Making a name for himself with improvisational performances through The Second City, Chris Farley hit the huge time with a 5-year run on Saturday Night Live and effectively created the transition to film acting with a number of beloved roles. But his life and profession have been tragically reduce quick by his untimely death on December 18, 1997. Decades later, on the other hand, Farley’s legacy remains as beloved as ever, as Hollywood is gearing up to adapt the 2009 book, The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts, for the huge screen with Paul Walter Hauser starring as the legendary performer and actor Josh Gad directing.

While audiences extensively bear in mind Farley for his hilarious turns as the manic motivational speaker Matt Foley, an aspiring Chippendales dancer opposite Patrick Swayze, and the lovable titular character in 1995’s Tommy Boy, there was an additional side to the comedy legend that under no circumstances completely created it to the screen. As is normally the case with comedians, Farley had aspirations to discover additional dramatic fare just before his passing, and amongst the slate of projects he had lined up was a biopic about famed silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle.

Who Was Roscoe Arbuckle?

Born in 1887, Roscoe Arbuckle would make a name for himself as a youngster performing in vaudeville, carnivals, and traveling theater firms. Multi-talented and versatile, he sang, told jokes, and even attempted his hand at magic tricks. But physical adeptness was his ultimate trademark in spite of possessing a robust frame and weighing up to 300 pounds all through significantly of his life. Having reduce his teeth performing for years, he gained additional consideration immediately after appearing in a number of films developed by Keystone Studios, a main player in creating comedy films in the silent era. It was about this time that he also started exerting higher manage more than his function via writing and directing. And it was although employed by Keystone that he acquired an unfortunate nickname that would stick with him for years — Fatty.

Steadily increasing via the motion image ranks, Arbuckle took more than the Comique Film Corporation in 1917, cranking out a number of quick comedy films as director and star. While operating at Comique, he arguably created a single of his greatest contributions to the film business when he met a young and unknown performer named Buster Keaton. With a keen eye for talent and a generous spirit, he believed in Keaton as a talent and took a opportunity in employing the aspiring actor. It would not be extended just before the two guys forged a inventive partnership that led to a close friendship. As he took on additional duty as a filmmaker and actor, Arbuckle’s star continued to rise even immediately after he started relying much less and much less on physical comedy. In 1921, on the other hand, a single of the film industry’s earliest main controversies erupted, and the 34-year-old Arbuckle located himself at the center of it.

A Highly-Publicized Scandal Derailed Roscoe Arbuckle’s Career

In September 1921, Roscoe Arbuckle was undertaking really properly for himself. As a single of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors, pulling in $1 million annually courtesy of Paramount Pictures, he traveled to San Francisco to attend a Labor Day gathering. Amid the days of prohibition and relentless partying, he and a group of buddies and acquaintances went on a 3-day bender in adjoining rooms at the St. Francis Hotel. Among the attendees have been 25-year-old aspiring actress Virginia Rappe and her buddy, Maude Delmont, the latter of whom would play a substantial part in derailing Arbuckle’s thriving profession. According to Delmont, shortly immediately after Arbuckle and Rappe joined a single an additional in private, Rappe was heard screaming, and upon inspection appeared to be in discomfort and claimed that Arbuckle assaulted her. After she was taken to a hospital, Rappe died on September 9 from a ruptured bladder.

As scandalous wheels have been set in motion, media mogul William Randolph Hearst seized on the incident and published accusatory, lurid headlines about the actor’s alleged assault of Virginia Rappe. Though it would later be determined that Maude Delmont had a history of engaging in fraud and extortion, her scathing but unverified testimony against Arbuckle place the nail in the coffin. While the actor had some assistance from Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, each of whom rushed to his defense and created statements relating to his upstanding character, the harm to his reputation had been performed. According to Smithsonian Magazine, a number of jurors issued the following statement in Arbuckle’s third trial: “Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done to him…there was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of the crime.”

Though the silent film star avoided criminal conviction, his profession and public image would under no circumstances completely recover. The unfavorable publicity led to Hollywood distancing itself from Arbuckle, even major to a short-term ban on his films preceding the infamous Hays Code censorship regime, which would be implemented years later as a outcome of such notorious scandals involving film stars and filmmakers. Under a pseudonym, Arbuckle continued to function via the 1920s as a director and even returned to his vaudeville roots. On June 29, 1933, he died of a heart attack at age 46.

Chris Farley Took Interest in Roscoe Arbuckle’s Story

By 1997, Chris Farley had quickly risen via the ranks of fame and show small business. As a single of the breakout stars of his generation’s cast on Saturday Night Live, he gave audiences some of the show’s most iconic characters, bringing a level of zany power and slapstick comedy to the show that hadn’t been noticed in years. But the tiny screen merely wasn’t huge adequate to include his capabilities as a performer, and his segue from Television to films was swift. Despite a lack of enthusiasm from some critics, Farley was a favored amongst moviegoers with Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, and Beverly Hills Ninja amongst other folks. And like quite a few comedic performers, he wanted to challenge himself by attempting his hand at meaningful, dramatic material.

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Before his death at 33, a single of the quite a few projects Farley had in the performs would’ve noticed him play Roscoe Arbuckle in a biopic. In his book, The Chris Farley Show, Tom Farley (Chris’ brother) sheds light on a meeting the actor took with renowned playwright and screenwriter David Mamet to go over the planned film. “Chris came to the meeting at a little restaurant down in the Village, and he was the good Chris, the well-behaved Chris, because he couldn’t believe that David Mamet even wanted to meet him,” Farley writes. “Mamet loved him. It was a great meeting. He said yes before we got up from the table, and he wrote it for Chris. To this day, I know that it would have changed his career.” Though the film under no circumstances completely got off the ground, the notion of Chris Farley stepping into the silent actor’s footwear remains a thrilling prospect to speculate more than.

Chris Farley Saw Himself in Roscoe Arbuckle

Chris Farley’s struggles with self-esteem and substance abuse are properly-recognized. As is the case with quite a few comedians, his need to win the approval of other folks was no doubt an influential element in his function, so it really is no wonder that he’d be attracted to Roscoe Arbuckle’s life story offered the parallels amongst the two guys. Regarding their apparent physical similarities and talent for slapstick humor, Farley and Arbuckle had reservations about placing their physical girth to use for the entertainment of other folks. In dealing with the white-hot spotlight of fame, they wrestled with the normally domineering stress that comes with celebrity. But regardless of a level of self-awareness that could lead to insecurity, they each had an unwavering need to entertain.

According to Tom Farley, “As soon as he heard little bits and pieces about Arbuckle’s life, he said, ‘This is me.’ It was the whole idea that nobody understands the real person underneath. ‘I’m going to tell them about the real Fatty Arbuckle, and maybe they’ll understand the real Chris Farley.’” Maybe such a part would have opened new and promising doors for Chris Farley, taking him to higher heights of chance and recognition. While we’ll under no circumstances know precisely what his portrayal of Arbuckle would have amounted to, it really is protected to assume that he had an innate and profound understanding of the man he was slated to play and that the outcome might have taken audiences by surprise in revealing a level of performative depth and insight they hadn’t however noticed from the comedic actor.