Reboots and reimaignings are all the rage right now, but not usually like this. Per THR, Paul Reubens is considering taking his legendary comic character Pee-Wee Herman down a very dark path with the help of the Safdie brothers.
Reubens has pitched a dark Pee-Wee film where the character emerges from prison and becomes an unlikely yodeling star. He then moves to Hollywood and becomes a movie star, developing a severe pill and alcohol addiction that turns him into a monster. “I’ve referred to it as the Valley Of The Dolls Pee-wee movie”, Reubens says. “It’s about fame”.
Reubens reportedly first started working on the script in the late 90s and has been tinkering with it ever since. However, Judd Apatow convinced Reubens to work on something more light-hearted, which is how Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday came about for Netflix a few years ago.
Reubens though, was unhappy with how he looked in the film, saying that he doesn’t mind looking his age, but not as Pee-Wee, comparing it to What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?
Reubens wants to use digital de-aging technology on the project. He thinks he can do the film for $15 million even though his quote is usually $3 million and digital de-aging would cost at least $1.5 million, only leaving $10.5 million for the rest of production.
Netflix reportedly balked at the idea, and Apatow isn’t interested. However, Reubens did reach out to Josh and Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems, Good Time) about directing and they’re reportedly considering it. This isn’t particularly surprising when you look at their oeuvre, especially Uncut Gems and how they twisted the personas of Adam Sandler and NBA star Kevin Garnett.
Dark Pee-Wee sounds like the kind of thing a friend would pitch as a SNL sketch, but in the hands of the Safdie brothers it could be something very interesting. Reubens has obviously been trying to get this made for decades, so there’s no guarantee that it will finally happen now, but audiences would be interested, at least morbidly, so it’s possible a studio will take a chance on it.
#Peace.Love.PeeWeeHerman
