The same day that it was announced that a biopic about his life was in development, Richard Simmons surfaced to disavow it, saying in a rare public statement that he had not granted the project his blessing and that he is just trying “to live a quiet life” out of the limelight.
But having Simmons wash his hands of them won’t stop the movie’s producers, who told The Daily Beast on Wednesday night that the film will continue pre-production apace. “While we would love to have him involved, we respect his desire [for] privacy and plan to produce a movie that honors him, celebrates him and tells a dramatic story,” the Wolper Organization, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., said in a statement.
“We know he is deeply private and we would never want to invade that, [however] he is an amazing person, that changed millions of [people’s] lives and the effect he has had on the world needs to be recognized.”
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The project’s existence had been made public by the Wolper Organization less than 12 hours earlier. Comedic actor Pauly Shore is set to star in the feature film as Simmons, with additional casting currently underway. In a statement, President Mark Wolper agreed that Shore was “the only person that could play Richard,” noting that the two men 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!!”
Wolper said his company was in “serious discussions” with an unnamed “major writer” to develop a script “in the tone of Little Miss Sunshine.”
The real Simmons took to his verified Facebook page shortly after. “Hi Everybody!” he wrote. “You may have heard they may be doing a movie about me with Pauly Shore. I have never given my permission for this movie. So don’t believe everything you read.”
Adding that he no longer retains a manager or publicist, Simmons explained, “I just try to live a quiet life and be peaceful. Thank you for all your love and support.”
Shore did not immediately return a request for comment. The actor has long been interested in portraying Simmons, with Deadline pointing out on Wednesday that he’d written about a then-hypothetical biopic project on Instagram last fall. “I’ve noticed all the reactions to me playing #RichardSimmons in a new biopic. So I reached out to him,” Shore said. “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.”
In a statement on Wednesday morning alongside the Wolper Organization’s announcement, Shore shared that he was “really excited” about the project. “We all need this biopic now more than ever,” he said.
Shore will also be starring as Simmons in a short film titled The Court Jester that is set to premiere at Sundance Film Festival over the weekend. The short film, directed by Jake Lewis, is unrelated to the feature film, according to Variety.
Simmons, 75, has not appeared at a public event since early 2014. Once a prominent and flamboyant advocate for fun, functional fitness, he has since retired and leads a life of relative seclusion. His visible absence spurred mounting concerns about his whereabouts and safety, with rampant speculation that he was being abused or held hostage by the few remaining people in his life. He emerged briefly in 2016 to give a phone interview to Entertainment Tonight denying the rumors.
“For all the people that were worrying about me, I want to tell them that I love them with my whole heart and soul and that not to worry, Richard’s fine,” he said. “You haven’t seen the last of me. I’ll come back, and I’ll come back strong.”
