PeeWee Herman Returns, the secret word is "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

True story: I once owned a PeeWee Herman doll, that had the string at the back, which you pulled to make it shriek. That doll scared the celluloid out of me, what with its midget fashion sense, and a judgemental gaze that followed me wherever I went.

I thought that I was past that terror. But now I’m reliving that horror once again, after hearing that Judd Apatow and Paul Reubens are teaming up for an all new PeeWee Herman film.

Speaking at a press conference, to promote the new Tron Legacy cartoon, that Reubens has a part in, as the voice of Pavel, a base commander with questionable allegiances, Reubens let slip the following information about the film, which has been in development for several years now;

We have a meeting this coming week, and we just did a very quick little rewrite on it.  As far as I know, it’s getting shot very soon.  I actually wasn’t supposed to talk about it, initially.

I was talking about it in this very veiled, secretive way, saying, “Oh, I wish I could talk about it.”  A journalist figured out that it was Judd Apatow that I was talking about because my writing partner was in the audience and he’s written so much with Judd.

So, it got leaked about six months to a year before it was supposed to.  I’ve been warned not to talk about any of my new projects, but that I can talk about because I blew it and it’s out.

It’s even on IMDB now.  So, that’s supposedly any minute.  Right after that, I’m following that up with two incredibly exciting projects.  I would give anything to be able to just brag to you right now and drop some names, but I can’t.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Character of PeeWee Herman, imagine Mr Bean if he spoke 24/7, but with the man-child tendencies of Alan from The Hangover films, on crack.

The character was originally much edgier, before being toned down for a feature film, made by Tim Burton. A sequel followed the 1985 film in 1988, with a succesful children’s show that lasted for two seasons, before a drug scandal allowed Reubens to shelve the character for several years, bringing him out periodically in the interim.

Seeing as the film has been in limbo for so many years already, I’m amazed that Tim Burton never revisited it and got Johnny Depp to play the title role.

 

Last Updated: May 14, 2012