Last Updated on January 25, 2024
Actor Pauly Shore is trying to play fitness legend Richard Simmons in a biopic inspired by the meme that Pauly Shore looks like Richard Simmons and could play him on screen. In a career move buoyed by populist Internet speculation, Shore starred as Simmons in a short film called “The Court Jester” that played at the Sundance Film Festival, but Simmons has still not agreed to give his permission for a full-length movie.
Pauly Shore’s effort to make the film is a notable example of an artist trying to make a project inspired by Internet commenters. In the age where a GameStop revolution can give the people a voice in the stock market, or where confused mobs can ruin a person’s reputation in the blink of an eye, experimenting with the shared Internet space is more important than ever. And in addition to the Internet populism angle here, Pauly Shore is also rebuking the media. His Court Jester short film director Jake Lewis said that a sports commentator compared the Detroit Lions’ chances of winning a Super Bowl to Pauly Shore’s chances of winning an Academy Award. What a cringe line! Maybe both the Detroit Lions and Pauly Shore can prove the haters wrong.
Pauly Shore became a major star as the host of “Totally Pauly” segments on MTV where he walked around doing man-on-the-street type vignettes oftentimes at the beach in the early 1990’s. He went on to star in many movies during the 1990’s including the caveman caper Encino Man and the underrated Jury Duty, which was released in 1995 in the same year as the O.J. Simpson trial. His shortlived Fox sitcom was surprisingly pretty good and had a memorable Japanese video game-themed intro song.
“Hi Everybody! 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. 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 Simmons recently commented.
Pauly Shore recently responded to Simmons backing away from the film, saying that he hopes Simmons will approve of the endeavor.
Shore believes that he can win an Oscar if given the opportunity to play Simmons.
