Pauly Shore once again addressed his in-development Richard Simmons biopic that has become a hot topic.
“I’m also gonna be starring in the Richard Simmons biopic…whether he likes it or not, Richard,” Shore said at his Netflix Is a Joke show at the Comedy Store Friday night in Los Angeles. “Just another fucking bump in my fucking road.”
Shore’s hour-and-a-half comedy set recounted his life story with a particular focus on growing up in Los Angeles with parents Sammy Shore and Mitzi Shore who co-founded the Comedy Store.
While the bulk of the set detailed his childhood through to the time he spent on MTV and even at the Playboy Mansion, at the very end he jumped to the present to talk about his current life stage and achievements and to briefly address the ongoing biopic situation.
The comment comes after a string of social media back-and-forths concerning the biopic that is now in development at Warner Bros. subsidiary the Wolper Organization with writer Jordan Allen-Dutton attached.
News of the biopic about the fitness icon broke in January with Shore set to star, and soon after, Simmons wrote in a Facebook post, “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.”
At the Sundance Film Festival in January, the comedian played Simmons in the short film “The Court Jester.” And at the time, Shore told Variety the film was “all about love,” even if it didn’t have Simmons’ blessing. “My come from has always been love. …It’s never been vindictive. I’m not Borat. I’m not ‘let’s make fun of someone.’ It’s the opposite.”
In April, Simmons posted on X, “I just read that a man that I don’t know is writing my biopic starring Pauly Shore. I do not approve this movie. I am in talks with major studios to create my own biopic with some help. Wait for this movie.”
Subsequently, Shore said that he had been “up all night crying” in a lengthy Instagram caption on the subject matter. “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?”
Shore also addressed the separate biopic Simmons seemed to be referencing about himself: “And I also heard the good news that you’re in talks with studios to do a biopic about yourself. That’s amazing! The more movies about you, the better! You deserve it. There should be hundreds made.”
“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,” Shore continued.
Despite the backlash from Simmons, the Wolper Organization’s biopic appears to be moving full steam ahead. “While we would love to have [Simmons] involved, we respect his desire to privacy and plan to produce a movie that honors him, celebrates him and tells a dramatic story. We know he is deeply private and we would never want to invade that, however he is an amazing person that changed millions of peoples’ lives, and the effect he has had on the world needs to be recognized,” the Warner Bros. subsidiary previously said in a statement.
It’s the second year for Netflix Is a Joke, and it runs May 1-12 across various Los Angeles venues.
Julia MacCary
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