Diane Louise Salinger stars in “Pee-wee Herman’s Big Holiday” which premieres tomorrow on Netflix.
By CHRIS KAZARIAN
When do you say goodbye to someone you’re meeting for the first time?
When the person you’re meeting is Diane Louse Salinger.
It sounds like something out of the Beatles’ song, “Hello, Goodbye,” but Salinger has dealt with this peculiarity since 1985, the year “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” hit the big screen.
The popular film spawned several quotable catch phrases:
- I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel.
- I know you are, but what am I?
- There’s no basement at the Alamo.
And, of course, “Au revoir, Simone,” the line Pee-wee Herman yells to Salinger’s character as she’s boarding a bus on her way to Paris.
Thirty-one years later, it’s a phrase complete strangers will utter to Salinger when passing her on the street. “I think it’s unbelievable I get stopped for it,” she laughed. “It’s really amazing.”
Salinger, who has been acting, in some form, since the age of five, said the iconic film is her favorite of the many she has worked on. It’s a strange statement considering her preference is Shakespearean plays, a passion that was formed in her 20s when she traveled around the country – Alaska, New York and Oregon – for a decade, delving into the likes of Helena in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Miranda in “The Tempest.”
Reciting the chorus’ monologue in “Henry V” word-for-word, Salinger backs up her claim that, “I love Shakespeare. If I had my way, that’s all I would do.” Whether intentional or not, the recitation connects back to Pee-wee as she explains this – her favorite Shakespearean speech – “is all about using your imagination.”
And imagination is perhaps what audiences love best about the eccentric Paul Reubens’ character, and in particular, his journey to find his beloved bike in the Tim Burton film. “Everyone wants to be a child again, on some level,” Salinger said, as to why the public has been so infatuated with Pee-wee since he first premiered on a Groundlings’ stage in the late 1970s. “The character, which has been done in different ways, is the eternal boy.”
Two Pee-wee Movies
Pee-wee, who has popped in and out of American consciousness over the past three decades, is set to make a triumphant return tomorrow – this time on the smaller screen of Netflix – as part of “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday” which will, once again, feature Salinger.
This now represents the second time the actress will star in a Pee-wee film, playing a different character (au revoir, Simone) in this iteration: Penny King.
Though the film was shot over a year ago, Salinger recently had a chance to see it as part of a cast and crew screening in Los Angeles. “It’s different than ‘Pee-wee’s Big Adventure’ although it’s very similar in that it’s very sweet,” Salinger said. “I took my manager, who had never seen Pee-wee Herman – I was kind of amazed he had never seen him before – and we were just chuckling through the whole thing. We loved it.”
Salinger’s connections to Reubens goes one step further; the pair played the Penguin’s parents in Tim Burton’s 1992 film, “Batman Returns.”
She called Reubens an ideal counterpart, realizing this quickly on the set of her first Pee-wee film when she was a Hollywood neophyte. “I remember the first day, Paul was very generous. We were hugging before I was getting on the bus,” She recalled. “I was really green and he hugged me so my face was always on camera. He was very generous, very sweet and I had a great time doing it.”
While she admittedly prefers more serious fare, Salinger said movies like “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday” are needed in today’s world. “I think comedy is so incredibly powerful, even more so than drama,” she said. “With comedy, you get to have more of a god-like vision because you are above the world looking down at these pathetic, ridiculous people and laugh. And then we can laugh at our own lives. Comedy lightens everyone’s lives and gives us a different perspective. Why are we taking life so seriously?”
To learn more about Salinger, whose credits include “Carnivale”, “Salem” and “Alice” and who is now making her foray into filmmaking, visit her website.
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