Pee-Wee Herman’s long-awaited return to the big screen may finally be happening. When speaking to The LA Times to promote The Smurfs 2 yesterday, Paul Reubens revealed that the upcoming Pee-Wee movie has funding, a finished script, and a director. He declined to reveal who said director is but said it’s likely the film will shoot next year. Reubens also spoke vaguely about a new TV show, which The Times says is “potentially though not necessarily an update on Pee-wee’s Playhouse.†He didn’t give any details beyond saying an announcement is imminent and the show will be on the air in 2014, adding, “Short of something unforeseen like the studio going out of business, I think it’s very likely both these projects will happen next year.â€
After resurrecting Pee-Wee Herman for a successful Broadway show, HBO special, and a series of Funny or Die videos in 2010, Paul Reubens began working on a new Pee-Wee movie in the vein of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure with Judd Apatow producing and Paul Rust (Comedy Bang Bang) co-writing the script with him. It’s now been three years since that project was first announced. Reubens said twice last year that the movie was supposed to start filming in 2012 and he’s talked frequently about how he lies in interviews, so take all of this with a grain of salt.