Paul Reuben's Face In Pee-Wee's Big Holiday Was A Big Fake Out
The late, great comedian Paul Reubens first started developing his popular Pee-wee Herman character while working for the Groundlings, a comedy troupe in Los Angeles. They famously encouraged comedians to invent wild, outsize characters that would provide comedy in any situation they entered. Reubens' Pee-wee character caught the attention of the local — then the national — comedy scene, leading to a long-running live show. Eventually, Pee-wee became the star of three feature films. Tim Burton's "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" was released in 1985, Randal Kleiser's "Big Top Pee-wee" was released in 1988, and John Lee's "Pee-wee's Big Holiday" was released on Netflix in 2016.
The third of those films came after Reubens had experienced multiple career highs and lows, having starred in a hit TV series, then having retreated from the public eye in the 1990s because of a very public arrest. Reubens returned to film in a big way in 2001 with his performance in the movie "Blow," and by 2016, he was very much back in the public's good graces, having been embraced as a cult figure and comedy giant. Although Pee-wee was a mincing man-child obsessed with weird gadgets, magic tricks, and his beloved bicycle, Reubens returned to play the role at the age of 64 for "Holiday."
The timing caused Reubens some concern. On an appearance on "Conan," Reubens admitted that he, in his 60s, required a little bit of a digital facial brush-up to play the part again. It was only subtle, but the makers of "Pee-wee's Big Holiday" used CGI de-aging technology, similar to that seen in "The Irishman," to make Reubens look as young as he did. Reubens, of course, still looked fantastic for his age, but copped to his "Holiday" face being a lie.
The face is a lie
The interview on "Conan" came a few years after the release of "Pee-wee's Big Holiday," so Reubens felt comfortable spilling the beans, as it were, revealing the digital trickery that went into creating his de-aged face for the movie. He noted that returning to the role after a 28-year absence evoked images of pathetic movie stars who could move on from their youthful glory days, specifically as it was depicted in a 1962 Robert Aldrich classic. He said:
"I made a movie for Netflix; it was the third Pee-wee movie. There was, like, a 25-year gap. And I felt like being Pee-wee Herman at that point — Or now. Or Later — was a sort of like ... Do you know that movie 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' It was sort of like [singing] 'I'm writing a letter to Pee-wee...' Scary! Like I just ... like weird. So, Pee-wee was sort of based on youth, youthfulness. So we did something — this is a secret, please don't tell anybody — we did an early sort of computer-generated 'Irishman.'"
The "Letter to Daddy" song was the hit number once sung by the movie's Baby Jane character who aged into a bitter, adult has-been played by Bette Davis.
Reubens admitted that he wanted to talk all about the de-aging special effects, but was hit with an attack of compliments about youthful appearance when critics began seeing "Holiday."
"I was prepared to talk all about it when the movie came out, but people from the press saw the movie and would say stuff to me like 'What is your secret? My God it's like time stood still!' And I would be looking at the people going 'You're two feet away from me what are you talking about?'"
It's like time stood still
The plot of "Pee-wee's Big Holiday" involved the characters meeting with studly actor Joe Manganiello, playing himself. Joe and Pee-wee found they wanted to be friends — in a very childish, little-boy sense — but the film endeavored to keep them apart for the bulk of its running time. "Holiday" ends with the two men finally meeting in a clubhouse and being friends. It feels vaguely like a romance. According to the Hollywood Reporter, "Holiday" was an extremely cheap movie to make, costing only $7 million. Ruebens sensed that the press assumed a much larger budget and that more time was spent on his makeup. It seems that the de-aging effect was, for the most part, a lot more low-fi than that. Reubens said:
"I think people just thought we had a big budget. And I had an Academy Award-winning makeup artist. Which I did! But ... uh ... a lot of backlighting. High angles."
The chief makeup artist on "Holiday" was Judy Chin who won an Oscar for her work on "The Whale."
Host Conan O'Brien pointed out with astonishment that Reubens was given a whoile new face, to which Reuben broke into mock tears. When O'Brien asked what went into the de-aging CGI process, Reubens slyly joked, "You couldn't afford it." He then leaned in to look at the host's 60-year-old face. "I would consult someone tomorrow," he quipped.
Ruebens was also shocked at the cost of the de-aging process. It turns out it was a substantial part of the film's budget, and he commented that it actually would have cost less for him to actually have gotten cosmetic surgery.
Either way, Reubens looked fantastic and brought his whimsical energy back to the movie.
R.I.P. to a giant.