PARK CITY, Utah — Higher identified for his broad smile and foolish voices, Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens turns into rawly emotional within the documentary “Pee-wee as Himself,” which premiered Thursday night time on the Sundance Movie Pageant.
The revealing two-part film, which can finally air on HBO, options the ultimate interviews with Reubens, who died of most cancers in July 2023 at age 70.
Director Matt Wolf sat with the humorous actor for 40 hours over the course of a yr to mirror on his life as a closeted homosexual man, his showbiz profession and agonizing intercourse scandals.
The transferring doc additionally consists of the final audio recording Reubens made on the day earlier than his dying.
“More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was for people to see who I really am, and how painful and dreadful it was to be labeled something I wasn’t,” he says in a weak voice. “To be labeled a pariah; to have people be scared of you, or untrusting.”
The film additionally gave ailing Reubens an opportunity to inform his aspect of issues. Early within the movie, the actor, who had stored his most cancers prognosis quiet, says, “Death is just so final … To be able to get your message in at the last minute, at some point, is incredible.”
Born in Peekskill, New York, Reubens by no means publicly got here out of the closet. However the doc reveals that nicely earlier than Pee-wee grew to become a worldwide sensation, the actor had a boyfriend named Man from Echo Park in Los Angeles, whose humorous vocal tics had been a significant inspiration for the comic’s defining character.
Man had a bit the place he’d say issues akin to, “Mmmm! Buttery!” in a Yoda-like brogue.
“You can see where that led me,” Reubens says.
Reubens debuted Pee-wee Herman whereas performing with comedy troupe the Groundlings in 1981, and when his Pee-wee stage present exploded in LA, the actor selected to hide his non-public life fully.
“I was out of the closet, and then I went back in the closet,” he says within the film. “I wasn’t pursuing the Paul Reubens career; I was pursuing the Pee-wee Herman career.”
The actor went to go to Man within the hospital as he was dying of AIDS.
“To talk about seeing someone at death’s door …,” he trails off. “He probably died a couple hours after that.”
Whereas Reubens admits “I had many, many secret relationships,” his private life took a backseat to a grey go well with and purple bowtie.
Pee-wee grew to become a staple of NBC’s new, risk-taking discuss present “Late Night With David Letterman,” showing each few months from 1982 to 1985. These well-liked segments led to a sold-out nationwide tour, and impressed Hollywood execs signed off on his 1985 film — “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.”
In the course of the iconic “Tequila” scene within the trucker bar, Reubens got here to blows — with the set.
“While I was up on the bar, I banged the hell out of my head on a beam,” he says. “It’s the take we used.”
Tim Burton’s first function was an enormous hit — grossing $40 million off a $6 million finances. Pee-wee was using excessive, however the world was rising darker for Reubens.
“I hid behind an alter-ego,” he says. “I spent my entire adult life hiding I was a huge weed-head.”
And he was concealing one thing weightier. “I was secretive about my sexuality even to my friends… [out of] self-hatred or self-preservation,” he added. “I was conflicted about sexuality. But fame was way more complicated.”
In 1986, CBS supplied Reubens a Saturday morning children present — “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
“I never really thought about being a children’s show host,” he stated. “But the moment I heard it, it felt right.”
The good, progressive program was out-of-the-box quirky and meticulously designed. Characters like Chairry, Cowboy Curtis, Jambi and Miss Yyvonne grew to become weekend favorites. One reviewer praised “Playhouse” as “Caligula in Kiddie Land.” Behind the scenes, Reuben was a demanding taskmaster.
“Paul had conflicts with most everyone he worked with — that’s just his nature” stated present designer Wayne White. “Paul could hold a grudge. He didn’t forgive easily.”
He grew to become estranged from Phil Hartman, who helped develop the character and performed Captain Carl on “Playhouse,” after Hartman was solid on “Saturday Night Live” and left the present. A long time later, Reubens nonetheless speaks of the friendship breakup within the doc with bitterness: “He rose to the top. Good for him.”
“Playhouse” was an enormous success. And in 1988, Pee-wee — not Reubens — obtained a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame.
Nonetheless, that very same yr his movie followup “Big Top Pee-wee” was a maligned flop (“I went into shock,” he says). And shortly, Reubens’ life grew to become engulfed by scandal.
In 1991, Reubens was arrested and charged with indecent publicity at an grownup movie show in Sarasota, Florida. He pleaded no contest.
“I kept who I was a secret for a very long time,” he stated. “That really backfired when I got arrested. People had never seen a photo of me other than Pee-wee Herman. And all of a sudden, I had a Charlie Manson mugshot.”
“I lost control of my anonymity. It was devastating.”
With the assistance of buddies, Reubens snuck out of Sarasota outdoors of the gaze of paparazzi by donning faux enamel, glasses and reducing his hair. He hid out for 2 weeks at his pal Doris Duke’s residence in New Jersey.
“It’s shocking what horrible, awful stuff people think about me,” Reubens stated. “It’s still a significant footnote… 30 years later I still feel the effects all the time.”
To recuperate his picture, Reubens appeared as Pee-wee on the 1991 MTV Music Awards to a euphoric reception and was a visitor as himself on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
A disaster PR agency additionally staged a photograph of Reubens on a date with a girl at an LA restaurant.
Reubens was sometimes seen relationship the alternative intercourse on the time. He was typically noticed being cozy with actress Debi Mazar, who maintains their deep connection.
“He was my boyfriend,” Mazar, 60, says within the documentary. “I know people will say, ‘He was gay!’. So what?”
In 2001, Reubens’ residence was raided and he was charged with possessing pictures that had been considered youngster pornography. The actor, who was an enthusiastic collector of all method of uncommon memorabilia, insisted the images had been “vintage erotica.” Some collections could possibly be present in school libraries. The fees had been dropped in 2004, and Reubens pleaded responsible to a lesser obscenity cost.
Mazar, pal David Arquette and his spouse Courteney Cox stood by Reubens all through the ordeal.
Later, the actor’s profession bounced again considerably. He starred in “The Pee-wee Herman Show” on Broadway in 2010. The Publish stated the efficiency was “like eating a huge ice-cream sundae topped by a mountain of whipped cream and exploding sparklers.” And, along with small roles and voice performing, made the movie “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday” in 2016.
When the obscenity matter comes up in “Pee-wee as Himself,” onscreen textual content reveals that Reubens stopped cooperating with Wolf and the filmmakers and by no means sat down for another interview. Ever the management freak, the actor harbored issues over how his advanced story can be advised.
Intensely non-public Reubens additionally stored his most cancers a secret from the crew all through the method. His well being failing, the beloved actor finally modified his thoughts and determined the documentary needs to be accomplished and despatched his remaining audio message to Wolf. It’s probably the most heart-wrenching second of the film.
“My whole career, everything I did and wrote, was based in love,” he says.
