Sean Penn, after filing for divorce then changing his mind twice in the last two years, says he’s taking a break from acting. In the process, he’s sort of screwing over the two projects he’s attached to, the Farrelly Brothers Three Stooges movie and Cartel.

It is understood that the two-time Oscar-winning actor-writer-director is taking a leave from his Hollywood career for personal reasons. It’s unclear how long the absence could last, though sources have said up to a year.

Peter and Bobby Farrelly have spent the better part of a decade trying to get “Stooges” off the ground, and in March they pulled off a major casting coup: Penn as Larry, with Jim Carrey as Curly and Benicio del Toro as Moe.  Now MGM and the Farrellys, who wrote the script and are slated to direct, need to decide whether they will wait for Penn or seek to find a new actor.  Time and availability are the issues: “Stooges” was eyeing a late August start date, and MGM has slotted it for a 2010 release. If the studio waits, it could risk losing Carrey and del Toro. On the other hand, half of Hollywood would poke their eyes out for the part. [THR]

That’s a shame.  I know a lot of people were looking forward to the new, hellishly intense method-acting Larry who keeps slipping on banana peels on the way to identify the body of his murdered daughter.