There’s renewed curiosity within the life and profession of Paul Reubens because of the critically acclaimed two-part documentary Pee-Wee as Himself from HBO Max.
The movie, from filmmaker Matt Wolf, just lately hit the streamer after a world premiere on the Sundance Movie Pageant in January. Wolf labored intently with Reubens in pulling collectively the undertaking, culled from greater than 40 hours of on-camera interviews and 1,000 hours of archival footage and formed over what turned out to be an emotional rollercoaster lasting 4 years.
On the heels of Sundance revealing the 2025 lineup final December, The Hollywood Reporter occurred to be on Zoom with Joe Manganiello to debate the most recent season of his buzzy new actuality competitors sequence Deal or No Deal Island. Because the interview was winding down, THR requested Manganiello in regards to the documentary and Reubens, somebody he received to know fairly properly when he filmed a starring position in Netflix’s 2016 movie Pee-Wee’s Huge Vacation.
Because it turned out, Manganiello had been considering lots about his good friend, who died on July 30, 2023, following a personal battle with most cancers. “I like Paul and I miss Paul lots,” Manganiello stated, including that he had just lately woken up after having a dream about Reubens. “Paul confirmed up and pranked me with a sensible joke in my dream. It was a type of goals while you get up and it feels actually actual. It was so vivid. I simply thought, gosh, if there was anybody on the planet who would use the afterlife to determine the way to play a sensible joke on his mates and prank them of their sleep, it will be Paul. He was so beneficiant.”
As has been well-documented, Reubens beloved birthdays and would by no means let one slip by with out making it particular. “When he came upon when your birthday was, he would bombard you with birthday playing cards, birthday messages, birthday texts, birthday movies all the day,” Manganiello recalled. “Buddies of mine who simply met him in passing by means of me, he would get their numbers and do it to ’em, too.”
Within the movie, Manganiello performs himself and the actor recalled that Reubens wrote the half particularly for him, calling the gesture “a validation that one of many nice comedic geniuses would name me up” to be his associate on the movie. “He was such a genius, however he didn’t demand that you simply handled him that manner. I bear in mind once we went to set the primary day, I stated, ‘Paul, once we get there, am I calling you Paul or am I calling you Pee-wee? Are you in character?’ He stated, ‘No, I’m Paul.’ Once I received there, he was there in a full-on swimsuit and bow-tie [like Pee-Wee] however he was nonetheless Paul. He actually needed to set you as much as win.”
Starring Reubens as the enduring Pee-wee Herman, the John Lee-directed Pee-wee’s Huge Vacation follows the adventures of the title character after a fateful assembly with a mysterious stranger evokes him to take his first-ever vacation on this epic story of friendship and future. The solid additionally consists of Jessica Pohly, Alia Shawkat and Stephanie Beatriz. Reubens co-wrote the movie with Paul Rust and produced it alongside Judd Apatow.
A scene from Netflix’s Pee-wee’s Huge Vacation that includes Manganiello and Reubens.
Courtesy of Netflix
As for the doc, on the time of THR’s interview, Manganiello hadn’t but seen Pee-Wee as Himself, however he was excited by the truth that it exists. “It’s a very good time for it and I feel it’s going to be actually efficient because it comes from his perspective,” stated the veteran star. “I feel there’s quite a lot of confusion with individuals about out what he was in hassle for and what he wasn’t in hassle for, and that narrative has gotten actually muddy. I feel that he actually did get a uncooked deal, and it actually harm him deeply. He was somebody that felt issues actually deeply, and it’s unhappy for me as a result of I look again and I take into consideration what the world would’ve been like had he not had to enter this self-imposed exile or this sort of society-imposed exile. It was dumb.”
Manganiello, like so lots of Reubens’ shut mates and collaborators, didn’t find out about his years-long battle with most cancers. And talking about him within the interview brought on him to get choked up and struggle again tears, an emotional moment that he later mentioned with Individuals Journal.
“I take into consideration him on a regular basis. I miss him lots. He was like a member of the family. He would come over for Thanksgiving, he would come over to the home on a regular basis, or I’d go to his [house],” recalled Manganiello, getting teary. “He despatched me a video earlier than he handed away. It was simply him speaking about how a lot he beloved me and the way nice I used to be within the film and the way humorous he thought I used to be, how nice of an actor he thought I used to be. It was simply this glowing, unbelievable video. I didn’t notice that he was sending that as a result of he knew that his time was going to be brief. I nonetheless have it in my telephone and it’s exhausting understanding that it’s in there, however that’s simply the sort of person who he was. He let all people that he beloved know that he beloved him on a regular basis. I simply really feel so privileged to have had the prospect to work with him on that intimate of a stage and to get to know him as an individual. I used to be his greatest fan. I beloved him. I’ll at all times miss him.”