Nearly 30 years ago, Bobby and Peter Farrelly released their sophomore film Kingpin, starring Woody Harrelson as former bowling champion Roy Munson. Years after he lost his right hand in a con game gone wrong, Roy becomes the manager of an Amish bowling prodigy named Ishmael, played by Randy Quaid, with the hope that it’ll end up being his long-awaited ticket to success. Rounding out the cast were Vanessa Angel as Claudia and Bill Murray as Roy’s arch-rival, Ernie McCracken. As star-studded as the cast was, it was supposed to be different, as two other famous actors were attached to play the lead roles.
Batman star Michael Keaton had signed on to portray Roy prior to Harrelson’s involvement, and the film rights were sold to six territories because of his commitment. The shooting schedule was rearranged to allow Keaton to appear in the Harold Ramis comedy Multiplicity that same year. The script had also been rewritten at Keaton’s request because he wanted the story to be character-driven rather than joke-driven. At the end of the day, he didn’t like the rewrites and bowed out.
Chris Farley, on the other hand, really wanted to play Ishmael, but couldn’t get out of starring in Black Sheep. “Chris Farley was definitely on our radar,” Bobby Farrelly told Fast Company in 2016. “Before we had cast anyone we thought he’d make a great Ishmael. He’s just so good and he has that naïveté side to him. He’s very funny but he’s also very sweet too. It was a disappointment to Pete and I that we never got a chance to work with Chris.”
The Farrellys spent a lot of time with Farley during that period and made plans to do something together in the future, but unfortunately, those plans never panned out. Looking back, Bobby said, “It definitely would have been a different movie with him instead of Randy.” For his part, Peter admitted, “As much as we wanted Chris Farley, I can’t imagine that movie with anyone but Randy Quaid. He was sensational. He just came up with little things that make it, like ‘I’m gonna watch you,’ those kinds of things. It’s a very charming thing that he does.”
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