Netflix announces ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,’ with Judd Apatow producing
It’s official: Pee-wee is back for another big adventure.
Netflix will distribute “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,†a new movie starring Paul Reubens as the quirky 1980s stage and screen character Pee-wee Herman, the streaming company announced Tuesday.
Confirming a wave of recent reports, Netflix said “Big Holiday†will be produced by Reubens and Judd Apatow, who have been developing the film since 2010, with a script by Reubens and Paul Rust (“Comedy Bang Bang,†“Arrested Developmentâ€).
John Lee (“Broad City,†“Inside Amy Schumerâ€) will make his feature-directing debut on the film, with production scheduled to start in March.
Described as an “epic story of friendship and destiny,†the new movie involves a fateful meeting with a mysterious stranger that sends Pee-wee to take his first-ever holiday.
Reubens first created the character of Pee-wee -- a fun-loving, shrunken-suited, rubber-faced man-child of indeterminate age and occupation -- while a member of the Los Angeles improv group the Groundlings. He brought the character to the big screen in 1985’s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure†and 1988’s “Big Top Pee-wee,†and to television in the Emmy Award-winning series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.â€
Reubens and his character dropped out of the public eye after he was busted for indecent exposure at a Florida adult movie theater in 1991, only to emerge nearly two decades later with an update of the stage production, “The Pee-wee Herman Show.â€
Netflix, which will exclusively premiere “Big Adventure†in all its territories, has been making a push into original feature films of late. The company will release “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Legend†with the Weinstein Co. later this year and also has deals with Adam Sandler and the Duplass Brothers to produce and distribute new movies.
In a statement about “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,†Reubens said, “Judd and I dreamt up this movie four years ago. The world was much different back then -- Netflix was waiting by the mailbox for red envelopes to arrive. I’ve changed all that. The future is here. Get used to it. Bowtie is the new black.â€
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