Richard Simmons Declines Pauly Shore's Biopic Offer Despite Fondness and Friendship

Richard Simmons likes Pauly Shore a lot, but he's not biting on the idea of Pauly -- or anyone else for that matter -- playing him in a biopic, despite a clamoring from folks on social media for a life story.

Sources close to Richard tell TMZ ... he's aware of the effort behind a biopic, mostly spear-headed by Pauly., but Richard just doesn't want to be involved.

Our sources say it's nothing against Pauly -- Richard's known the actor and his late mom Mitzi, for decades -- he simply wants to live a private life out of the spotlight.

We're told Richard & Co. get offers and pitches almost weekly and he turns all of them down. He's just not interested in going public, much less getting behind some big production about his life.

As for the Pauly pitch, our sources say someone from Pauly's team did connect with Richard's ... but Richard's rep politely turned a thumbs down.