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'Pee-wee' gets ready for new movie on Netflix

Maria Puente
USA TODAY
Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman at Comic Con in July 2011.

You heard it here first: Bow tie is the new black.

Pee-wee Herman, the goofball kiddie character who's still not grown up, is going to be in a new movie on Netflix and grown-up comedy titan Judd Apatow is going to help him make it.

Netflix confirmed Tuesday the long-expected project in which Apatow will team with Pee-wee creator Paul Reubens, who's played the arrested-development man-boy in theaters, the movies and on TV since 1981.

They're going to make Pee-wee's Big Holiday, in which a mysterious stranger inspires Pee-wee to take his first holiday in what Netflix described as "an epic story of friendship and destiny."

"Judd and I dreamt up this movie four years ago," said Reubens-as-Pee-wee in a statement. "The world was much different back then — Netflix was waiting by the mailbox for red envelopes to arrive.

"I've changed all that. The future is here. Get used to it. Bowtie is the new black."

Reubens and Paul Rust (Arrested Development) wrote the film, and John Lee (Inside Amy Schumer) will direct his first feature film. Production is to start early this year.

Apatow, the producer/director/screenwriter and comedy man-of-all-trades, said in a statement he's "thrilled," having been a fan of Reubens for decades.

"It is a dream come true," said Apatow, who's responsible for some of the biggest funny-movie hits of recent years, including Bridesmaids.

Paul Reubens on 'The Tonight Show' in October.

"We didn't hesitate for a moment," said the equally delighted Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. "We are thrilled to bring our viewers around the world the wonder of Pee-wee Herman."

Not much has been seen of Pee-wee of late, even though he was a huge hit in the 1980s with the 1985 comedy Pee-wee's Big Adventure, which Reubens co-wrote and marked Tim Burton's directorial debut.

Reubens created The Pee-wee Herman Show, a hit for HBO, and created, co-wrote and co-directed Pee-wee's Playhouse on CBS, earning 22 Emmys in five years.

But then, in 1991, Reubens, now 62, was arrested for indecent exposure in an adult theater in Sarasota, Fla., which horrified parents and nearly destroyed his career as a children's character actor. Reubens and Pee-wee went into a time-out for nearly a decade.

Eventually, Reubens returned as a different kind of character actor, and with some success. He's appeared in such series as 30 Rock, Reno 911, Everybody Loves Raymond and Murphy Brown.

His film credits include Mystery Men and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and he's voiced animated characters in such films as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Star Wars Rebels, Robot Chicken, Family Guy and Smurfs.

Netflix said he's now working on a variety show for TV and appears in a recurring role on NBC's drama The Blacklist.

And he's got a "log" (not blog) as Pee-wee. And a Twitter account, of course.

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