Ben Stiller & Paul Reubens
"I get very angry" "Pull My Finger. I'm silent but deadly"
OK, we doubled up on this one. Ben Stiller, son of comediens Jerry Stiller and Anne Mearer. Multi-talented actor, director, book writer, funny guy. Paul Reubens, better remembered as TV's Pee Wee Herman. [and yes the entire junket was dying to ask about what happened in Florida but we're all cowards and decided to let it lie. We talked about other things Pee Wee]. In Mystery Men, Ben Stiller plays Mr. Furious, a man with no real superpowers, though he does warn his enemies about his "power" (kind of like Bruce Banner saying "you wouldn't like to see me when I'm angry" but with no Hulk to back him up). Paul Reubens, though, plays The Spleen, with a power that Howard Stern would love . . .
CrankyCritic: Paul,
how far did you have to go to get ready to play the Spleen?
Paul Reubens: Not very far. I just glued on a few zits, threw
on a wig. That was it.
CrankyCritic: You
didn't practice farting?
Paul Reubens: I did not. It just came naturally [snickers]
CrankyCritic: No
change in diet?
Paul Reubens: No. I don't eat well, anyways.
CrankyCritic: OK,
then, we'll bother Ben
Ben Stiller: Gee, thanks
CrankyCritic: We're
told that you changed the role of Mr. Furious from what it was in its
original conception.
Ben Stiller: A little bit. The original conception of the
character was that he really was angry all the time. I didn't know
how that would sustain through an entire movie so I decided to act with
the idea of a guy who wanted to be something that he wasn't. That he wanted
to put up a front of being this tough guy, furious and angry, who thought
he had all this power but obviously didn't, in reality
CrankyCritic: Well,
that's you.
Ben Stiller: Yes. That's me to a T. I am angry with no power.
Or I get angry and nothing happens.
CrankyCritic: We've
also been told that you didn't want this part.
Ben Stiller: It was one of those things where I didn't immediately
jump. I'd gotten the script and it seemed to be really funny. I'd been
working on something else and then Janeane came on board and Paul and
all these really interesting actors and I thought, "OK this could
really be something special."
CrankyCritic: Paul,
can we talk about Pee Wee?
Paul Reubens: I don't mind
CrankyCritic: Were you aware of how much he's become an icon?
of how
other actors said they were in awe of you.
Paul Reubens: I'm dimly aware of it, but I try not to think
about it. Too much.
CrankyCritic: In
the beginning of the TV show, did you have any idea that it was going
to touch people like it did?
Paul Reubens: I had no idea.
Ben Stiller: There's a lot of respect for what Paul does.
Did. Paul
created this character
– that's the key word, created. It's no accident he's associated with
Pee Wee Herman. He did all this work to create this character. It's not
like someone who was cast in a role and is known as Pee Wee Herman on
a show or something. Paul created this guy. Wrote it and produced it and
directed some of it. I think that most of us in the cast were impressed.
Things like that don't happen by accident. It's hard work.
Paul Reubens: I'm just hearing this for the first time. Nobody
acted like that.
Ben Stiller: It's the same thing with Geoffrey Rush. You don't
go up and go "oh wow, Oscar!"
Paul Reubens: That's right. I went up and farted in Geoffrey
Rush's face.
Ben Stiller: And I think everybody in the cast was impressed.
CrankyCritic: While
you were growing up, did you have figures that you idolized?
Paul Reubens: Oh, I think I had a lot. Real early I loved
Lucy and Ricky. I loved a lot of kids shows that were real influences
on my show. I was on Howdy Doody as a kid. Mickey Mouse Club, a couple
of local shows. Captain Kangaroo.
CrankyCritic: You
were in The Peanut Gallery?
Paul Reubens: I was in The Peanut Gallery. Once. I sat on
the floor in Oneonta, New York for the last episode of The Howdy Doody
Show thinking "What kind of world would cancel Howdy Doody?"
It was my first taste of reality.
CrankyCritic: Were
any of the spleen's mannerisms patterned after anyone in particular?
Paul Reubens: The voice was Kinka Usher's idea.
CrankyCritic: And
"pull my finger"
Paul Reubens: I don't know. "Pull My Finger" was
one of those things I always heard people saying. I argued a little bit
about putting that in because I thought it was a good thing as a visual
aid and that kids would like it. it was a very easy thing to do. Pull
my finger became code for, here comes a fart.
CrankyCritic: Ben,
the Mr. Furious character is a great metaphor for Hollywood, where you
can have this great rage and great creativity and nothing happens.
Ben Stiller: Right. In life we all have a lot of frustration
in our everyday lives which you have to learn how to channel into creativity
or positiveness. That was really one of the things I needed to figure
out when I decided to do the movie. How to make Furious a guy who wasn't
just naturally angry but, like, a guy who really wanted to be something
that he wasn't. And how to achieve that. Anger. Fury. Rage. We all experience
those emotions to some degree in our lives. Some more than others. Some
can channel it. some can't, within the bounds of acceptable behavior.
CrankyCritic: Did
you imagine that you'd be punching Geoffrey rush out?
Ben Stiller: No. No. The day that Paul was doing the limousine
scene. That I never imagined.
Paul Reubens: That was the first day I met Geoffrey. He came
up to me halfway through the rehearsal and said [imitating Rush] "Um,
I was wondering. What you think of the idea of. . . when you fart in my
face, um, what would you think if my hair blew around?"
[ben laughs]
Paul Reubens: I mean that was so bizarre, because I was so
intimidated by him. To be working with him. And I didn't know anything
about him. That kind of broke the ice, when he broke the wind
[stiller is hysterical]
CrankyCritic: Geoffrey
actually said he was in awe of you because of Pee Wee.
Paul Reubens: Yes, he told me that. I was shocked at that.
CrankyCritic: So,
after your success as Pee Wee was it hard to get people to accept you
in other roles, like this?
Paul Reubens: I don't think so. I was offered roles while
I was being Pee Wee Herman, but I mostly didn't have time to do them.
When we were not filming a kid's show we were writing it. It was almost
a year round situation, so I really didn't have time. I guess part of
that remains to be seen. I just finished a western where I play a really
nasty bank robber /murderer /rapist.
CrankyCritic: You
ride a horse?
Paul Reubens: I ride a horsey. I get killed. I kill people.
I rape Bridget Fonda. It's all in a days work. It's called South of Heaven,
West of Hell. Dwight Yoakum wrote it, directs it and starred in it.
CrankyCritic: well
that's a whole different step from pee wee
Paul Reubens: Well, I did Cheech and Chong movies. I did other
stuff that was fairly different from Pee Wee Herman.
CrankyCritic: Though
in the Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke, you were Pee Wee
Paul Reubens: A very early version of him, yes
CrankyCritic: He
was mean in that one.
Paul Reubens: Yeah [and oh if you could have seen the smile
on paul's face you would have roared with laughter, as did everyone in
the room]
CrankyCritic: We've
asked all the other characters which superpower they'd like to have in
real life, so if you could have the choice, what would it be?
Paul
Reubens: Flying would be mine.
Ben Stiller: I'd pick the power to be better at doing press
junkets.
[laughter and exit]
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