SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/654804
2 6 S X S W o r l d | M U S I C M A R C H 2 0 1 6 | S X S W. C O M My main fear was I didn't want to fuck up." That's an under- standable sentiment coming from John Lee, the director of Pee-wee's Big Holiday, the first Pee-wee Herman feature since the '80s. Lee is well aware of what Pee-wee means to so many people. In fact, it's possible that his own career, which includes co-creating the absurdist sketch comedy show Wonder Showzen, would have gone dif- ferently were it not for a man in a grey suit and red bowtie. As Lee puts it, Pee-wee's Big Adventure showed him, "There's a whole world out there. Be your own little freaky self and just be artistic." While the pressure is understandable, it's not as if Lee was thrown into the deep end without significant life preservers. Not only does Big Holiday bring back its seemingly ageless creator, Paul Reubens, but it's also produced by Judd Apatow, the man with the modern comedy Midas touch. The Trainwreck director caught Reubens' Pee-wee stage production revival before it stormed Broadway, and swiftly set up a meeting. Getting a new Pee-wee movie made had been a goal of Reubens' for years. He had already written two scripts -- one report- edly light and kid-friendly, the other a bit darker and possibly R-rated -- that were ready to go. However, Apatow wasn't interested in either, and asked if Reubens was open to doing a road trip comedy a bit more in line with 1985's Big Adventure. "I don't know who would be in a position to say 'no' to that," recalls Reubens, and shortly there- after Apatow introduced him to writer Paul Rust of Comedy Bang! Bang! fame. The two set off to shape a story that finds Pee-wee's simple life in a tiny, idealized American town interrupted by a chance encounter with an out-of-town biker played by Magic Mike breakout Joe Manganiello, who gives a self-aware performance so deliciously perfect that even Reubens confessed, "If it wasn't my movie, I would be feeling some strong, jealous emotions about him stealing the movie." Manganiello winds up being the wildcard yin to Pee-wee's nothing- ever-changes yang, inspiring him to finally take a risk and embark for New York City. And though it was Apatow who got the ball rolling, don't expect this to be like his other improv heav y productions. By Reubens' own admission, he is "a snob about a lot of things, especially with comedy," and while Apatow did encourage on-set deviations from time to time, Big Holiday is a heavily scripted, beautifully crafted production that leans more on a classic style of filmmaking, where things are figured out on the page and on the set long before they even make it to the editing room. The remarkably detail-oriented production will be sure to please everyone who loved the elaborate sets and larger-than-life characters associated with Pee-wee's world. It's not nearly as overtly stylized as Pee-wee's Playhouse, though. Lee was worried about "exhausting" the audience with too much, too fast and instead opted to take things slowly. Subtlety may not be the first thing people think of when they think about Pee-wee Herman, but Lee has layered the entire produc- tion with touches that he hopes will "evoke something whether you notice it or not." If you're wondering why watching the movie feels vaguely like time traveling, it's not just because it looks as though Pee-wee has barely aged a day -- it's because the farther he journeys away from his home- town, the more the world modernizes. As Lee describes, "Ten to 20 minutes in, you'll start to notice the cars change from the '40s and '50s to the '60s and '70s. Twenty minutes deeper in, they start to turn into the '80s, and by the time he hits New York, they're all fully modern." If you're wondering why there's a sense of deja-vu watching Big Holiday, it's because of a particularly nuanced gag wherein the people who fill out Pee-wee's small town are also seen detail-for-detail in a scale replica Pee-wee labors over. Actors don't just wear the same costumes as their figurines, they wave their hands in the exact same position as their tiny counterparts. Most people may never notice that Pee-wee's room is filled with imagery of nesting woodland crea- tures that, just like Pee-wee, rarely leave the safety of their home. The attention to detail goes on and on and most of it won't even make sense until you see the movie, but it's amazing to see a modern studio comedy so vividly realized and artistically confident; a comedy that doesn't have all of its beats fine-tuned by test screening reac- tions. As Reubens explains, "I do what I think is funny and cross my fingers in a big way and hope other people think what I do is funny. ... Otherwise you're guessing what people will like." T Pee-wee's Big Holiday World Premieres at 6pm tonight (Thursday, March 17) at the Paramount Theatre. The audience is invited to stay for the "Judd Apatow and Friends" stand-up event, starting at 8:15pm. The film also screens at 11pm tonight at the Alamo Lamar. It debuts on Netflix tomorrow. Pee-wee Herman Hits the Road Again in Big Screen Return by Peter hAll " G L E N W I L S O N Pe e - we e H e rm a n