Feel the Burn! Pauly Shore is Playing Fitness Guru Richard Simmons — and Simmons Wants Nothing to Do With It

Sweatin’ To the Oldies star Richard Simmons, 75, who once proclaimed himself the "clown prince" of fitness, is back in the public spotlight — against his will.

After the Sundance Film Festival debut of the short film The Court Jester, in which his near-lookalike Pauly Shore, 55, played Simmons, and the announcement of a forthcoming Simmons biopic that will also star Shore, Simmons — who dropped out of public life in 2014 — said on Facebook, “I have never given my permission for this movie.”

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Shore wants the spotlight as much as Simmons does not. In September, he posted that he’d been “playing phone tag” with Simmons, and insisted, “I definitely can morph into this guy. I’ll see you at the Academy Awards 2025.” Shore is thrilled about the feature film, to be produced by Mark Wolper, 63, whose company won two Oscars and 50 Emmys, creating over 500 films and shows, often about real people, including Roots, Sybil, The Betty Ford Story and Helter Skelter.

Wolper, who thinks only Shore could play Simmons, is in talks with a major screenwriter for a film with a tone like the 2006 Sundance breakout hit comedy Little Miss Sunshine. Wolper said both Shore and Simmons “lived or died by how the world perceived them; they both fought to give their fans what they wanted and they both deserve an amazing comeback story!” The Wolper Organization put out this 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 all need this biopic now more than ever,” Shore said. But few need it more than he does: his career slumped after his big 1992 hit Encino Man. “Simmons represented mental health, getting people in shape and being his authentic silly self," said Shore. "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.”