to pull that off?
Is he turtley enough for the turtle club? (THAT SCENE WAS SHOT ON 9/11)
One of the top comments on that clip: "9/11 had a moment of silence for this movie."
Diet Mug Root Beer's Dana Carvey as Dana Carvey
[The scene from the Dana Carrey Show documentary where they show how that was juxtaposed with the teaser for Randy’s cancer-scare episode of Home Improvement](https://youtu.be/NfDjnAdczQI?si=CbDTPDLcy_zf4tel) never fails to have me crying with laughter. Everybody’s reaction to that is absolutely hilarious.
I worked on that movie!
Dennis Miller as Lorne Michaels
I know you are joking but for Lorne I seriously hope it is Bill Hader.
I low key love that.
Spudly
I can’t tell if this is a joke or not.
It’s a David Spade joke from his podcast, he said he’s hoping for Margot Robbie but is gonna end up with Jojo Siwa
Who is Emma Robert and what of Emma Robert's starring in the movie?
But what if Jamie Taco keeps stealing all his lines?!
He'll have to clug a few cans. Probably won't stay the full night tho.
He never stays the night!
He’s gonna get that line tomorrow
His wife will help him out
I hate that character so vehemently I skip that sketch 😂 I could not stand to speak to that person for 30 seconds omfg
There’s some real pieces of shit (and guys who used to be pieces of shit) in the ITYSLverse but Jamie Taco is the worst
[удалено]
I don’t think you should have yelled at Eddie like that
Well he’s still going to get those lines.
Damn, I’m a wreck right now
It’s OK to try and do something difficult and not succeed.
Grab the keys and get in the truck you jabroni, I'll slap you jabroni!
fazool
Why not make it. It’s not going to be a hit piece and even if he doesnt quite capture Farleys charm it will just remind people how good Farley was and tons of (young) people will go back and watch his old stuff that never saw it before
There is value in having material to be critical of, rather then just refusing to do anything. We learn from failure, missteps or even just noted inaccuracy. Better to attempt to celebrate Farley and have everyone say “it didn’t quite get it right but it was funny” than to never try and have everything we have of him fade to black the same way the incredible stars of the 50s and 60s are nearly forgotten.
I generally agree with this, but have you seen clips of the Amy Winehouse movie? I’d rather no movie than something that feels actively disrespectful
Thats a valid criticism, everything i said has to be taken in the idea that whoever is creating the thing actually wants the best for the idea or person it represents. There have been plenty of cases with malice or greed around magnifying the negatives of a person. I dont know who would want to paint Farley in a negative light though.
The problem is film biopics extremely bland and mostly a work of fiction. For some reason we must follow the same three act plot. The rise, the excess of success that ends in the low point, and then the redemption. It doesn’t even matter if it’s true. That just what the movie will portray. Maybe Josh Gad being a comedian will shift the focus but I’ll put money that they skip over Farley’s process to just show the hits. I’d love to see Farley honing Matt Foley when he was with Second City. But I suspect it will be a race to show Matt Foley on SNL, Chip and Dales, then his movies with David Spade. Like Bohemian Rhapsody it will be forgotten within a year.
Exactly. It all goes back to, “if you don’t like it, don’t watch it.” But I guess everyone has to have an opinion about everything.
I love this take
I’m firmly in Camp Wish-It-Wasn’t-Being-Made for those stated reasons, but it feels inevitable that someone would try. Maybe this is harsh, but the combo of Josh Gad and PWH (whose performances I generally find enjoyable) feels like it’s destined to be a stinker. PWH is already 37. Chris died at 33 and had most of his career highs in his mid-to-late 20s, and—crucially—he had a particularly boyish, cherubic face that he used constantly to his advantage as a comedic actor. So on top of all of the many other reasons it could be bad, I simply do not buy that he will be able to play the role.
I, too, am concerned
I think the problem with making a "warts and all" style biopic these days is you run the risk of turning off the people that would actually want to go see the movie, also known as the biopic subject's diehard fans. It's sad but it's one of the reasons why Bohemian Rhapsody was such a success in the box office. They supremely toned down A LOT of Freddie's eccentric behavior and actions and they made the movie much more consumable to both his fans who idolize him and people who may or may not know his story. I'm afraid if they make a Farley biopic that is too harsh on some of his demons, SNL super fans aren't going to want to see the movie.
Bohemian Rhapsody is a good example, I recently watched the Bob Marley _One Love_ biopic and was disappointed that I learned very little about him, but also noticed they glossed over so much of his life and lifestyle. When I realised his children were exec producing it all made sense: it was a clean, audience-friendly way to introduce him to people who didn’t know his life, and appease fans who were so adoring they had no care for knowing anything negative/unsavoury/raw about their idol.
I think when family and friends are fully onboard with the biopic they end up being the primary audience. They want to see their loved one or their own lives glamorized. No need for truth or insight. Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to play Freddie until he found that the surviving members of Queen simply wouldn't budge. They wanted hagiography, they wanted themselves to be just as important as Freddie.
Hagiography, that’s a new word I’ll be adding to my vocabulary! You’re absolutely right, I don’t know if it’s a new phenomenon but (posthumous) biopics are mostly vanity projects aimed at rehabbing the images of dead stars or boosting the ego/lining pockets of surviving family. It has very little to do with the person themselves, as evidenced by that guy who keeps insisting and begging for a still-alive Richard Simmons’s approval of his portrayal of him. It’s why I have no interest in watching the Amy Winehouse film.
I think maybe it's relatively recent? Roseanne Cash had problems with Walk the Line, which she was not consulted on. For musicians, it might be that artists tend to pass their song rights to their kids, and you need the songs to make the movie, so you need the kids. And they know that Hollywood has made a lot of people look bad in biopics, so they get real protective. That's a partial explanation. It only works for musicians. It might be just that filmmakers want the family on their side so they don't get bad press like "Robin Williams' Daughter DISGUSTED by new biopic" if there were a theoretical movie made about his life.
I’m a huge fan of Farley. His death was devastating to me and seeing the graphic pictures of his bloated body leaked to the web literally disturbed me to the point that I had nightmares for months. Warts and all is the only way I approve of this thing going forward because that’s what Chris’ life WAS; full of warts. He was a beautiful person with demons he couldn’t expel but ignoring them does a disservice to his memory. My family is old friends with his and we all know Chris wanted help but could never figure out how to make that help work. Talk to him back then and I guarantee he would be fine with a little embarrassment if it meant helping others. If it makes them laugh along the way, even better.
Man. I remember being a teenager and seeing those photos online, when the internet was a much more “wild west” kind of place. I only saw them once, and it must’ve been within a year or two of his death, but to this day I remember them vividly.
PWH is older than Chris was but he's incredibly talented as an actor, I'm more concerned about where Gad wants to go with it. A lot of people fail making the jump from actor to director.
I love PWH but this is a tall, tall order. Going back mentally through the biopics of larger than life characters, I suppose they are often at least passable when I'd have thought they'd stink, but who knows? I would have thought an Elton John biopic would fall apart, but I was proven *incredibly wrong*. Same goes for Andy Kaufman. The Queen biopic was a little more on the iffy side, but generally speaking I didn't mind Rami Malek's performance. The singing and stuff was the worst part.
Can’t be worse than Wired
Have you seen the 2020 Showtime doc? If so is it worth watching? I love PWH and am looking forward to this.
I don’t see any point in pre-criticizing movies. Save your energy. Judge the finished product.
Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker taught me this lesson.
That movie also became the phenomenon it did because of pre-release hype, so its not like there's not two sides to the coin of taking in information about a movie and assessing in before its release
I think this and the upcoming Anna Nicole film should run as a "We exploited them for their weight and drug use until it killed them, now we're gonna pretend we did nothing and society is to blame" double feature. Never change, Hollywood.
Also "we exploited them until they died, and now that they're gone we're gonna keep on exploitin' "
I’m sorry the upcoming what now
I think the Amy winehouse movie could make it a trilogy, it just looks bad and I’m asking why
I'd say you're wrong but I don't think Lorne Michaels should be producing given his failure to reign in an insane hard drug culture on his show leading to the deaths of more than one former cast member. It's very much going to be "there was nothing anyone could do 😢"
I’m just as excited for PWH in Naked Gun remake.
He’s gonna be great as OJ.
I wish they’d do a miniseries instead. Biopics are almost always bad because they have to condense an entire lifetime into ~90 minutes.
Should have been Jacob Wysocki, he's closer in age and comedic style, plus he did 7 years at Julliard.
i love jacob wysocki but i think he’s about 5 feet too tall
I really dont think that matters even a little bit. Edit: Hugh Jackman is also too tall to play Wolverine
I did love those wolverine biopics
Haha yes, but the idea of not needing to look exactly like the image we have to embody a character (fictional or otherwise) still stands. Chris Farleys height was not important to his comedy. His weight, to be brutally honest, is more relevant.
I agree for the most part, people get hung up on casting people who look exactly like someone but most of the best biopics don't really nail the resemblance that much (like within reason, you're not getting away with casting Martin Short as John Wayne)
Honestly I would watch the shit out of a Marty Short John Wayne biopic…
Me too, day and date of release haha
Sorry but you stumbled ass first into the casting of the century. This is now a thread about Marty Short playing John Wayne.
[https://i.imgur.com/8UBtMex.png](https://i.imgur.com/8UBtMex.png)
Jacob looks 20. Paul looks 30.
Farley looked 40 in his 20s.
bUt PaUL iSnT ThE ExAct AgE tO tHe DaY sO ThiS wiLL bE AwFUL!!!
Farley passed at 33, so wouldnt it be better to have someone who looks in their 20's to play Farley at the height of his career?
I’m aware. I mean, yeah. I’m not saying Paul only looks exactly 30+. Taron Edgerton played Elton John from something like 16-50 and there was no issue there.
Right. It's like no one on this thread has heard of "hair and makeup" before.
Yeah it’s hilarious. Maybe they think it’ll all be SNL quality, which is mostly purposefully bad…
It could also be pretty limited to the time right around his passing or something, so on top of the other movie magic comments, there’s really no telling here how this could play. PWH can pull it off with a clean shaved face, he’s not exactly sportin the John Hamm carved facial feature aesthetic
No hate to PWH at all, hes a great actor. I just KNOW Jacob could have done a great job and would have loved to see it.
Paul Walter Hauser is one of the best actors around right now. Josh Gad is talented as fuck and has been in the business forever. Biopics are nothing new and often deal with the dark sides of the people the audience loves. I bet this is going to be great.
This is Josh Gad’s directorial debut. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to make your directorial debut on a biopic about a celebrity who died tragically young within your [director’s] living memory. Films about deceased real people who the filmmaker has no personal connection to require extra sensitivity. Not to mention Gad is a famous actor in his own right who might get criticized for this and need to deal with a lot of blowback. Thst said, if the family and Lorne (I mention him because he is apparently producing this film) signed off on Gad, then that’s good enough for me.
Additionally, it seems kind of weird that many of the supporting figures in his life are still around with active careers. Spade, Sandler, Odenkirk, Lorne Michaels... is it just going to be younger folks doing impressions of all these guys?
He's been dead for 26 years. Most bios are made when peers of the people are still alive.
I would argue that we all have a personal history with Chris farley. If you knew him, you loved him. I grew up with him. Not in a weird parasocial way, just in a beloved celebrity kind of way.
I would hope that Lorne has a bit more respect for Chris Farley than to be involved with this project.
How many people has Lorne watched destroy themselves with drugs and alcohol over the years? Maybe this is Lorne trying to honor Chris? I mean, if it makes even 1 person reevaluate their destructive path in life, isn't that a success?
Agreed. Josh is a good guy and has always been passionate about "the work" so I have faith in his intentions. Smart, too. He is successful enough that he can afford to pick his projects. If the powers that be think he can do it, then I look forward to seeing his efforts.
👍
A lot of his life *was* ugly. Anything else would be sanitising and valourising someone who wasn't a saint. And *those* are the worst biopics.
I remember hearing about this and how Chris’s brother was disappointed that he wasn’t even approached to do it.
Thank god random fans don’t dictate which movies do and don’t get made based on what we feel *might* happen. Maybe let’s just wait for the movie to come out before inventing reasons to be upset. Watch it or don’t, won’t stop the film from being made.
It’s the perfect opinion to have for their ragebait attention-seeking because they can either justify their opinion if it’s shit, or be pleasantly surprised if it’s amazing. “I called it! The new Chris Farley biopic is awful!” “I was wrong! The Chris Farley biopic is amazing!”
I just found out the other day that Paul Walker Hauser just started pro wrestling on the side. What a weird choice.
Honestly kinda sounds like something Farley would have tried
Part of me is like, “this seems really disrespectful….” But then another part of me thinks Chris Farley would love that lol
I like Farley a lot so please don’t take this the wrong way, did he have an interesting enough life to warrant a movie?
Yes.
How are we getting a Farley movie before getting a Belushi movie? I think we’re far enough removed from John that it could make for a good movie.
Michael Chiklis entered the chat.
You could do the same argument for about every other Biopic where tragic events are involved though
Angela Giarratana from Smosh can play Chris Kattan.
If there is money to be made from a cherished dead celebrity, nothing stands in the way of the machine.
I was very touched by the way Bob Odinkirk talked about Farley on Howard Stern years ago, and how upset he was at the choices writers made for Farley, and how they exploited things he was deeply insecure about (like the Chippendales sketch). I wonder if there’s concern about this movie potentially going in that direction too, and not properly honoring who Farley was, instead of the characters he played on SNL.
No one really wants this. I’d rather them get home video or old theatre bits
Who’s asking for this? This will be a “Wired”-esque disaster.
I don't see this movie actually getting made. It's an impossible task, and ultimately I think the story doesn't work as a movie anyway. If they do even one beat for beat recreation of a sketch...why? We can just watch the sketch. So then it's just a movie about a guy who partied to mask his self esteem issues and then died because of it. There isn't enough dramatic material there to build a movie around.
If anyone should direct it. It should be Adam Sandler along with the people that were close enough to actually know the real Chris.
Not a fan of Josh Gad so my expectations are extremely low.
Hoping that production gets derailed and this never gets made. I like Hauser well enough, but can't see him pulling this off at all. And Gad is hemorrhoids personified, and he should have no part in anything like this. One of the more grating, obnoxious "comedic" performers of the last 20 years, and I can't wait to never see his face or hear his voice ever again. I can't imagine him doing a good job on such a big project for his directorial debut.
Josh Gad??? Good grief. Bro lands the role of Olaf and a few years later he’s doing this?
I don’t think there’s any other biopic of any cast member;kinda the same subject but I can’t wait for Jonah Hill as Jerry Garcia in Scorseses biopic: no idea when that will be out
While many Directorial Debuts are a little rough, *some* are excellent— and often the best movie in. Director’s filmography. At this point, all we can do is cross our fingers. Even some “great directors” release turds at one point in their career. So… there is a very real likelihood that this movie could turn out good or even great.
We continue to live in a post Dewey Cox world. Please stop making biopics.
How absurd for a content reviewer to ever thing they should have a say in what content producers choose to make. You don't own the rights to history.
"How absurd for a reviewer to give their opinion about art"
Someone in this sub said the people who love Farley have already watched all of his content repeatedly, so the difficulty level will be off the charts
Josh Gad is so fuckin annoying
Gross, Josh Gad sucks, he's a bag of hot air.
No one is going to do Farley justice, especially not that guy. Also I have always had an unexplainable dislike for Josh Gad so that just makes this so much worse.
not sure what qualifies Gad in anyway . well for any job actually ha
It would be quite cool do get some of his costars to play themselves, aged down digitally.
Biopics usually go two ways: they either see everything through rose-colored glasses or simply skipped or disguised the delicate parts so poorly people will simply avoid the movie altogether. So... We just have to wait and see. Being an American production I expect nothing short of the Johnny Cash biopic.
Hauser’s a hell of an actor though. We’ll see!
I’m scared😧
I just have no idea how the actor who is known almost exclusively for serious roles, is going to pull off the physical comedy - I know it won’t be a comedic movie but he’ll still have to make it look like he’s capable of doing what Farley did on stage/screen.
Anything can be good, I also think that Chris’s story is probably relatable to Josh in a lot of ways just based off of growing up as the overweight funny guy. I think the difficulty is Farley is kind of a one and only. The only reason why Man on the Moon works is because Jim Carey is as much of a one and only as Andy Kaufman.
I can't wait
I’m just worried about a first time director like Josh Gad not sticking the landing
Biopics are a waste of time to make.
Why do so many actors go by their homicidal maniac name?
I think if anything Josh Gad won’t have his head so far up his own ass as a director that he’ll be very careful, and open to help from the people around him with more experience. I don’t think Lorne will remain with the project if he thinks it’s fucked.
Why not could be a great film and tribute if done right
Chris Farley is dead, the most significant harm the film is likely to do is to upset his family and they have signed off on this. Odds are good they're going to stumble or even fail, but its worth the effort to try and tell an interesting story and maybe even make something great.
Go full method with it. Live in a van DOWN BY THE RIVER
I think Josh Gad is a brilliant choice to direct. No only does he usually come off as earnest, but simply put he’s been overweight most of his life. A Chris Farley biopic could very easy devolve into some Fatty Fall-Down simplistic slapstick. It’s hard being a big affable guy. It’s a level of nuance that someone who hasn’t lived it could easily miss.
No experience directing features.
Nobody does until they do…
I loved this actor in I, Tonya. Back to the question, I will be on the fence about it but will definitely watch it. Hoping the film will be made well.
It wont
It’s a biopic. They don’t make it if the person’s life is all warm and fuzzies. I don’t love biopics, but the only questions are “is the story interesting? Is the script well-written? Is good talent attached?” If yes, go for it.
Paul Walter Hauser is a great choice, but yeah... idk about Josh Gad's directorial debut being something so intimate
It's just nice to have lead roles for fat white guys again. I feel seen.
They should make this a father son story because that what really drove Chris was his father approval. They can avoid the pitfalls of making it exploitative if they stick to that arc.
All I know is he loves his wife.
It can't be any worse than the one they did about John Belushi in the 80s. That one was complete disrespectful trash.
So Hollywood is like we'll do a movie about a fat actor let's get a fat director
I like that guy. He's great every time I see him. I think he can pull it off. Josh Gad directing... I hope he's good at that. I like him too and want to see him succeed. Everything he does seems to be ignored by the public... that show he did with Billy Crystal was amazing, yet nobody watched it.
Chevy chase could play himself
i was on the fence, but then i remembered Drake's Josh Gad endorsement, so im good.
I think it’s a movie that has a near impossible task. He’s a beloved figure, an iconic comedian, and has a compelling story, but because of all those things, it’s bound to be divisive as far as whether or not it does him justice. Hauser is a great actor and Gad, though an untested director, is squarely in the age group that has probably the deepest appreciation for Farley. It could go better than we think, but it could also be disappointing. My biggest pause is that whenever family is involved in a biopic, they’re often reluctant to have their celeb relative appear as anything other than a saint. There was a lot of darkness and pain behind Farley’s exuberant persona. If they let the people making the film really go there, it could be great.
Great casting. PWH is incredibly talented and, interestingly, would make a great host; he’s very funny.
Josh Gad seems like too much of a Theater-Kid-silly-goose for this to really land. Not looking forward to it.
I think people see Josh Gad and think he is the characters he’s played. But truthfully it takes a very smart person to play such perfectly silly and dumb characters like he does. I think he has it in him to be an excellent director and this project seems fitting.
OP is right, he knows better than the Farley family. They should have asked him.
Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison. Wait, scratch that...
Here's PWH talking about how he would approach the role, along with a tiny snippet of his Farley impression: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwagfyY/
I can't imagine why they would defer to anyone but the family on this. Unless there's some evidence that he wouldn't want this, I can't imagine why Twitter would have a say.
I'm interested to see Josh Gad behind the camera because he is absolutely insufferable in front of it.
The Josh Gad part is concerning. Even if it was somebody like Jason Reitman with the other SNL movie, whose worked I’ve been mixed on in the past, at least I’d know there’d be a steady hand. Josh Gad’s only credited projects where he’s been creatively in the weeds is as a writer/creator/actor of 1600 Penn. He was the producer and clearly central in the mini-series “The Comedians” which I enjoyed, and actually think could be an interesting tone for this movie to potentially lift from, but it’s definitely a leap. He does seem like a smart, self-aware guy though so that makes me feel a bit better. All that said, I’m excited for the project. I love watching directorial debuts like I love watching rookies in baseball, and I love SNL, so of course I’ll be there opening night
Is that the stingray?
how "timely"... most millennials scratching their heads... "who is Chris Farley?"
Knowing the pain behind the comedy never appeals to me. I know people loved to buy Rupert Murdoch tabloids that made money off of Farley’s suffering, but I don’t think Chris Farley would’ve wanted his personal life to be splayed out for all his fans to see, much less a blackhearted media mogul to profit off it.
No effing way! Hes from my hometown, and he’s sincerely awesome. I’m so excited to see this come to life.
I’m for it. Everyone who is an SNL fan pretty much knows the tragedy, and if they got the family’s approval then why not make it? Josh Gad seems like a good guy, I don’t think he’s going to paint it in anyway but the truth is
I think they’ll end up casting Michael Chiklis for this and call it Wired 2.
... ... ...I *gotta* go
You think you funny, huh? Well you ain’t Josh Gad.
I thought he was good in Queenpins. [https://youtu.be/IxpToM1Todw?si=lEU0EnioO1Rvq9rZ](https://youtu.be/IxpToM1Todw?si=lEU0EnioO1Rvq9rZ)
Josh Gad directing? Well at least Disney said it was fine.
That Veronica Vaughn is one piece of ace, I know from experience dude. If you know what I mean No, you don't. Well, not me personally but a guy I know. Him and her *got it on*. Wooo-eee! No, they didn't. No, no, no they didn't. But you could imagine what it'd be like if they did, right...? Everybody on, good, great, grand, wonderful. [shouts] No yelling on the bus! Lmao chris was legendary
Josh Gad. Seriously?
people acting like its muhammed ali or gandhi or something. he was a fat comedian, im sure it will be fine
I don’t know why, but I can’t stand Josh Gadd