One of the most lovably dark and bizarre comedies of the 1980’s is none other than Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, directed by Tim Burton himself. The movie was followed up by the lesser received Big Top Pee-wee, and after a long hiatus, the Pee-wee Herman character returned in the Netflix film Pee-wee’s Big Holiday in 2016.
Now it looks like Paul Reubens want to bring back Pee-wee in a film darker than ever. In a new interview, he revealed that he’s been pitching The Pee-wee Herman Story, an incredibly dark reboot featuring the iconic character.
In a new interview with THR, it appears they’ve been informed that the new film will focus on Pee-wee Herman after he “gets sent to a mental hospital for shock treatment for his alcoholism.”
In fact, here’s what Reubens had to say with a little more detail on the incredibly dark take which he’s been working on as a script since the late 1990’s:
“In it, Pee-wee emerges from prison to become an unlikely yodeling star; then moves to Hollywood and becomes a movie star; then he develops 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, dead serious. ‘It’s about fame.’”
Apparently that was the movie he wanted to make in place of Pee-wee’s Big Holiday which premiered in 2016. And he’s still eager to make it today – Reubens has been pitching the script while only asking for a $15 million budget, only half of what Big Holiday cost to produce. While streaming platform Netflix and Big Holiday producer Judd Apatow remain uninterested in making a dark Pee-wee movie, he’s now attempted shopping the script to the Safdie brothers. You may recognize them as the directing duo behind the recent Adam Sandler flick Uncut Gems.
And although the directing duo remain interested, and a super fan even admitted to be willing to donate $10 million of his own money to the project, it’s still up to Reubens to find the rest of the cash. So only time will tell if Reubens will get a chance to tell his dark story, but considering the character has been able to come back at all following his popularity in the 1980’s and 1990’s, then perhaps we’ll be seeing The Pee-wee Herman Story sooner rather than later.