“Like yourself. Your weight doesn’t matter. If you like yourself, you’re gonna be fine.”
Those are the first words uttered by Pauly Shore as fitness icon Richard Simmons in the teaser trailer for the upcoming short film “The Court Jester.”
However, Simmons himself is not fine with the “Encino Man” playing him in the short, or in an unrelated biopic in development at the Wolper Organization, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.
“Richard and I are not endorsing this project,” Simmons’ rep told ET in a statement on Wednesday. “It is unauthorized. I spoke to Pauly last year and told him [Richard] is not ready to tell his story.”
Shore looks like a dead ringer for Simmons in the trailer and promo stills released for “The Court Jester,” which show the comic sporting the fitness legend’s trademark curly red hair, uber-short shorts and sparkly blue tank top.
“I’m really excited about sharing Richard Simmons’ life with the world,” Shore said in a statement.
“We all need this biopic now more than ever. Simmons represented mental health, getting people in shape and being his authentic silly self!” he added. “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.”
Less than 12 hours after the images were released, Simmons made a rare statement on social media and seemingly distanced himself from the project.
“Hi Everybody! You may have heard they may be doing a movie about me with Pauly Shore,” a message posted on Wednesday to Simmons’ verified Facebook account reads. “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. Richard.”
“The Court Jester,” which also stars comedian Tamra Brown as Ellen DeGeneres, has gotten the support of Wolper Organization head Mark Wolper, despite being unrelated to the feature-length Simmons biopic in the works.
“There is an amazing, dramatic and uplifting story to tell about Richard Simmons,” Wolper said in a statement. “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.”
Wolper continued, “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! 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.’”
Shore seems to believe the role may earn him his first Oscar.
“I’ve noticed all the reactions to me playing #RichardSimmons in a new biopic,” Shore said on his Instagram. “So I reached out to him. I heard he’s living deep in Big Bear. We’ve been playing phone tag (yes, he still has a phone). I’m trying to make it happen for you guys. I definitely can morph into this guy. I’ll see you at the @theacademy 2025.”
“The Court Jester” will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 19.
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