Tributes to the goofiest actor with the biggest heart have made headlines this week as the world remembers Paul Reubens of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” fame, who passed away at 70 on Sunday.
But did you know that the show shares DNA with 1991’s “Boyz n the Hood?”
That’s a pretty big “but.” Let’s talk about the big but.
In the late ’80s, a University of Southern California film student named John Singleton was at the bottom of the food chain as a production assistant and security guard on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
The set was swarming with on-screen talent like Reubens and Laurence Fishburne — not to mention the roster of guest stars including Natasha Lyonne, Phil Hartman and even Oprah Winfrey.
The 19-year-old Singleton was determined to make a film about growing up in south Los Angeles, and he’d already written the screenplay.
After Singleton’s untimely death in 2019, Fishburne — who played Cowboy Curtis on the Reubens’ show — recalled his pluck.
“Every day, John would go up to Paul [Reubens] and ask, ‘Have you read my script yet?’ ” Fishburne told the Hollywood Reporter. “Paul would say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I haven’t had the time.’ It turned out it was the script for ‘Boyz n the Hood.’ “
Singleton was insistent, when the time came, that the actor would play a part in the film.
When “Boyz n the Hood” was released in 1991 with Fishburne as Furious Styles, the coming-of-age drama earned nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director at the 64th Academy Awards — making Singleton the first Black director ever to get a nod for the former.
Stanley Clarke is another connection between the irreverent cult TV show and the deeply moving drama. He received an Emmy nomination for his work as a composer on an episode of “Pee-wee,” and went on to work with Singleton on three separate films.
“John [Singleton] came up to me and stated that he and I were going to work together in the future,” Clarke said. “I’m not sure what I thought at the time, but who was to know that he would later ask me to score his first feature, Oscar-nominated ‘Boyz n the Hood,’ as well as other films, ‘Poetic Justice’ and ‘Higher Learning’?”
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