The 5 best moments from Netflix's 'Pee-wee's Big Holiday' explained by the screenwriter

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It's been 31 years, but Pee-wee Herman is finally back with the Netflix movie "Pee-wee's Big Holiday." It's a hilarious reminder that the childlike comedy of Pee-wee creator Paul Reubens still works. 

Years in the making, the movie saw Reubens teaming with Judd Apatow, who came on as a producer to help get the latest Pee-wee movie off the ground. One of Apatow's contributions was connecting Reubens with comic Paul Rust.

The star and cocreator of the Netflix show "Love," Rust is also a die-hard Pee-wee fan, and jumped at the chance to cowrite the "Big Holiday" screenplay with Reubens. 

Rust talked to Business Insider about how five of his favorite moments from the movie were created.

(Warning: spoilers for "Pee-wee's Big Holiday" ahead.)

"Pee-wee's Big Holiday" is currently available on Netflix.

1. Reubens and Rust wanted a mix of "E.T." and Ed Wood for the alien opening scene.

Netflix

Pee-wee movies love a dream sequence, and "Big Holiday" is no different. It opens with Pee-wee saying goodbye to an alien he's befriended before it goes back to its mothership. According to Rust, his and Reubens' love for Steven Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial" inspired the scene.

"My favorite movie is 'E.T.' and Paul loves 'E.T.' as well, he has all this 'E.T.' merchandise," Rust told BI. "So it was one of the first things we bonded over and I think we liked the idea of starting a movie with the ending of another movie. We almost got a kick out of the idea of somebody starting the movie and thinking, 'Did it jump to the end, what's going on? Why are they saying goodbye?'"

Though the alien looks very lifelike thanks to CGI, its beam to the ship was done on the cheap — it looks like wires are used to raise the alien into the sky. Rust said there was some discussion in the edit room about whether the filmmakers should go the Ed Wood (famous for campy movies like "Plan 9 from Outer Space") route for the conclusion of the scene. But finally everyone agreed the scene needed a little humor.

"I'm glad we did that because the opening has such an emotional feel. There needed to be a moment to be able to laugh," he said. 

2. Rust gave up his favorite joke for this scene.

Netflix

One of the best scenes in "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" involves a giant Rube Goldberg machine Pee-wee uses to prepare breakfast. For "Big Holiday," Reubens and Rust thought it would be fun to make Pee-wee the ball in the Rube Goldberg machine. This leads to Pee-wee doing everything from flying from his roof on skis to driving a mini-car to picking up an old lady while riding a skateboard on his trip to work.

And one of the big jokes in the sequence is actually Rust's go-to line in real life. Pee-wee asks the old lady, "Have you heard about those new corduroy pillows?" She answers no, and Pee-wee replies, "I'm surprised, because they're making head lines."

"I heard that joke at camp in eighth grade and whenever I have to tell a joke, that's my favorite one to use," Rust said. "So now I can't do it anymore or people are going to think I ripped it off a Pee-wee movie."

3. The snake farm scene worked better than Rust thought it would.

Netflix

While taking his first-ever holiday, Pee-wee hitches a ride with a traveling salesman who takes him to a snake farm. Pee-wee hates snakes (fans of "Big Adventure" know this all too well), but is convinced to see "the monster" exhibit. He walks into a dark room and gives out a very loud scream when confronted with a giant cobra.

While screening the film at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, Rust was pleasantly surprised by the reaction the sequence got.

"That got a bigger response than I thought it would," he said. "Paul and I both really love crummy roadside attractions. I grew up in Iowa and would go to cheesy places like that as a kid who had never been to Disney Land yet. It was a very poor substitute. Paul growing up in Florida, there were a lot of snake farms and gator farms and stuff like that. So that was the inspiration."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider