“Pee-wee as Himself” affords a refreshing distinction to movie star documentaries formed by estate-approved image control. Director Matt Wolf approached the movie as a homosexual man profoundly influenced by “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” and its message of non-conformity — and as somebody desperate to unpack the complexity of Paul Reubens, a superb artist who re-entered the closet and disappeared behind his iconic persona to thrive in Hollywood.
However, Wolf didn’t count on the undertaking to almost break him. It modified him personally and professionally — but it surely additionally earned 5 Emmy nominations, together with Best Director. On this week’s Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast, he mirrored on the toll of constructing a movie about his idol.
Wolf’s introduction to Reubens got here via Josh and Benny Safdie, who would later come aboard as producers.
“Paul had met with other directors whom he either didn’t connect with artistically or who were not open to his level of involvement,” Wolf mentioned. “And I think I had a cocky attitude, ‘I’m good with complicated people.’ And I am, but this was on a different level. The amount of control that Paul wanted to have, maybe I didn’t fully understand, or take seriously. I figured once we got up and running, he would trust me to do what I do.”
Reubens and Wolf had lengthy, private conversations. Both have been homosexual Jewish creatives with supportive households and uncompromising visions, and Wolf hoped their connection would construct belief. He additionally believed Reubens appreciated that he wasn’t targeted on the 1991 arrest or the later, discredited baby pornography cost — which Wolf noticed as a homophobic witch hunt.
To uncover the artist behind his Pee-wee alter-ego, Reubens’ 1,000-hour private archive was key — however whereas Reubens indicted he was prepared, he struggled to let go.
“I was dealing with somebody who had enormous issues with control,” mentioned Wolf. “I think he would say that about himself at the time. But so do a lot of artists. The difference with Paul was that he had lost control of his personal narrative in the media.”
The public first noticed the person behind Pee-wee in what Reubens referred to as his “Charlie Manson” mug shot — goatee, lengthy hair, vacant stare – when he was arrested at a Sarasota, Florida porn theater in 1991. It was a picture that will change his life eternally. Privately, he let Wolf in, however getting him on digicam took time. When he lastly agreed, his want for management was apparent.
“There was a real power struggle that had been brewing and that was playing out on camera,” mentioned Wolf. “I pretty quickly realized that this is part of who this person is, and he’s putting it on full display in front of the camera.”
Reubens was particularly advanced: an brazenly homosexual CalArts artist who re-entered the closet, gave up love, and located fame and creative independence as a personality preaching non-conformity. It was a narrative of somebody who exerted the final word management over his picture, after which skilled its full loss by the hands of the tabloids.
Trying to unravel that on-camera led to actual breakthroughs, however the digicam additionally captured how rapidly Reubens may very well be triggered to distrust the documentary course of with out being the one directing it. Wolf had no real interest in being a personality in his personal movie, however the subject-director dichotomy that was enjoying out on digicam would turn into key to understanding Reubens’ complexities.
Wolf would make concessions, together with letting the Pee-wee creator, who as soon as obsessed about his “Playhouse” units, information the documentary’s manufacturing design for interviews.
“I was also transparent that there is no script,” he mentioned. “I would be constructing that story in post-production. That was informative and alarming to Paul because he wanted to be in the edit room every day, and there’s no way I could do what I do in that manner.”
On the podcast, Wolf described a serious struggle over the director sustaining ultimate lower. “I remember walking with him after we had this fight, and he [said], ‘We’re scared of the same thing. You want to control the film you’re making and I want control over my life.‘”
Wolf had at all times deliberate to divide his interviews with Reubens into three chronological blocks, separated by enhancing breaks. The second block lined Reubens’ life up via the tip of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.” It was instantly after wrapping his youngsters’s present in 1991 that Reubens visited his mother and father in Florida, throughout which his notorious arrest befell. Both director and topic have been effectively conscious that the impression of that occasion could be inescapable within the third and ultimate block of interviews, which by no means befell. After the second block of interviews was accomplished, Wolf and editor Damian Rodriguez lower the primary 45 minutes of the documentary and screened it for Reubens, hoping to finalize the deal.
“We had a basic agreement, but negotiating an involved and long-form contract with the subject before you begin can be a toxic process. It can really freak people out,” Wolf mentioned. “It is a dance of making people feel comfortable, but also protecting yourself while making a film. And we rode that line hard. So we were still in the process of closing a deal with Paul as we were filming. And it had been established that I would have final cut and he would have meaningful consultation, but the nitty gritty of that was not yet resolved.”
Reubens left the screening a number of occasions, struggling to collect his ideas. Then, he disappeared. He stopped responding to Wolf, refused to signal the settlement, and wouldn’t e-book the ultimate interviews. HBO and the manufacturing assumed the movie was useless. The publish group was laid off, and all work ceased.
“It was horrible. It was horrible for him too, I’m sure,” mentioned Wolf. “It was just so devastating, mostly because everybody knew how good the material was and what a good film we had on our hands… I kept telling him this film would reintroduce him to a modern audience, would let him set the record straight after years of malicious and unfair portrayals… It just felt so devastating that people might not see it. And so dumb. Like, ’Why can’t we find a path and make this work? Do not self-sabotage. This film is going to reappraise your legacy.’”
At the time, Wolf had simply turned 40. Having his greatest and costliest undertaking collapse this late within the course of was a menace to his profession. His private life suffered; fights along with his associate of twenty years turned frequent.
“It changed me as a human,” he mentioned. “I will never make a film the same way again. And I worry in some ways that somehow I’ll believe that great struggle leads to the best art because I don’t think that has to be true.”
Then, after virtually a yr of no communication with Wolf, Reubens shocked everybody by signing the deal. His attorneys requested how rapidly the third interview block might start.
“I had a conversation with [Reubens] and his voice sounded weird,” mentioned Wolf, describing their first — and final — dialog in a yr. “He said some intense things that to me indicated that he may be contemplating his mortality, that maybe [he] had a health diagnosis… he wasn’t specific, but he did say, ‘I’m not going be able to be as involved as I had hoped, and I’m sorry that I’ve been so emotional the past few years.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry if I did things that upset you.’ And he said, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong,’ and then, ’I trust you.’”
Just as he ready to fly to LA and resume filming, the following shock got here.
“I had no knowledge that he had ever had health-related issues, and I get a text from my executive at HBO with a screenshot from Instagram saying that Paul’s dead,” mentioned Wolf. “And then I got a call from Paul’s publicist and longtime friend Kelly Bush Novak. She encouraged Paul to record a final message for the documentary. She learned that he had not had an opportunity to address his arrests, and it was important for him to address that — and he did, the day before he died. Kelly recorded it.”
After listening to the ultimate audio, Wolf started placing the items collectively. “I knew immediately what happened here was part of the story of this film,” he mentioned. “And I went to work the next day.”
Seven months after the Emmy-nominated “Pee-wee as Himself” premiered at Sundance, Wolf mentioned he would by no means make one other documentary the identical method once more. He additionally couldn’t think about having made this one another method.
“I’m trying to fully absorb the intensity to which people are reacting to this film emotionally. I knew I felt that way [making it],” mentioned Wolf. “But I also feel that there’s nothing to be done differently. He was an intense person. We had an intense relationship. What happened to him during his lifetime was intense. The way he died was intense. It’s intensity after intensity, and brilliance and genius on full display — and so my job was to make that come across so that you could experience it.”
“Pee-wee as Himself” is nominated for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, and Outstanding Directing, Picture Editing, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program.
To hear Matt Wolf‘s full interview, subscribe to the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. To watch the full interview, subscribe to IndieWire’s YouTube web page.
Leave a Reply