“The Bold and the Beautiful'”s 'Incredible' World and 'Extraordinary Family Legacy' Unveiled in Matt Wolf's Upcoming Doc

For astir 40 years, The Bold and nan Beautiful has captivated audiences worldwide. Now, head Matt Wolf is pulling backmost nan curtain pinch an upcoming documentary that offers an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look astatine nan iconic soap opera and nan singular bequest of nan family down it.

“I’m not a lifelong soap fan, but I judge americium now,” Wolf tells PEOPLE astir creating nan documentary Soaps, which includes heavy dives into nan biggest and astir successful soap operas successful nan industry, pinch a beardown attraction connected The Bold and nan Beautiful. “It reflects, successful a broader way, nan taste value of soap operas and nan unthinkable task progressive successful bringing these stories to nan surface each day.”

Wolf explains that nan movie is told “through nan prism of nan Bell family dynasty,” referring to nan family down The Bold and nan Beautiful. Created by William Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, who besides created The Young and nan Restless, nan show has been written by their boy Bradley Bell for complete 30 years.

“It’s really a process movie that shows really soap operas are made, but it besides explores nan history of nan genre done this bonzer family bequest that’s not good known,” Wolf says. “I’m focused connected nan day-to-day soul workings of The Bold and nan Beautiful, showcasing nan workplace follies arsenic good arsenic nan unthinkable craftsmanship and artistry down nan scenes that present stories to rapturous fans 5 days a week for astir half a century.”

Soaps is not nan only documentary Wolf has been focused connected recently. He besides directed nan two-part documentary Pee-wee arsenic Himself, which premiered May 23 connected HBO. The movie features friendly interviews pinch Paul Reubens — champion known for his change ego Pee-wee Herman — who aimed to “set nan grounds straight” astir nan pivotal moments that shaped and challenged his career.

Despite spending complete 40 hours successful speech pinch Reubens, Wolf says he had “no logic to judge that Paul was contemplating his mortality.” In reality, Reubens had been softly battling lung crab for six years, confiding only successful a mini circle of adjacent friends. “It was incredibly shocking,” Wolf recalls of Reubens’s death, which occurred connected July 30, 2023, conscionable 1 week earlier they were scheduled to grounds a last interview. “I recovered retired that Paul died connected Instagram on pinch everybody else.”

Describing Reubens, Wolf says he was “without a uncertainty nan funniest personification I’d ever met — incredibly smart successful an unconventional way, ace delicate and emotional, yet besides combative and confrontational.”

He adds, “He was personification who was ace aggravated and could beryllium very uncompromising but besides personification who had done a batch of activity connected himself and was ever striving to do better, whether it was his activity aliases his individual life. So I felt a batch of empathy for Paul. He had endured a important magnitude of trauma based connected his media scandals and controversies, and I wanted to advocator for him because I believed successful him.”