Paul Reubens' concoction of Pee-Wee Herman was nothing short of brilliant. Spastic, loud, weird and ridiculous, he went from bawdy fake children's show host in the original sketches to awesome movie star, to a bawdy actual children's show host that was radically different from everything else on Saturday mornings and won the hearts and minds of kids and hung-over stoners everywhere.
Now, he's telling VH-1 that he's got not one, but two potential Pee-Wee Herman scripts ready to go, and that he's trying to get Tim Burton, director of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and even Johnny Depp involved.
Now, if Reubens has his way, we may be on the cusp of the return of Pee-wee in the form of two feature films starring the wide-eyed perennial man-child. "I feel like the time is really ripe right now," Reubens said. "A lot of the kids who grew up with the show are young adults. The college kids are middle-aged adults. I feel like I have enough of a built-in audience to make back an investment."
Reubens said he has two Pee-wee scripts ready to go. One is an extension of the famed TV show, "Pee-wee's Playhouse," only this story would take Pee-wee and his friends outside the house for the first time. "We never really went out into what we call puppet land," Reubens recalled of the show. "And this [film] takes place out of the playhouse. I think there are one or two scenes in the playhouse in the beginning. Basically it's all in a fantasy land," he said. "It's like a 'Wizard of Oz,' H.R. Pufnstuf epic adventure story." Reubens added that the story would bring back all of the original characters from the playhouse — live-action and puppets alike.
But can the 55-year-old Reubens realistically don Pee-wee's red bow tie again? The actor said he remains confident, especially after his first appearance in character in 15 years at Spike TV's Guys Choice Awards. Despite asking himself, "What in the hell are you doing?" as he stood backstage in costume, Reubens said the character "came right back" to him. Still, Reubens said he had a backup plan nonetheless for the Pee-wee movies should he not be up for the part. "My second option is to have Johnny Depp play Pee-wee," he said. Pie-in-the-sky casting or a realistic plan, Reubens insisted that he's even spoken to Depp about it, saying that the actor told him, "Let me think about it."
The other Pee-wee film, which Reubens called "the dark Pee Wee movie," is "not really very dark" and certainly not intended to be an R-rated film. "It's basically the story of Pee-wee Herman becoming famous as a singer," he explained. "He has a hit single and gets brought out to Hollywood to make musical movies, kind of like they did with Elvis. It all kind of goes downhill from there for Pee-wee. He turns into a monster. He does everything wrong and becomes a big jerk." Though he described it as a movie "about fame," Reubens insisted, "It's not autobiographical."
Reubens hasn't exactly been starved for work since Pee-wee's disappearance. His feature-film roles in "Mystery Men" and "Batman Returns" have given way to scene-stealing guest-star turns in TV shows like "30 Rock" and "Pushing Daisies." His second appearance on the latter show as olfactory expert Oscar Vibenius airs on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Reubens said his focus remains on the big-screen Pee-wee adventures. Though he said he hasn't been trying "super hard" to get them greenlit, he said, "I feel like in the New Year, I'll switch into a higher gear and see if I can move [them] forward." Unsure who to ask to direct the films, Reubens admitted he's talked to "Big Adventure" director Burton. "I have talked to Tim about one of them about a year ago. But Tim is booked. I think he would be interested in it, but he's really busy."
Personally, I'm torn about this. I love Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and I love Pee-Wee's Playhouse, and I'm all for more Pee-Wee action. But the whole tone of this interview sadly smacks of the run-down star knocking on the doors of people who helped him in the past, and who don't have the heart to tell the guy 'no.' That Depp response alone seems like "Let me figure out a way to let you down gently first."
Then again, Pee-Wee Herman does have a sort of strange Captain Jack Sparrow quality to him, and Depp has been known to gravitate towards the oddball. Playing someone else's signature character may just be a weird enough challenge for him - and likely his kids would love it, too. It could be fantastic if Pee-Wee lives on through the generations, being passed between worthy torch-bearers, even if Depp isn't that much younger than Reubens in the first place.
