Tim Burton Remembers How Paul Reubens Helped His Career: 'I’ll Miss Him'
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Tim Burton believes that he wouldn't have had a career in filmmaking without the help of the late Paul Reubens, known to many as Pee-wee Herman.
After Reubens' death was announced on July 31, Burton took to Instagram to share his thoughts and feelings regarding the tragic loss.
He shared a photo of the two together on the set of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, the 1985 film starring and co-written by Reubens that served as Burton's feature film directorial debut.
Burton wrote about his friend, who died after privately battling cancer, "Shocked and saddened. I’ll never forget how Paul helped me at the beginning of my career. It would not have happened without his support. He was a great artist."
He concluded the message by saying, "I’ll miss him."
Many fans of the two men commented on Burton's post about how their work influenced them.
"The work you two did together was iconic and it shaped much of my childhood, just as the work you have done with Johnny Depp has too. It is a sad day for Comedy that he has passed. I'll never forget the Alamo Peewee!" said one fan.
"Thank you Mr Burton. You two [gave] my life more light and joy than you’ll ever know," wrote another.
A third declared of the collaboration, "You two made MAGIC together."
Speaking with Ain't It Cool News in 2012, Reubens said of working with Burton on the film, "We were very simpatico with each other and very kind of on the same page with everything. I mean we have a lot of similarities in our style and what we like and how we saw things. It was a lot of fun working with him."
He added, "[Burton] was I think 26 or 27, he was very young and he was as excited as me, I mean we were both doing our first feature."
Along with Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Reubens voiced Lock in The Nightmare Before Christmas, which Burton co-produced and wrote the story for, and he played the Penguin's father in 1992's Batman Returns.
Next: Pee-wee Herman Star Paul Reubens Still Sparked Laughter in the Days Before His Death
