Actor Pauly Shore is all set to play popular fitness personality Richard Simmons in an upcoming biopic. This is a project that is unrelated to the short film The Court Jester, set to screen at the Sundance Film Festival outside the festival line-up, which also has Shore play Simmons.

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All this started last year when a meme comparing the similar appearances of Shore and Simmons went viral, following which the actor expressed his interest in starring in a biopic. The new project is currently in development at Warner Bros’ subsidiary The Wolper Organization.

However, following the announcement of the project, Simmons spoke out against the project in a Facebook post yesterday. The 75-year-old wrote, “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 shot to fame in the ‘80s thanks to his successful series of “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” aerobics videos. As stated in a report by Variety, Simmons’s flamboyant, eccentric personality made him a household name. In 2014, Simmons disappeared mysteriously from public life. In 2016 he revealed that he was alright and that he took the decision solely for the sake of privacy.

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Meanwhile, Shore’s short film The Court Jester, directed by Jake Lewis, premieres at Sundance on January 19. The short also stars Tamra Brown as Ellen DeGeneres and Jesse Heiman as a television producer who lost 160 pounds after following Simmons. The film will be available to watch on YouTube after its premiere.