UPDATE
Jan 18, 2024 7:11 AM CST
Richard Simmons made a rare public statement Wednesday to confirm that he's not involved with an upcoming biopic starring Pauly Shore. "I have never given my permission for this movie. So don't believe everything you read," the fitness guru wrote in the first post on his Facebook page in more than a year. "I no longer have a manager, and I no longer have a publicist," he added. "I just try to live a quiet life and be peaceful." In a statement to CNN, the Wolper Organization, which is producing the movie, said, "While we would love to have him involved, we respect his desire to privacy and plan to produce a movie that honors him, celebrates him, and tells a dramatic story."
Jan 17, 2024 4:19 PM CST
Pauly Shore says he's "really excited about sharing Richard Simmons's life with the world" in an upcoming biopic. The comedian has been lined up to play the flamboyant fitness guru in a film being developed by Warner Bros. subsidiary the Wolper Organization, Variety reports. Mark Wolper, the organization's founder and president, says "there is an amazing, dramatic and uplifting story to tell about Richard Simmons," per Deadline. Wolper says the idea has been in the works for years, but it didn't come together until a few months ago, when he saw "press about Pauly Shore being touted by social media as the ONLY person that could play Richard."
"We all need this biopic now more than ever. Simmons represented mental health, getting people in shape and being his authentic silly self," Shore said in a statement. "Whenever he was on TV you could never take your eyes off of him and he brought such a joy to his appearances that represented nothing but a good time." Shore already plays Simmons in The Court Jester, a short film that will be released during the Sundance Film Festival before it is made available Friday on YouTube, per the Hollywood Reporter.
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Wolper said that casting is underway and that the company is in "serious discussions with a major writer to develop this as a dramatic and heartfelt feature in the tone of Little Miss Sunshine." Simmons was a prominent presence on TV for decades, but the 75-year-old withdrew from public life almost a decade ago. His rep tells TMZ that the biopic isn't authorized and that Simmons isn't involved with the project. Shore spoke to Simmons' team last year. He was told the timing wasn't right for a biopic. "Richard's position hasn't changed, though his rep says there will come a time when Richard wants to tell his story," according to TMZ. (More Richard Simmons stories.)
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