Paul Reubens unveils a new look in Mystery Men
By STEVE TILLEY -- Express Writer
NEW YORK -- Paul Reubens is preparing for Pee-wee's first big adventure since his infamous misadventure in a movie theatre eight years ago.
Pee-wee Herman, Reubens' man-child alter-ego for two hit movies and a critically acclaimed children's TV series, hasn't been heard from since the cinema incident.
Reubens was arrested in July 1991 at a Florida adult movie house after he was caught red-handed engaging in a solo adventure of his own. He was convicted, paid a $50 fine and did 75 hours community work.
While Reubens had already retired the Pee-wee character after the movies Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Big Top Pee-wee and the series Pee-wee's Playhouse, the arrest made certain the lovable apple-cheeked, bow-tied persona was no more.
Until now, that is.
"I'm just getting ready to start writing a movie with Valerie Curtin called The Pee-wee Herman Story," says a soft-spoken Reubens during an interview in a Manhattan hotel for the upcoming superhero comedy Mystery Men.
Curtin co-scripted the 1992 Robin Williams vehicle Toys with the movie's director, Barry Levinson, as well as appearing in films and TV comedies.
While the 47-year-old Reubens gave no hint as to the movie's premise, he did say he looks back fondly on his Pee-wee days, when he looks back on them at all.
"I don't look back fondly on the amount of work it was, particularly the kids' show," he says. "But as it gets further away it seems like less work.
"I don't think about it that much, honestly. I just sort of do what comes my way, or what somebody wants me to do."
What director Kinka Usher wanted Reubens to do was play the Spleen, a flatulent, pustulent superhero in Mystery Men's rag-tag group of blue-collar crime fighters.
Starring Ben Stiller, Greg Kinnear, Geoffrey Rush and Janeane Garofalo, Mystery Men, opening in theatres next week, is based on an underground comic book about a group of second-rate superheroes.
The Spleen's power is his ability to emit incredibly noxious blasts of gas from his bottom.
"I thought it would be really cool to be a superhero. It's not exactly what I envisioned, the superhero I wound up playing."
Reubens will next be seen in the western South of Heaven, West of Hell, directed by Dwight Yoakam ("I play a murderer, bank robber, rapist"), then in next year's Great Sex, with Robert Forster and David Thewlis.
As for the distant movie-theatre incident, Reubens doesn't address it directly, but shares his opinion on the ups and downs of fame.
"I love being famous and I don't," he says. "There should
be a little seminar to explain the possible problems."