By Earlier today came the news that actor Pauly Shore will play reclusive fitness guru Richard Simmons in an upcoming biopic. Mere hours later, Simmons has now spoken out against the film.
The flamboyant, eccentric Simmons became a household name several decades ago with frequent appearances on talk shows – most famously David Letterman’s show – fueling his successful line of “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” aerobics videos.
In 2014, Simmons disappeared from public life and has valued his privacy ever since. A short film called “The Court Jester,” also starring Shore as Simmons, will premiere at Sundance Film Festival this week.
Despite the same lead casting, the short film is said to be unrelated to the biopic which haols from Warner Bros. subsidiary The Wolper Organization and filmmaker Jake Lewis. In a posting on Facebook responding to the feature’s announcement, Simmons says:
“Hi Everybody! 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. I no longer have a manager, and I no longer have a publicist. I just try to live a quiet life and be peaceful. Thank you for all your love and support.”
The Wolper Organization then responded to this via Variety, saying in a statement:
“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.”
The studio is said to be in “serious discussions with a major writer” to develop the film which is said to have the “dramatic and heartfelt” tone of “Little Miss Sunshine”.
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