Pauly Shore, Richard Simmons' family clash over biopic approval, recent tweets
The late fitness icon "absolutely wrote his own posts," brother Lenny Simmons said in a statement on the former's account.
Richard Simmons may be gone, but actor Pauly Shore still wants to move forward with a biopic about the fitness guru's life.
Following Simmons' death at age 76 last month, Shore told Entertainment Tonight on Monday that he still wants to move ahead with his planned biopic of Simmons. Shore insists he had Simmons' approval, although some posts from Simmons' social media accounts while he was alive disputed that.
"I know he wanted me to do it," Shore told ET. "I don't even know if that was him tweeting the whole time, to be quite honest. I don't know who that was."
Simmons' staff and family responded to these comments by...posting on his X account (formerly Twitter). Simmons' brother Lenny Simmons shared a statement on X, insisting that his brother wrote his own posts.
"Dicky absolutely wrote his own posts," the statement from Lenny reads. "He worked on them a week in advance, going over and over them to get the right message. He would often read them to Cathy and I beforehand. What he has NOT done was to text, email or call Pauly with anything; not even to wish him 'Good Luck' as Pauly has stated many times.”
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Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage; John Salangsang/Variety via Getty
Richard Simmons, Pauly Shore.Shore's representative did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for additional comment on the back-and-forth.
Shore told ET that he's still working on getting the film financed with producer Mark Wolper, and is hoping to secure for the project $10 million to $15 million. He does have some proof of concept already: a short film, less than a minute long, titled The Court Jester that features Shore in character as Simmons.
Related: Pauly Shore doubles down on Drew Barrymore marriage proposal: 'I'm in love with Drew'
"I am him," Shore told EW back in January when the short film went public. "I like helping people. I like health. I like putting that energy out there...And I've been going to the gym since I was a kid. And I think I'm a little over the top as well, so I feel like I connect with him."
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