Pee-Wee as Himself
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“It Pushed Me to the Limits of My Ability and Experience as a Filmmaker”: Matt Wolf on His Emmy-Nominated Pee-wee As Himself
Throughout his career, documentary filmmaker Matt Wolf has excelled at portraits of complicated artists and individuals whose work is both highly idiosyncratic as well as, at least seen in retrospect, emergent from specific cultural, social and political milieus. Early work include two films — a short, Smalltown Boys, and his feature debut, Wild Combination — about, respectively, two seminal downtown New York figures of the ’70s and ’80s, artist David Wojnarowicz and composer Arthur Russell. The 2017 short Bayard and Me looked at the relationship between civil rights leader Bayard Rustin through the lens of his relationship with boyfriend Walter […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 15, 2025 -
“Interrotrons Can Be a Real Drain on Production”: DP David Jacobson on Pee-wee as Himself
Filmed before his death in 2023, Pee-wee as Himself, an episodic project from documentary filmmaker Matt Wolf, chronicles the life and legacy of performer Paul Reubens via intimate interviews and a wealth of archival material. Cinematographer David Jacobson discusses his involvement on the project, including meeting Wolf at their alma mater, the influence of technicolor on the shoot and incorporating Errol Morris’s Interrotron technology for the interviews. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“What Paul Was Saying Was Very Reflective of Who He Was”: Editor Damian Rodriguez on Pee-wee as Himself
Filmmaker Matt Wolf chronicles the life and career of Paul Reubens—best known as his alter ego Pee-wee Herman—via intimate interviews and a trove of archival footage in Pee-wee as Himself. Filmed before the artist’s recent death, the series premieres in Sundance’s Episodic section. Editor Damian Rodriguez discusses navigating Herman’s enormous personal archive, how the actor’s passing altered the film’s narrative and passing down his own affinity for Pee-wee’s Playhouse to his son. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“The First Time Paul Eased Into the Role of Subject” | Matt Wolf, Pee-wee as Himself
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? It was a long process to get Paul Reubens comfortable appearing in front of the camera for the documentary. Paul had been an avid home videomaker since the 1970s, and a huge amount of his own footage appears in the documentary. With that in mind, I bought Paul a new camcorder, and I asked […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025
