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Paul Rubens did not tell director Matt Wolf that he was dying of cancer.
The actor and comedian, who became famous as Pee Wee Herman in the 1980s, passed away in 2023 at the age of 70.
“I was planning to have a final interview with him the week after Paul Rubens passed away and we had a conversation a week before he passed away,” Wolf said. Forbes on monday.
“Pee We Herman” actor Paul Rubens died at the age of 70.
Actor Paul Rubens will pose for a portrait dressed in Los Angeles in May 1980. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
“I could say something was happening to his health, but I didn’t understand the gravity of it,” the film director shared. “There was no reason to believe he was terminally ill, but we had a meaningful private conversation that gave us the necessary assurances to move the film forward.”
“I felt the conversation was intense, but I didn’t think much about it,” Wolf continued. “I found out about him on Instagram [had] He died along with other parts of the world. Only a very small group of close friends knew he was dying. ”
According to Wolf, they talked about everything – Rubens’ childhood, his complicated relationship with fame, his ambitions, his commitment to his alter ego, his sexuality, his arrest – He was fighting cancer The past six years.
Paul Rubens did not tell his manager that he had terminal cancer. He is seen here while filming “Pee Wee as Hisself.” (HBO)
Wolf told the outlet that from the start, Rubens was eager to tell his story.
“When Paul and I met, he began the conversation the same way the film began, saying, ‘I want to direct the film myself, but everyone is giving me advice on it, and I don’t know why,'” Wolf recalls.
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The Paul Reubens scandal is covered in the second part of Docuseries. (HBO)
“I said, ‘Well, I’m here to talk about directing a film, so why not see if we can imagine an approach that will get to know each other and appeal to you?” It started a very long and involved communication process, but at that first meeting, I had no connection with Paul as a fan. ”
Watch: Paul Rubens worked with a child with cancer before his death: Mark Holton
Wolf admits he didn’t know when Rubens felt he trusted him, but the star later states, “At some point you just have to make a leap of faith.”
“He has made a leap of faith for me. I am grateful for it,” Wolf added.
Wolf told the outlet there were questions he had never been answered completely by Rubens during their long sit-ins.
Actor Paul Rubens transformed himself into character Pee We Herman in the mirror in Los Angeles in May 1980. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images/HBO)
“I wasn’t hoping for an answer, but in this epic interview I worked chronologically throughout Paul’s life. I stopped before my arrest in Florida,” he explained, referring to the 1991 detention of entertainer adult movie theater obscene revelations.
At the time, Rubens was fined small, but the damage was immeasurable. In 2001 he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography. These are explained in the second part of the documentary.
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Paul Rubens initially hesitated to look back on his life and career in front of the camera. (HBO)
“Paul had anecdote discussions as he had been in a derailed conversation for over 40 hours, but I wanted to go into the details of his arrest in stages,” Wolf told the outlet.
“Pee-Wee As Misel” is now available for streaming. (HBO)
“At the end of the film, I wanted to look back with him about not only about his later career work, but also about how he felt he had gone through a full interview about this process, if he had all the perspectives he had thought of, or if he learned something about himself through a course in which he told his full story. Discussing his second arrest. ”
Wolf pointed out that it is important that the film has Rubens’ final words in his own voice, and that the film ends with his voice.
“Pee-Wee As As Misw” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. There, Director Matt Wolf was able to see the emotional response from the audience. (HBO)
“The day after Paul Rubens diedI began reading a 1,500-page transcript of an interview with him, and I found the importance and meaning and all sorts of things I had previously never understood,” Wolf said.
Paul Rubens has been battling cancer for six years. (HBO)
“…All these different emotions, all these different effects and factors, what I saw when I was little, I somehow felt like I could give it back,” Rubens reflected in the documentary. “I felt like a good collector of it all. I felt like a good container for it.”
“Nothing will stop me,” he shared. “I don’t think it’s going to be pure in every way. And I think that’s part of the reason I’m so proud of it. Because I delivered it. I lived in it. Not just for you, but for yourself.”
Wolf told The Associated Press that it was clear that Rubens was “personally considering mortality.”
“It was an extraordinary situation that was part of the film’s story and I knew it was the best I’d ever had,” Wolf said.
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Paul Rubens on the left is seen along with filmmaker Tim Burton. (HBO)
“Pee Wee as Myself” premiered previously This year is the Sundance Film Festival.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
