Photo: Netflix and Getty Images

It’s a childhood-ruining meme come to life. The Safdie brothers are reportedly “considering” making a dark Pee-Wee Herman movie written by the comedian himself, Paul Reubens. Per The Hollywood Reporter, 67-year-old Reubens has been pitching The Pee-Wee Herman Story, a gritty reboot that takes the children’s entertainer and throws him in a mental hospital to receive shock treatment for alcoholism. Delightful! Judd Apatow and Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s content chief, both said no to the script, but the Safdie brothers, ever intent on making comedy icons work hard, are apparently pondering it. The directing duo most recently got Adam Sandler to star in Uncut Gems, a movie famously not set on Sandler’s favorite kind of location, a tropical island. Reubens is actually looking to another 2019 film for The Pee-Wee Herman Story inspiration. He plans on using de-aging CGI technology, à la The Irishman, to bring himself back to Pee-Wee’s prime. “I was so buoyed by that, I realized, I could do [Pee-wee] for 10 more years if I wanted to,” he told THR. “I think I could do it for a while longer, and just fix my face.” The CGI de-aging does up the cost of the reboot, which Reubens has agreed to make for $15 million, half the price of his 2016 movie Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday. Not trying to step on the Safdies’ toes or anything, but if The Pee-Wee Herman Story is meant to be a dark look at a clownish comedian, inspired by a Martin Scorsese film … has he considered calling Todd Phillips?