Pauly Shore said he “was up all night crying” due to Richard Simmons continuing to publicly distance himself from a biopic that would star Shore as the fitness guru.
“I just read that a man that I don’t know is writing my bio pic starring Pauly Shore,” Simmons wrote on his verified Facebook page earlier this week. “I do not approve this movie. I am in talks with major studios to create my own bio pic with some help. Wait for this movie.”
Simmons previously said that he was not involved with the biopic and didn’t give Shore “permission” for it, right after it was announced that a feature film about the fitness icon, backed by the Wolper Organization, was in development.
“You guys, I was up all night crying regarding Richard Simmons’ tweet,” Shore wrote on his Instagram Thursday. “Richard, how do you not approve of this movie? I mean, really, who’s better to play you in a movie than ME? Leonardo DiCaprio’s not gonna play you. Brad Pitt’s not gonna play you. I’m perfect. Everyone already thinks I’m you. We’re the same. Beautiful, inside and out. Hellll yea!”
He continued, “Richard, you haven’t even heard the pitch. Why don’t you simply let me come over to your house, bring you some warm matzo ball soup and a pastrami sandwich with dark mustard from Canters, rub your feet, and we can listen to the writer, Jordan Allen-Dutton, pitch you our idea? … Richard, you’re going to love our movie. We’re going to make the most beautiful cinematic masterpiece that’s going to honor you in a way that you’ll drop to your knees and cry with joy and happiness.”
Simmons also recently shared on his social media that he has been in talks with studios himself to work on his own, separate, biopic about his life.
“I also heard the good news that you’re in talks with studios to do a biopic about yourself,” Shore said in response. “That’s amazing! The more movies about you, the better! You deserve it. There should be hundreds made.”
The Encino Man actor added in his post, “But as you know, many biopics are made without the subject agreeing to be part of it: Elvis, Stephen Hawking, Marilyn Monroe, Steve Jobs and many, many more. Some of them turned out good, some of them turned out bad. Mine is going to turn out amaze-balls.”
When Shore announced the project in January, he never claimed that Simmons was involved. After the former fitness motivator voiced his concerns at the time, the filmmakers also responded with their own statement.
“While we would love to have him involved, we respect his desire to privacy and plan to produce a movie that honors him, celebrates him and tells a dramatic story,” The Wolper Organization wrote. “We know he is deeply private and we would never want to invade that, how ever he is an amazing person, that changed millions of peoples lives and the effect he has had on the world needs to be recognized.”