Actor Pauly Shore (Encino Man) wrote on Instagram this weekend that he was “up all night crying” after fitness guru Richard Simmons continued to publicly distance himself from the biopic on his life that Shore is attached to star in. Simmons has even revealed on his social media platforms that he’s talking to film studios about making his own biopic.
Simmons posted earlier this week, “I just read that a man that I don’t know is writing my bio pic starring Pauly Shore. I do not approve this movie. I am in talks with major studios to create my own biopic with some help. Wait for this movie.”
Shore’s Simmons biopic, which the fitness icon is not involved with, is now in development at Warner Bros. subsidiary The Wolper Organization from writer Jordan Allen-Dutton.
Shore responded:
“I was up all night crying regarding Richard Simmons’ tweet. Richard, how do you not approve of this movie? I mean, really, who’s better to play you in a movie than ME? Leonardo DiCaprio’s not gonna play you. Brad Pitt’s not gonna play you. I’m perfect. Everyone already thinks I’m you. We’re the same.”
Shore reminded Simmons that he hasn’t “even heard the pitch” for Allen-Dutton’s biopic of him and asked if he might be interested in meeting so that Shore can disclose some of the information about the movie he’s planning. He went on:
“I also heard the good news that you’re in talks with studios to do a biopic about yourself. That’s amazing! The more movies about you, the better! You deserve it. There should be hundreds made. But as you know, many biopics are made without the subject agreeing to be part of it: Elvis, Stephen Hawking, Marilyn Monroe, Steve Jobs and many, many more. Some of them turned out good, some of them turned out bad. Mine is going to turn out amaze-balls.”
News of Shore’s Simmons biopic broke in January. Simmons originally commented on the film in a Facebook post that read: “You may have heard they may be doing a movie about me with Pauly Shore. I have never given my permission for this movie. So don’t believe everything you read.”
After the announcement, Shore traveled to the Sundance Film Festival to debut the short film The Court Jester in Park City. The short features Shore as Simmons. Shore told Variety at the time that his Simmons movie is “all about love,” with or without the real Simmons’ blessing.
“It’s never been vindictive. I’m not Borat. I’m not ‘let’s make fun of someone.’ It’s the opposite. At this point, it’s an unauthorized biopic and they’re made every day. Yes, I want him to put his pixie dust on this and say, ‘Go for it, Pauly.’ We don’t want to bug him. We want him to be left alone and we don’t want to bug him. We want to pay homage to him and kiss his feet and say he’s done beautiful stuff.”
Shore added about his interest in playing Simmons in a biopic:
“I relate to him a lot. I saw an interview he did recently and him saying how he’s by himself. He’s secluded. He doesn’t have any friends or family. He’s just alone. That is similar to me right now. My parents passed away. My siblings, we don’t have a great relationship. I’m not married. When I am out touring, it’s very big and America…and then I come home and I’m by myself. I definitely feel like I am him. I feel like there is a part of me that is very similar.”
Shore told Variety that his plan is to get the Simmons biopic off the ground and made as soon as possible. The film’s production company, The Wolper Organization, added its own statement after Simmons came out against the movie that read:
“While we would love to have [Simmons] involved, we respect his desire to privacy and plan to produce a movie that honors him, celebrates him and tells a dramatic story. We know he is deeply private and we would never want to invade that, however he is an amazing person that changed millions of peoples’ lives, and the effect he has had on the world needs to be recognized.”
It sounds like Simmons was just bummed that he wasn’t involved from the beginning. If he is wanting to do a biopic about his life, why not choose to partner up with someone who is already wanting to play you, who looks like you, and has a great respect for you?
I hope it works out for both parties and this movie moves forward and gets made with everyone on board.