Matt Wolf for Pee-Wee as Himself – 571

Filmmaker Matt Wolf is here to chat about his Paul Reubens documentary: Pee-Wee as Himself and the challenges of going toe to toe with the bowtied artist himself.

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More about Pee-Wee as Himself

The film⁠ is the definitive story of the artist and performer Paul Reubens and his indelible alter ego Pee-wee Herman. Rubens’ first film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and his children’s television series Pee-wee’s Playhouse were cultural touchstones of the 1980s. However, when Reubens was arrested for indecent exposure, the strict separation he created between himself and his alter ego backfired.

Prior to his recent death, Reubens spoke in-depth about the kaleidoscopic influences that inspired his groundbreaking work, and the personal tribulations he faced to persevere as an artist. As somebody who lost control of his personal narrative in the media, Reubens found himself at odds with the documentary process. But at the end of his life, he took a leap of faith, and decided that the film should be finished.

More about Matt Wolf

Matt Wolf is a filmmaker in New York. His award-winning documentaries have played widely in festivals and have been distributed internationally in theaters and on television. Matt’s acclaimed two-part film Pee-wee as Himself, about the artist and performer Paul Reubens, premiered opening night of Sundance 2025, won a Gotham Award, and is now playing on HBO Max.

Matt’s feature documentaries include Wild Combination about the cult cellist and disco producer Arthur Russell, Teenage about early youth culture and the birth of teenagers, Recorder about the activist Marion Stokes, who secretly recorded television 24 hours a day for 30 years, and Spaceship Earth about Biosphere 2, a controversial experiment where 8 people lived quarantined inside a replica of the planet. Matt produced the Emmy-nominated film The Stroll about the history of New York’s Meatpacking District from the perspective of transgender sex workers. The film won numerous awards, including a Special Jury Prize at Sundance and a Peabody.