Chris Farley is a comedy legend known for delivering the funniest lines from TV shows and movies like SNL, Tommy Boy, and Airheads to name a few. Paul Walter Hauser will be filling in some massive shoes to portray the American comedian in The Chris Farley Show. However, the Golden Globe winner gets real about the most “difficult” part of playing the SNL alum.
This wouldn’t be Paul Walter Hauser’s first time depicting a real-life figure. His best movies and TV shows include playing murderer Larry Hall in the Apple TV+ series Black Bird as well as security guard Richard Jewell in the Clint Eastwood biopic. Even though Hauser has been “practicing to play Chris Farley my entire life,” he admitted to Variety the “difficult” part of playing the comedy legend:
Oh no, it’ll make it more difficult just for perception. Everybody’s going to judge the crap out of the movie and have very passionate, hard-line opinions. I’m not worried about playing Chris because I know I’m going to approach it with a lot of love and effort. At the end of the day, all you can do is work hard and try your best to love the character and the project as much as possible. To me, that doesn’t seem like much of a hurdle with Chris. I adore him. I want to honor him. I want people to leave the theater, having laughed and cried together.
I can imagine it being a real dream to get to portray the man responsible for making an impact on SNL for less than five seasons. While Chris Farley made audiences laugh very hard in his celebrated works, he had a tough life outside of acting. The Second City Theatre member struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction, eventually passing away from an overdose at the age of 33. In his short life, he left a huge impact on those lucky to know him.
After news of the Chris Farley biopic broke, Paul Walter Hauser described his new movie as “a glory story” ready to honor the comedy actor. This is a big relief considering Farley seemed like an actor so full of life. The best way to honor a late actor’s big life is by celebrating all that they offered audiences instead of a large focus on any tragedies they faced.
Based on what we know so far about The Chris Farley Show biopic, audiences will get to experience the story of Chris Farley’s life and career. There’s a good chance this means we’ll see a reenactment of Farley’s best sketches like “Lunch Lady Land,” “Bennett Brauer,” and “Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker” as well as scenes from his well-known movies.
The upcoming biopic will also be based on the oral history book The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts written in 2009 by his brother, Tom Farley Jr., and Tanner Colby. With the bestselling book featuring interviews by his peers and the man behind the legend, it looks like we’ll get a real in-depth look at a prolific performer. Frozen’s Josh Gad will be directing the new movie with Farley’s SNL creator/producer Lorne Michaels coming on as producer. With fans of theTommy Boy actor and those who knew him working on the biopic, I have a feeling we’ll see Farley’s authentic spirit shine through.
It may be “difficult” for Paul Walter Hauser to portray Chris Farley due to the perceptions audiences may have. But, I’m confident that with the Cobra Kai actor being a big fan of the comedy legend, he’ll use his comedy and emotional chops we’ve seen in his previous works to bring Chris Farley to life on the big screen.
Take a look at our 2025 movie releases in case The Chris Farley Show ends up there. You can also watch Chris Farley’s sketches in SNL on your Peacock subscription.
