Known for his energetic and physical performances, Farley rose to fame as a ‘Saturday Night Live’ staple, starring alongside castmembers Adam Sandler and David Spade.
Chris Farley‘s life and legacy is being turned into a biopic.
According to multiple reports, Emmy-winner, Paul Hauser, will star in the project as Farley, with actor-filmmaker Josh Gad directing. Saturday Night Live head Lorne Michaels will also be a part of the project, producing the film under his Broadway video banner.
The screenplay will be written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and will be based on the New York Times best-selling biography, The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts by Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby.
The project, which has yet to begin production, reportedly also has the blessing of the Farley family.
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Known for his energetic and physical performances, Farley rose to fame on SNL, starring alongside cast members Adam Sandler and David Spade. Some of his most memorable sketches included “da Bears!,” where he played Chicago Bears superfan, Bill Swerski, as well as “living in a van down by the river,” which saw Farley as an overzealous motivational speaker, and of course, his stint as an aspiring Chippendales dancer.
Farley also starred in a few hit comedies, including Tommy Boy and Beverly Hills Ninja. While he was a larger-than-life talent, his life was short, with Farley dying in 1997, at the age of 33 following a battle with addiction.
Hauser’s casting as Farley doesn’t come as a huge surprise, as he’s previously spoken about his desire to play the funny man, telling The Hollywood Reporter that he even approached the Farley family about a potential project.
“I wanted to do a Chris Farley movie where he’s in rehab for half of the film, and for the other half of the movie, he’s doing his SNL stuff and his movies,” Hauser said during a 2021 interview with the outlet. “I think I have a really great take on that story, but I’m trying to lose weight and I’m trying to redefine myself as a person of healthy choice-making, and as an actor. So the days of doing Fatty Arbuckle, Chris Farley or Ignatius J. Reilly in a Confederacy of Dunces movie have a very small time window, and it’s getting smaller by the week.”
Paul hit the scene in breakout roles like I, Tonya and the Clint Eastwood directed Richard Jewel, and recently earned an Emmy and Golden Globe for his role on series Black Bird. Up next, Hauser will voice a character in Pixar’s Inside Out 2 and appear opposite Matt Damon in Apple’s The Instigators.
No word yet on when the project will begin filming or when fans can expect it to hit theaters.
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