Pauly Shore responds to Richard Simmons reneging on his biopic: “We don’t want to bother him. We want to pay homage to him.”

Pauly Shore he is best known for his 90s comedic roles in films such as Son in law, The Encino Man, Bio-Dome, now in the Armyand more. He has toured doing stand-up comedy, but for the past twenty years has remained fairly low-key, aside from small roles and vocal work. The actor has now signed on to play ’80s fitness guru Richard Simmons in an upcoming biopic, or at least that’s the plan now that Shore’s portrayal of Simmons has premiered at Sundance in the short film . The court jesterwhich he hopes will lead to a feature film.

After news broke that Shore was covering the matter, Simmons spoke out against the film on social media, writing on Facebook:

“Hi everyone! You may have heard that they might make a movie about me with Pauly Shore. I never gave 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.”

When asked about this reaction, Shore told Variety:

“He was never vindictive. I’m not Borat. I’m not the “let’s make fun of someone” type. Is the opposite. At this point these are unauthorized biopics and they are being made every day. Yes, I want him to put his pixie dust on it and say, “Go for it, Pauly.” It’s Richard being Richard. He is sensitive. We don’t want to bother him. We want him to be left alone and we don’t want to bother him. We want to pay homage to him, kiss his feet and say that he did beautiful things. Who will play Richard Simmons? Leonardo DiCaprio will not play Richard Simmons. I look like him.”

He continued saying:

“I want it to be more dramatic than funny. Many of the young people don’t know who he is and his story needs to be told. I identify with him a lot. I saw an interview he did recently and he talks about how he’s on his own. He is secluded. He has no friends or family. He’s just lonely. He is similar to me right now. My parents are dead. My brothers, we don’t have a good relationship. I’m not married. When I’m on tour, America is very big… and then I come home and I’m alone. I definitely feel like I’m him. I feel like there’s a part of me that’s very similar.”

The Simmons biopic is in development at Warner Bros. subsidiary The Wolper Organization, which said in a statement: “While we would love to have [Simmons] involved, we respect his desire for privacy and plan to produce a film that honors him, celebrates him and tells a dramatic story.”

The production company added: “We know he is deeply confidential and would never want to invade that, however he is an extraordinary person who has changed the lives of millions of people and the effect he has had on the world must be recognised.”

Shore said he hopes to get the film off the ground right away.