Paul Walter Hauser to Star in Chris Farley Biopic

Paul Walter Hauser to Play Chris Farley in Biopic Directed by Josh Gad

The actor, who won acclaim for roles in the likes of ‘Black Bird’, ‘I, Tonya’ and ‘Richard Jewell’ is on to play the SNL veteran-turned-movie performer.

(Left) Paul Walter Hauser in Netflix's 'Coba Kai' season 5. (Right) Chris Farley in 'Tommy Boy.' Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Preview:

Paul Walter Hauser to is to play Chris Farley for a new biopic.
Josh Gad is directing a movie based on a biography co-written by Farley’s brother.
Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels will produce the movie.

While many comedians and movie actors have been given the biopic treatment (though the current trend has been for musicians), it’s finally time for Saturday Night Live veteran Chris Farley to get his due.

And there’s a package deal coming together that includes the adaptation of a biography co-written by his brother (with the family giving their blessing for the project), actor Josh Gad turning director for the movie and Paul Walter Hauser starring as Farley.

What was Chris Farley’s story?

(L to R) Chris Farley and David Spade in 'Tommy Boy.' Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Hailed as one of the greatest comic actors of his generation and has a tragic story that seems ideally suited to biopic treatment.

Born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1964, he graduated from Marquette University in 1986, with a double major in communications and theater. At Marquette, he played rugby union and discovered a love of comedy. Though he’d then go to work at the same oil company as his father, his love of performing never left him, and he began to study improv comedy.

That, in turn led him to legendary Chicago improv group Second City, where he started the same day as Stephen Colbert. From there, he was recruited by Lorne Michaels for ‘Saturday Night Live’.

He joined an all-time ensemble of ‘SNL’ greats including Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider and Norm Macdonald. From the start, Farley stood out with his amazing physical comedy, delivering iconic sketches like his ‘Van Down by the River’ performances as motivational speaker Matt Foley or trying out as a Chippendales dancer with Patrick Swayze that live in SNL lore.

His success on the show would translate over to the big screen, where Farley soon would join the A-list of ’90s comedians with such hit films as ‘Tommy Boy’, ‘Black Sheep’ and ‘Beverly Hills Ninja’.

But he also struggled with the addiction issues common to great comics: after being sober for three years, he would relapse and fall back in to drugs and alcohol, dying from an overdose in 1997 at 33. His death shocked the industry and his peers.

What will the biopic draw from?

(L to R) Kaley Cuoco, Kevin Hart and Josh Gad in 'The Wedding Ringer'. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.

The new movie will have a script by ‘500 Days of Summer’s Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who will work from biography ‘The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts’, written by Farley’s brother Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby.

Josh Gad, best known for voicing Olaf in Disney’s ‘Frozen’ franchise and appearing in the live-action ‘Beauty and the Beast’ as LeFou. He’s produced several movies, but this would be his directorial debut.

Who is Paul Walter Hauser?

Paul Walter Hauser stars in 'Black Bird,' now streaming on Apple TV+.

Hauser is probably best known for films including ‘I, Tonya’ and ‘Richard Jewell’, and for TV series such as ‘Cobra Kai’ and the Apple TV+ miniseries ‘Black Bird’, which won him an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

Next up, he’ll be heard as one of the new voices in ‘Inside Out 2’, playing the emotion character Embarrassing.