Pauly Shore Slated To Portray Richard Simmons In New Biopic — But Has Yet To Receive Consent From Simmons Himself

Pauly Shore is slated to portray Richard Simmons in a new biopic, but the original fitness guru may not be onboard with the forthcoming project.

According to Variety, the Simmons film is in development at The Wolper Organization, a Warner Bros. subsidiary. Very few details have been disclosed, but further casting is currently taking place.

Shore, who just played Simmons in an unrelated project titled The Court Jester — a short film premiering at Sundance Film Festival on Friday (Jan. 19) — shared in a statement obtained by the outlet that he’s “really excited about sharing Richard Simmons’s life with the world.”

“We all need this biopic now more than ever,” he continued. “Simmons represented mental health, getting people in shape and being his authentic silly self! 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.”

However, Simmons may not share in this excitement. His representative told TMZ that the biopic “isn’t authorized,” and that Simmons may not be aware that the project is in early stages.

TMZ also reported that Shore had approached Simmons last year to run the idea by him, but that Simmons felt “the timing wasn’t right” for him to support the project. Nonetheless, his representative clarified to the outlet that “there will come a time when Richard wants to tell his story.”

Simmons, who is known to keep a low profile, broke his silence in 2022 following the release of TMZ Investigates: What Really Happened To Richard Simmons, posting on Facebook, “Thank you, everyone, for your kindness and love! ❤️ Love, Richard.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Shore had posted on Facebook last September about contacting Simmons after fans repeatedly pointed to their striking resemblance. In his post, he said that he and Simmons had “been playing phone tag.”

“I’m trying to make it happen for you guys,” he wrote. “Be optimistic. In the meantime, hit up Hulu, Amazon, Disney, HBO and all the big producers. I definitely can morph into this guy.”

In Variety‘s Wednesday report about the Simmons biopic casting Shore, Wolper Organization President Mark Wolper shared that there is an “amazing, dramatic and uplifting story to tell about Richard Simmons.”

He added, “We have been dancing around the idea for years, but it never coalesced until several months ago when I saw the press about Pauly Shore being touted by social media as the ONLY person that could play Richard.”

Watch the trailer for The Court Jester above.