Ali
In an all-encompassing retrospective piece detailing the production of the original film, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves talk about why the time is ripe for a third “Bill & Ted” film.
“We all hatched an idea together some years ago that we thought was worth pursuing,” Winter tells The Hollywood Reporter of “Bill & Ted Face the Music”, which features a premise that finds the guys facing the dilemma that they still have yet to write the music that will help put an end to war and poverty and align the planets into universal harmony.
“The four of us — primarily Keanu, myself and the two writers came up with the idea. Chris and Ed wrote it. We were goofing off one night and hit on something that we thought had legitimate potential,” says Winter. “And we then set about the very long road to try to get a sequel made to a major movie that was made a quarter of a century ago, which is not common. We’re all very busy doing other things, and in a way that really helped us because we didn’t really have this idea of, ‘Oh, it has to be done.’ Our attitude was if it’s not creatively exactly what we want to do, we’re perfectly happy continuing on with our lives.”
Reeves says it’s the perfect time to bring back these characters.
“The writers came up with a real great story for the characters that makes a lot of sense to tell now,” says Reeves. “And so it’s been a journey of getting the script right, and then dealing with the business part of show business with rights and deals. The film’s always had a kind of complicated show-business past. We’ve arrived at a script that we think would be great to start to move forward on, and hopefully, we can sort everything out and make a great film.”
“Galaxy Quest” filmmaker Dean Parisot is attached to direct, with franchise veteran Scott Kroopf producing.
“We have Bill Corso coming in to help work on makeup ideas, Kevin Yagher would be leading the makeup charge — a pretty extraordinary group of talent,” says Winter. “It’s being put together in some ways like the other ones were, which is independently, and that takes time. And it’s bumpy.”
Reeves mentions the inclusion of fiftysomething Bill and Ted’s kids: “They were introduced in the second film, and they’ve grown up a spell, and I’m sure they can’t help but have a bit of their mothers and fathers in them. So we’ll see how that expresses itself.”
Though originally rumored to begin filming in February, “Bill & Ted Face the Music” is now expected to kick off its shoot in the Spring.
