Pauly Shore to Play Richard Simmons in Biopic
In what could be a double comeback for both stars, Pauly Shore has taken to social media in the hopes of portraying fitness guru Richard Simmons, host of the 1980s health and fitness shows Slim Cookin and The Richard Simmons Show, who has all but disappeared from the public eye in the last decade. (There is an uncanny resemblance!) Now Deadline has confirmed that a biopic is in fact in the works starring Shore and is currently casting other roles.
I’ve noticed the reactions to me playing #RichardSimmons in a biopic. I heard he’s living in Big Bear. We’ve been playing phone tag (yes, he has a phone). I’m trying to make it happen, you guys. In the meantime, hit up all the big producers. I’ll see you at @TheAcademy 2025! pic.twitter.com/pG3QaPr95s
— Pauly Shore (@PaulyShore) September 21, 2023
Simmons, a household name throughout the 1980s and 1990s, stopped appearing in public in 2014, worrying friends, some of whom speculated that Simmons was being kept hostage by his longtime housekeeper, as well as inspiring a podcast called Missing Richard Simmons. In 2017, Simmons posted a photo of himself on Facebook with the caption “I’m not ‘missing,’ just a little under the weather.”
Remind In August 2022, in response to a TMZ documentary called What Really Happened to Richard Simmons, Simmons issued a similar statement to the New York Post. Pauly Shore, most well known for playing the lead in a chain of movie flops during the 1990s, including Encino Man, Son in Law, In the Army Now and Bio-Dome, has also flown under the radar during recent years, other than appearing as himself in various films and shows.
Shore now revealed as the biopic is in the works that he is “really excited about sharing Richard Simmons’s life with the world,” adding that “we all need this biopic now more than ever.” He said that Simmons represents “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.” Shore is working with the company Wolper after the organization’s president, Mark Wolper, realized how much they have in common besides looks.
TriStar Pictures/Everett Collection
He said, “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!! 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.” Stay tuned!
Disco
July 2023
Return to the days when we boogie-oogie-oogied till we just couldn’t boogie no more!
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