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Today's secret word is 'comeback' >> Mystery Men marks Paul "Pee-wee" Reubens' return to the spotlight
by RUPERT BOTTENBERG
For the more highbrow types, award-winning thespian Geoffrey Rush (Shine, Elizabeth, Shakespeare in Love) does a little slumming. There's Pras of the Fugees for the hip hop heads, Tom Waits for the cranky drunks, William H. Macy for Mamet/Coen bros. buffs, and for pretty much anyone who appreciates energetic, subversive "children's" entertainment, Mystery Men marks the first prominent role for Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens since his sordid arrest in 1991. "I realize it's perceived, maybe, as a comeback, and that's great," says a very reticent Reubens. "I mean, I don't view it like that. I don't think about it that much. I'm not trying to avoid the question, I just don't." He may not, but the producers of the film did. They smelled a coup (de fromage, peut-être?) when they cast Reubens as the ever-farting Spleen. "I have to say," says Reubens, "I felt sort of cheap and dirty, because it's such an easy way to get a laugh. I did spend a day, though, farting in Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush's face."
Classical gas Rush, a self-described "huge Pee-wee fan," was happy to oblige. As the arch-villain Casanova Frankenstein, Rush has a few run-ins with the Spleen. "There's a fart sequence in the back of my limo, and we hadn't really met that much on the set yet at that point. It was a nice bonding thing for us, because Paul was blown away by this suggestion I made. He said, 'Oh, can I stick my ass in the window,' and blah blah blah, and I said, 'Yeah, and my hair can sort of jump up in the air when he farts on me.' He loved this, because he thought I was this very serious classical actor." The idea behind Mystery Men, torn screaming from the pages of the surreal cult comic book Flaming Carrot, is that in the absence of Champion City's real superhero Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear), Mr. Furious and his putzy posse of well-intentioned superhero wannabes must confront the oily megalomaniac Frankenstein. No easy task, considering that half of them don't even have any real powers, and those that do are pretty lame. The Spleen's power, the result of a gypsy curse, is one of the most... impressive. "Costume designer Marilyn Vance is brilliant," says Ben Stiller, who plays the volatile Mr. Furious. "She designed Paul's outfit with little tassels in the back, so you could actually see the release of air. So when the special effects guy did the little air cannon thing, it was really a nice effect."
Falling from grace "He is the nicest man," says Janeane Garofalo, who nails the ten-pin in her role as the vengeance-obsessed Bowler, "but it's always the nicest people who get it the worst. He was crucified. It's almost like the way Indians were handed smallpox-infested blankets." For those who don't remember the story, Reubens' arrest for masturbatory misadventures in a Florida adult cinema in '91 led to a spectacular fall from grace. His show, however popular, was cancelled, the media tore him to pieces (objectively, of course) and his trademarked "aaaargh!" became the punchline of a million-and-one jack-off jokes. A decade of obscurity followed, broken only by a brief stint on Murphy Brown and a small role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Garofalo's defense of the persecuted Pee-wee becomes increasingly virulent as she mulls the matter over. "There's nothing wrong with going to a porno theater. Who cares? Who cares?! It's so crazy to condemn anyone for living their private life. It's absolutely ridiculous." "I would have given up" she says. "I would have retreated into a shell. God bless him that he didn't, because he has a lot to offer, to children especially."
Imitations verboten Kel Mitchell would agree. Quite noticeable in his role as the Invisible Boy, 20-year-old Mitchell (Good Burger) was a mere sprout when Pee-wee's Playhouse owned the Saturday morning airwaves. "It was fun, because I watched Pee-wee when I was little, and they paired us together a lot in the movie. Off-camera, he thought I was cool, because I'm really into music, and I was the youngest of the cast--the baby of the crew. "He'd knock on my door, going, "Hey, Kel! Guess what I got for lunch" and all this stuff. It was like being on his show--"The word for today is..." He'd be, like "Lunch today is..." He had this little scooter on the set, too. Of course, the first thing you think of is the scooter from Playhouse." Even William H. Macy, perfect as the all-American lunkhead Shoveler, takes a break from waxing on about the wisdom of Mamet to pipe in on Pee-wee. Macy (who actually does use words like "dang" and "bejeezus" in casual speech) recalls that the rest of the cast were careful not to stir up any bad memories for Reubens by way of imitation, however flattering. "That was verboten for about three-quarters of the thing. But everybody does Pee-wee all the time, so we were on good behaviour not to do it in front of him. About three-quarters of the way through, though, someone slipped in a Pee-wee laugh and the cat was out of the bag."
The name, the fame, the shame
Perhaps not, but one thing's for sure: Reubens was not prepared for for the ugly side of celebrity, a white elephant that stomped all over him. It didn't occur to him that being the host of a children's show effectively eliminated his right to have any sort of unusual adult sex life. "I didn't have a clue about fame. I always thought it would be interesting to have a little seminar or something in Hollywood, when you're just starting to get famous. It would explain some of the things you might want to know. Just tips, you know." In that case, Reubens had better dig out the old crib notes. Following his turn in Mystery Men, Reubens' plate is starting to fill up, with a new TV show in the works. "It's called Meet the Muckles, it's a work-in-progress. It's kind of a you-can't-take-it-with-you scenario," he says, playing it cagey on details. Oh, and there's this other thing, too. "I'm just starting to write a movie for Disney called The Pee-wee Herman Story. I still have it all, even the suit. I don't know if I can fit into it, but it's in my basement, right next to the bicycle. The movie's about fame. It's a... safe autobiography."
He who laughs last "He's an imp, is what he is," says Macy. "He's constantly planning. There's always something going on. He's like an aquarium." Rush, with an eye trained to scrutinize the nuances of human behaviour, knows full well what's going on there. "There's something, the ever-present wry glint that Paul has in his eye has a little touch of Pee-wee in it. Because it is very much his clown persona. There's something sweet and subversively innocent in that presence." Although Reubens physically shrinks away when confronted with words like "icon," a bit of the Pee-wee panache that Rush detects does pop up here and there. "Personally, I won three Emmys," notes Reubens, "but the show won 21." Turning to Stiller, who can boast only four for The Ben Stiller Show, he says, "How many did yours win again?" The chuckle that follows, a certain "ha-huh," is very, very familiar.
Mystery Men opens on August 6
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One thing this new comedy Mystery Men benefits from is a talent spread that offers a little something for everyone. For the prime-time sitcom surfers, the improvised interaction between Ben Stiller (There's Something About Mary) and Janeane Garofalo (The Truth About Cats and Dogs) is payoff enough.
Truth is, though, Reubens would have to come to terms with the ghost of Pee-wee sooner or later. "Occasionally," he says, "when we were on location, when I had all those zits on and all that hair, people would still walk up and go, 'Oh, Pee-wee Herman!' I oftentimes thought that I should just change my name to Pee-wee Herman. Most people think that's my name, anyway. Seriously! It would have been smarter to drop the Paul Reubens thing."