CELEBRITY
Pauly Shore Cast To Play Richard Simmons In Biopic
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Pauly Shore has been cast to star in a biopic about Richard Simmons, fitness and aerobics guru of the 1980s and ’90s.
“We all need this biopic now more than ever,” Shore, 55, said in a statement. “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.”
The feature-length film is being produced by Warner Bros. subsidiary The Wolper Organization.
Shore expressed his interest in playing Simmons, 75, after a viral meme last year placed photos of the two men side by side, captioned, “Someone is going to write a Richard Simmons biopic and Pauly Shore is going to win an Oscar.
Shore commented on the meme on Instagram, saying, I can definitely morph into this guy.
“I saw the picture of them and realized these two are very similar, they both 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, Mark Wolper of The Wolper Organization said in a statement.
My company has locked Pauly down to play Richard Simmons and we are in serious discussions with a major writer to develop this as a dramatic and heartfelt feature in the tone of Little Miss Sunshine’, Wolper said.
In an interview with People in September, the Encino Man star said he and Simmons are “both very physical, we’re both over the top and silly. Shore also told the outlet he was actually friends with the eccentric Sweatin’ to the Oldies star.
I would always see him driving his Rolls Royce down Sunset Boulevard in the ’80s and ’90s, waving to everyone, and he’d always pull over and say hi, Shore recalls. We’d mess around, and he’d come and see my mom Mitzi at the Comedy Store. It was just mutual joy when we’d see each other.
The new casting overlaps with Shore’s unrelated upcoming short film The Court Jester, in which he also plays Simmons. It’s set to premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, this week.
TMX contributed to this article.
