There are some actors whose entire careers are defined by their most iconic role or by their best performance (which are not always one and the same). There are also some actors who really only have one well-known role or acclaimed performance to their name, while the majority of their career continues to live in obscurity or even ridicule. The following are some notable examples of actors who never really got to shine beyond that movie or TV show that clicked.

Sam Worthington (The Avatar Movies)

Sam Worthington's performance as Jake Sully in 2009's Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water from 2022 is not exactly "acclaimed." However, James Cameron's blockbuster sci-fi franchise is the only thing on the actor's resume that has managed to make a substantial connection with audiences and can be called a rousing success.

Hayden Christensen (Shattered Glass)

Playing Anakin Skywalker in the two latter installments of George Lucas' Star Wars prequel trilogy has earned Hayden Christensen equal amounts of fame and ridicule that has haunted him most of his career. That is because not enough people know about 2003's intense journalism drama Shattered Glass, in which he gives his best performance as real-life fraudulent reporter Stephen Glass.

Tom Arnold (True Lies)

For years, Tom Arnold's claim to fame was his marriage to Roseanne Barr and, when reviewing his filmography, it remains what he is best known for to this day. Yet, he does have the honor of playing Arnold Schwarzenegger's right-hand man in True Lies, a role he almost did not get, if not for the insistence of writer and director James Cameron.

Brandon Routh (Superman Returns)

Brandon Routh was relatively unknown when he was cast as Clark Kent in 2006’s Superman Returns — a role that should have earned immediate entry to the A-list. While he does have an amusing reputation for playing multiple comic book characters — including Todd Ingram in the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World cast — his one-time donning the old red and blues remains the peak of his fame.

Linda Blair (The Exorcist)

One of the top horror movie Scream Queens of all time is undeniably Linda Blair for her Academy Award-nominated role as Regan MacNeil in 1973’s The Exorcist. However, the demonically possessed 12-year-old is still the only character most mainstream audiences associate with the actor.

Stephen Baldwin (The Usual Suspects)

Stephen Baldwin has a scene-stealing turn as Michael McManus in the classic 1995 crime thriller, The Usual Suspects. However, because his remaining credits have never quite lived up to that performance — or the film itself — most would call him an unusual suspect for mainstream success these days.

Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense)

Haley Joel Osment is still a steadily working actor, appearing in notable films like Kevin Smith’s Tusk and hit TV shows like The Boys. Yet, any time he does show up onscreen, we would not be surprised if he still regularly identified as “the kid who saw dead people in 1999’s The Sixth Sense.”

Lacey Chabert (Mean Girls)

You could argue that Lacey Chabert really did come close to making “fetch” happen with her standout role in 2004’s Mean Girls as Gretchen Wieners. While she has made a name for herself elsewhere with voice acting and leading several Hallmark Channel originals, the gossipy plastic is still the singular defining moment of her career.

Steven Seagal (Under Siege)

Even most of the fans who consider Steven Seagal to be one of the top action movie stars of the ‘90s might agree that he really only has one true quality film to his name: Under Siege. Both a critical and commercial success, director Andrew Davis’ Oscar-nominated 1992 thriller stars Seagal as a former Navy SEAL serving as a cook on a battleship taken over by terrorists.

Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee)

Can you name another character played by Paul Hogan who is not the title character from the 1986 fish-out-of-water movie classic, Crocodile Dundee? The eponymous Outback hunter was also the brainchild of the Australian actor, whose career has been almost completely overshadowed by the role.

Roddy Piper (They Live)

To be fair, the late “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s main claim to fame was professional wrestling, but his subsequent film career was nowhere near close to on par with, say, Dwayne Johnson or John Cena. At least he can say that he was the star of one of John Carpenter’s best movies, They Live, in the memorable role of an impromptu alien hunter, John Nada.

Alicia Silverstone (Clueless)

Had 1997’s Batman & Robin been a hit, Alicia Silverstone could have been one of the best Batgirl actors ever and her career could have flourished from it. Instead, her breakthrough film role as Cher Horowitz in 1995’s Clueless is the single performance she is most acclaimed and recognized for.

Macaulay Culkin (Home Alone)

Macaulay Culkin’s career beyond child stardom has certainly had its highlights, such as his role in Party Monster, his appearance on American Horror Story Season 10, and his podcast, The Bunny Ears Podcast. However, after all these years, it is still difficult to see him as anyone other than the young, mischievous Kevin McCallister from the Home Alone movies.

Rupert Grint (The Harry Potter Movies)

We do not mean to discredit Rupert Grint’s performances in the Snatch TV show, M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant, or anything else he has done outside of the Harry Potter movies. However, the British actor will always be Ron Weasley in our hearts.

Jessica Alba (Sin City)

Anyone who does not love actor and entrepreneur Jessica Alba probably has not seen her performance as exotic dancer Nancy Callahan in 2005’s Sin City, which is the single most acclaimed title in her filmography. She did earn a Golden Globe nomination for a breakthrough role in Dark Angel, but that short-lived sci-fi series is largely forgotten these days.

Robert Englund (A Nightmare On Elm Street)

Playing Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise made Robert Englund a horror movie icon and earned him a long career of countless other spooky roles. Yet, have any of his subsequent credits — horror or otherwise — been nearly as popular as the grotesque, razor-glove-wielding boogeyman? Maybe in his dreams.

Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

Edward Furlong made a stunning acting debut in the pivotal role of a teenage John Connor in one of the greatest action movies of all time, 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Unfortunately, his career never reached the same level of prowess or popularity again, which can be partially attributed to his history of substance abuse.

Rachael Leigh Cook (She's All That)

Actor and model Rachael Leigh Cook has had a steady career all her life. However, none of her credits have quite stood the test of time like the 1999 teen movie favorite, She’s All That, which spawned a Netflix original gender-swapped remake, He’s All That, in which she appeared in a new role.

Anthony Perkins (Psycho)

Anthony Perkins is considered one the biggest Hollywood stars of his time, but only for one role in particular: Norman Bates in one of the greatest horror movies of all time — Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic, Psycho. He would actually reprise the murderous momma’s boy and motel manager twice more in 1983’s Psycho II and Psycho III, the latter of which he also directed three years later.

David Schwimmer (Friends)

Much of the Friends cast managed to outlive their roles on the hit sitcom with versatile projects that helped them avoid being typecast. We cannot quite say the same about David Schwimmer, whose distinct portrayal of Ross Gellar seems to follow him everywhere he goes.

Jaden Smith (The Pursuit Of Happyness)

Seven-year-old Jaden Smith made a promising debut as the onscreen son of his real-life father, Will Smith, in 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness, but very few of his roles since have made a genuine impression on critics and audiences. That being said, the older he got, his acting roles became less frequent as he focused more on his music career.

Carrie Henn (Aliens)

If you ever wondered what happened to Newt from Aliens, she became one of the many child stars who walked away from Hollywood, but did so quicker than most, as the 1986 sci-fi classic is her only acting credit. So, in this case, we can call Carrie Henn — who went on to become a teacher — an acting “one-hit-wonder” by choice.

Alex Winter (The Bill & Ted Movies)

Alex Winter had such astonishing chemistry with Keanu Reeves as the dim-witted, titular heroes of the Bill & Ted movies. Yet, while Reeves climbed up the A-list, Winter never really found a role as popular as Bill S. Preston, Esq. He would find some success working as director in film and TV, however.

Fran Drescher (The Nanny)

Actor and comedian Fran Drescher earned rousing success when she co-created the hit sitcom The Nanny, in which she also starred as Fran Fine. The boisterous character remains her most famous role to date, as Drescher is better known today for being elected President of SAG-AFTRA in 2021.

Adam West (Batman)

The late Adam West is, undeniably, one of the most legendary live-action Batman actors, having played Bruce Wayne in the classic 1960s TV show, its feature-length spin-off, and two animated films decades later. However, he is really the only one in that club so far who can say that playing Batman is the singular defining role of his career.

Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite)

As the title hero of 2004’s Napoleon Dynamite, Jon Heder gave one of the most legendarily bizarre and uniquely funny performances in a comedy movie for its time, if not all time. The success of the indie sleeper hit would garner more roles for the actor, but none that earned nearly the same acclaim or notoriety.

Frankie Muniz (Malcolm In The Middle)

Playing the fourth-wall-breaking title role of Malcolm in the Middle in the early 2000s made Frankie Muniz one of the top child stars of his time, but his subsequent success later in life was decidedly hit or miss. He still acts to this day but has also taken up a career in NASCAR racing.

Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous)

Whatever happened to Patrick Fugit — the actor who launched his career in 2000 by leading the Almost Famous cast as young, aspiring music reporter William Miller? There’s a good chance you have seen him in one of his many credits over the years — such as Gone Girl or 2022’s Babylon — but just failed to recognize him. 

Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy)

Katherine Heigl had a relatively successful run in movies, especially as the female lead of 2007’s Knocked Up, which she famously spoke negatively of. Said comments would actually have a negative impact on her career and, thus, her Emmy-winning role on in the Grey’s Anatomy cast as Dr. Izzie Stevens in the mid-2000s is still her most famous and commendable role.

Peter Ostrum (Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory)

At the end of 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, poor Charlie Bucket becomes wealthy after the titular chocolatier (Gene Wilder) gives his factory to him. As for the actor who plays the lucky boy, Peter Ostrum, he immediately abandoned his acting career in favor of becoming a veterinarian.

Bo Derek (10)

Bo Derek is an undisputed legend in the modeling industry, but we cannot quite say the same about her acting career. She did have one acclaimed hit to her name, however, in the form of Blake Edwards’ Oscar-nominated, 1979 rom-com, 10, opposite Dudley Moore.

Justin Chatwin (War Of The Worlds)

If you are not sure who Justin Chatwin is, there are two movies we could name that could help you identify him. There is Steven Spielberg’s 2005 adaptation of War of the Worlds, in which he plays Tom Cruise’s onscreen son, and there is also 2009’s universally reviled live-action anime adaptation, Dragonball: Evolution, in which he was grossly miscast as Goku.

For the actors above who are still with us and are still interested in the craft, we hope to see them in another surefire hit soon enough.

In the history of cinema, there are some all-time great slacker teens, but none may have gone from zero to hero in quite so grand a fashion as Bill and Ted. Bill and Ted introduced many of us to Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, and it was so popular that they ultimately starred in a trilogy of films, but it's difficult to argue that it ever got better than one of the best '80s movies ever, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

The first Bill and Ted movie is nearly infinitely quotable. There are some classic lines here that movie fans still throw at each other to this day. From the hilarious to the surprisingly profound. Here are the best lines from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

I’m Bill S. Preston, Esq. 

From the moment we meet Bill and Ted, we know that these two are a bit... different Bill S. Preston would be unique enough to include his middle initial in all introductions, but for some reason he has decided to give himself the title of esquire, despite, as far as we know, not being a nobleman or a lawyer. 

Well, How Can We Have Decent Instruments When We Don’t Even Really Know How To Play? 

Bill and Ted, like so many young people have dreams of being rock stars. They are so committed, they won't even let something like an inability to play even get in their way. At least Ted is honest about the fact, however. They really do need Eddie Van Halen.

So Bill, What You’re Telling Me, Essentially, Is That Napoleon Was A Short, Dead Dude?

To be fair, Napoleon was a short dead dude. Technically speaking Bill isn't actually wrong. Still, Bill and Ted's history professor is far from impressed. Honestly, if we had to spend a whole school year with Bill and Ted, we'd be exhausted too.

We Are In Danger Of Flunking Most Heinously

Bill and Ted's slang is so sock-thick in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure that it often gets used in ways that aren't quite appropriate. Here, however, Bill is quite right. These guys are going to flunk and it's going to be heinous. 

That's Captain Ahab Dude

Despite being certifiable idiots, Bill and Ted both have flashes now and then that proves they're not complete idiots. Bill at least can remember the difference between a fictional whale hunter and the first President of the United States. Though this information implies he either read Moby Dick or was at least paying enough attention in class to learn the information, and that doesn't seem right.

"Remember When I Asked Her To The Prom?" "Shut Up Ted." 

Bill's stepmom Missy isn't actually old enough to be Bill's mother, which makes the fact that she insists on being called that awkward.  Bill is unable to handle having a stepmom all the guys in town are interested in. The fact that this includes Ted certainly doesn't help matters. 

Greetings, My Excellent Friends 

George Carlin is an icon. Even Keanu Reeves was starstruck by the comedian on the set. Rufus is one of the great highlights of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, mostly because despite the film's insanity he plays the movie entirely straight. The comedian acts like this line is a perfectly normal way to introduce yourself to strangers, and honestly, it should be.

Strange Things Are Afoot At The Circle K 

One of the all-time great quatable lines in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. If you saw this movie in theaters and didn't start saying it to your friends every time you left a Circle K or 7-11, then I don't even know what you were doing with your life. Unfortunately, the iconic Bill & Ted Circle K closed a couple of years ago.

69 Dudes 

Obviously, Bill and Ted from the future are going to know the number that Bill and Ted from the past are thinking about. Of course, the fact that Bill and Ted from the past don't even need to discuss what number they are thinking of, is hilarious, as is the fact that Bill and Ted are clearly shook when their future selves guess right.

Gentlemen, We’re History 

Delivered any other way, and by anybody else, this line would have been the corniest line in the movie, but somehow George Carlin delivers it was absolute sincerity. An excellently delivered line, showing why George Carlin is actually the coolest guy in the movie. And he looks good in those shades. 

Ted, This Has Been A Most Unusual Day 

Bill hilariously explains the glaringly obvious. Of course, it certainly has been a most unusual day, though the most unusual stuff to happen to Bill and Ted hasn't even happened yet. 

This Is Deputy Van Halen Down At The Station

Look, Bill was under a time crunch to get Ted out from under his dad, and you can't expect him to come up with a better alias on the spot. Honestly, though, Ted's dad really should have been able to see through this one. Has he not even heard his kid talk about Van Halen?

How’s It Goin’ Old West Dude 

Ted probably isn't going to drastically alter the timeline by introducing himself to every "old west dude" that he meets. Probably.

Sounds Good Mr. The Kid 

Billy the Kid's actual name was Henry McCarty, but to be fair, most people don't know that, so I'm not sure we can blame Bill and Ted for not knowing it either. At least they're being respectful to the dangerous outlaw by calling him Mister. 

All We Are Is Dust In The Wind, Dude 

Progressive rock band Kansas, and their hit "Dust in the Wind" doesn't actually seem like the sort of music that Van Halen and Led Zepplin loving Bill and Ted would listen to, but this just shows that their tastes in music are wider than they would appear. Maybe this is why their own music ultimately brings people together. 

Like Sands Of The Hourglass So Are The Days Of Our Lives 

The Days of Our Lives joke probably went over the heads of your average Bill and Ted fan in 1989, the moms of those fans who took them to the theater probably thought it was hilarious though.

Billy, You Are Dealing With The Oddity Of Time Travel With The Greatest Of Ease

The funniest part of Bill pointing out that Bill the Kid is totally cool with the concept of time travel is that at no point does anybody have a hard time accepting time travel. Bill and Ted take a minute to believe what they're seeing which is the most anybody acts in even the slightest shock. 

It’s a History Report, Not A Babe Report 

Considering these girls were at least noble, there probably is some historical record about them, which would make them worth covering in your history report. I'm just trying to help out here. 

How's It Goin' Royal Ugly Dudes?

It's not just the phrase "royal ugly dudes" that makes this one art. It's the absolutely earnest way that Bill greets them, apparently thinking that calling them this is a perfectly reasonable way to greet somebody who can almost certainly kill him.

I’m Sorry The Number You Have Dialed Is Not In Service At This Time Please Check Your Directory And Dial Again, Party On Dude. 

The phrase "party on dude" is apparently so ubiquitous in the future that even the automated phone company recording uses it. Imagine for a second how weird it would be if the customer service person at Verizon said this to you right before you hung up the phone.

He Ate The Pig, Thus Proving That He’s A Zyggee Piggy 

It seems like you should get more of a reward for eating that much ice cream than a couple of underpaid employees making pig noises at you but once you've heard these guys call Napoleon a Zyggee Piggy (and yes, that's how it's spelled, no I don't know why) you'll never look at an ice cream sundae the same way again.

How’s It Goin’ Freud Dude?

This one doesn't work nearly as well in print as it does when you hear it, because in the film, Ted is somehow able to mispronounce Sigmund Freud's last name so that he rhymes the name "Freud" with the word "Dude." I'm amazed the sequel to Excellent ADventure didn't involve them trying to avoid failing grammar. 

Want a Twinkie Ghengis Khan? 

It's not the fact that Genghis Khan apparently loves Twinkies that makes this bit so great. It's the fact somehow this idea makes all the sense in the world. To be fair, who doesn't love Twinkies?

That Conversation Made More Sense This Time

The scene where Bill and Ted talk with Bill and Ted is one of the highlights of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. It's a hilarious conversation both times, but Ted likely echoes the audience's feelings when he admits that it all makes a lot more sense the second time around.

You Ditched Napoleon? 

Bill and Ted are right to be upset with Deacon when they learn he ditched Napoleon in San Dimas. Honestly, other than eating all the ice cream he doesn't appear to have been that bad a guy. 

San Dimas High School Football Rules

Sometimes the best moments in a movie go to the random extras. This poor jock, who may have been a bigger part of an earlier version of the film based on what we know about Excellent Adventure behind the scenes, is in worse shape than Bill and Ted when it comes to giving his history report. He doesn't know what he's doing, so when he gets stuck, he just appeals to basic high school instinct. It was a hilarious moment because we all knew this guy in high school.

We Could Do It After The Report

The time travel rules of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure are, to be clear, complete nonsense. Maybe that's actually why Ted has a flash of utter brilliance here showing that he understands how time travel works implicitly. This one line sets up one of the movie's best sequences as our heroes are saved by their future selves doing all the work for them.

Nah, Just Got A Minor Oedipal Complex 

Bill and Ted may both be failing history but Bill has to be acing English class since we can only assume that's why he has a total understanding of the story of Oedipus. We can only imagine that this revelation led to some awkward moments around the Preston family dinner table.

This Is A Dude, Who 700 Years Ago Totally Ravaged China, And Who We Are Told, Two Hours Ago, Totally Ravaged Oshman’s Sporting Goods

It's probably a bad move for Ted to admit that Genghis Khan was the one who destroyed the sporting goods store. Genghis isn't going to be around much longer and with the sporting goods store probably looking for somebody to pay for the damage, Bill and Ted are going to end up on the hook for all that.

Beethoven’s Favorite Works Include Mozart’s Requiem, Handel's Messiah, And Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet

It's unclear when Ludwig Van Beethoven had a chance to experience Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet during the events of this movie, especially considering the man is basically deaf at this point in his life. Maybe they were playing it at the mall? Still, that album does totally rock.

Be Excellent To Each Other And Party On Dudes 

When Bill and Ted say their iconic lines earlier in the film, it's good. But anything anybody has ever said would almost certainly sound better coming from Abraham Lincoln, and this line is no exception. 

They Do Get Better 

The ongoing joke of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is that global harmony was achieved thanks to a pair of well-meaning morons who can't even play the music that will bring about peace. In the final line of the movie, Rufus assures us it will all work out...eventually. And he was right.

While Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is certainly the best movie in the franchise, the success of this movie would spawn Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey a couple of years later before the story finally culminated in Bill and Ted Face the Music more than three decades after the first film. We love Bill and Ted, and many of these great lines are the reason why.

I still remember going to a movie theater with my friends when I was 11 years old and seeing one of the best '80s movies, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, for the first time. I didn’t even want to see it, thinking I was too smart for the comedy about a couple of dumb guys. However, I was talked into it and ended up loving the movie. I few years later, I would reunite with the same friends to see Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, and they were very much in my thoughts when I fell in love with Bill and Ted Face the Music so many years later.

Yet while I love the whole trilogy, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is still the best movie in the franchise, though it had been quite some time since I had actually seen it. I watched it so often as a kid I still know it by heart, but in sitting down to go through it again for a piece I was writing, I found myself being sucked in by the absolutely ridiculous time travel mechanics of the story and asking questions I'd never asked before. In many ways, the time travel is brilliant, and I know the movie is a comedy that isn’t meant to be taken too seriously. At the same time, I have some serious questions about how it all works that I can’t get out of my head.

Bill And Ted’s Timeline Is A Recursive Loop, But It Had To Start Somewhere

The premise of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, for all its time travel nonsense, is simple. Bill and Ted are destined to change the world, and so the future that depends on them sends George Carlin’s Rufus, the true hero of the movie, back in time to ensure the duo is not broken up due to a failing history grade, which sends Keanu Reees’ Ted off to military school, destroying their band before it has a chance to make the world a better place.

But then, how does that work exactly? The future where Bill and Ted have united the world already exists, which indicates the pair did not split up, but if time travel intervention is necessary to prevent the split, how did the future that works to prevent it come about in the first place? It’s a paradox of predestination, and it just doesn’t work.

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey tells us that changing the past is at least theoretically possible. That’s what Joss Ackland's villain attempts to do, trying to kill Bill and Ted before they form their band, but there’s no indication in Excellent Adventure that anything has gone wrong in the past that requires Rufus’ intervention to fix. The implication is that Bill and Ted will naturally fail their history report if time travel doesn’t help them, which would mean that the future that helps them never comes to pass, right? Why is my nose bleeding?

How Does The “Clock In San Dimas” Keep Moving Forward If They Can Go Back In Time In The Future To Change The Present/Past

One of the key plot items in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is a ticking clock. It's a frequently used drama element, but it doesn't work here. Rufus explains to them that even though they have a time machine, it is still possible for them to miss their history report if they are not back in time to give it because their timeline continues marching forward while they are in the past. Ted is supposed to wind his watch, which he forgets to do, and the pair nearly miss the report. This makes zero sense.

Bill and Ted can travel into their own past, as they do, accidentally traveling to the night before their report where they meet themselves. While we never see it, we know they travel into their past again after their report is done to set up the Rube Goldberg series of events that allow them to break the historical figures out of jail. If they can go back in time and deliver a set of keys, why can’t they go back in time to give their history report?

Interacting with themselves in the past doesn’t cause any sort of paradox, as it does in other time travel stories. Even if there is a constantly-changing present moment for Bill and Ted that they are missing by not being around, they can just travel into the “past” by arriving there as they already do in the film. What was to stop them from, instead of time jumping to the next day, simply taking the historical figures home from the Circle K in their "past" and simply waiting for the next day? At least if they had done that it would explain how they had time to create a multi-person choreographed stage show with music and lights.

What’s the difference between going into the past to drop a set of keys and set up a tape recorder, and going to the past to give a history report? As long as the pair do go back and give the report, it shouldn’t matter when, from their perspective, they do it.

How Does Ted Know Rufus’ Name?

In the grand scheme of things, this last issue is a minor one, but it’s a smaller version of the same infinite loop problem that plagues the rest of the movie. George Carlin’s Rufus never introduces himself, and yet, Bill and Ted learn his name, when it is given to them… by Bill and Ted.

It’s called the bootstrap paradox, and it’s a problem because the information, Rufus’ name, has no clear origin. How did “future” Bill and Ted learn Rufus’ name? They got it from the future when they were “present” Bill and Ted, and the information continues to be passed forever in the loop, but it still doesn’t explain where it came from.

The ultimate answer to these questions is obviously “Who cares? It’s a funny movie.” If anything, the fact that the time travel doesn't work is a feature, not a bug. It's part of the comedy. Nobody other than me is being kept up at night trying to figure out how the time travel in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is supposed to work. Still, now that I’ve had these thoughts, I’m probably going to have them every time I watch the movie from now on.

The Bill and Ted movies starring Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves finally saw the end to their trilogy with Bill and Ted Face the Music a couple of years ago, but fans are still discovering the original films, and discovering elements in them that have apparently remained hidden for decades. It appears that a new 4K transfer of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure has revealed an easter egg that even Alex Winter didn’t know was there.

Winter shared a tweet from Shout Factory,  which produced a brand new 4K transfer of the first Bill and Ted film. In the attached image, it’s revealed that the Great Ones, the citizens from the future that send George Carlin’s Rufus on his quest to help Bill & Ted, are hovering above a platform that includes the Circle K logo. Check it out.  

The Circle K convenience store also plays a key part in the movie, and so it seems this is meant to be a little easter egg referencing that, since Bill and Ted had a significant impact on the future, even the Circle K, where they first met Rufus, became important in the future. 

In the film, Bill and Ted are sitting outside of Circle K when the time traveling phone booth first arrives. Keanu Reeves utters the now oft-quoted line “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K,” which likely went a long way to immortalizing the scene. The Circle K itself, located in Arizona, became a landmark in its own right, though the particular Circle K used in the scene recently closed down. 

It seems that, due to the lower video quality of previous versions of the film, this little reference had been difficult to see, but due to the new 4K edition, the Circle K logo became clear. It was probably much easier to see on the theatrical big screen, but even then, it would have been a minor reference, and early in the film people watching for the first time would not have even realized it was a reference.

Alex Winter tags Bill and Ted writer Ed Solomon in his tweet to see if the man behind the entire franchise was aware of this reference. As it turns out, this was just as much a surprise to Solomon as it was to Winter.

In a follow up, Alex Winter suggests that the easter egg was likely the work of the film’s production designer Roy Forge Smith. Considering that nobody else seems to have been aware of it, that seems like the best possible bet. He apparently snuck this in back in the late ‘80s and it made it to 2022 before it was noticed.  

There are some movie lines that go beyond simply being quotable and become iconic. Humphrey Bogart saying “Here’s looking at you, kid.” Clark Gable saying “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” These are lines that are not only from classic movies, but transcend them. But for my money, there may be no greater liner of delivered dialogue than Keanu Reeves saying, “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.” 

When Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure really gets its story moving, it happens in the parking lot of a Circle K where Bill and Ted are looking for help with their history report and Rufus, played by the great George Carlin, arrives in a time travelling telephone booth. Keanu Reeves’ Ted utters the famous line. Unfortunately, there will be nothing else at all afoot at that Circle K, as a fan on Twitter has revealed its being shutdown, but Alex Winter is taking it in stride. 

While Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is set in San Dimas, California, the Circle K in question is actually located in Tempe, Arizona. It’s honestly almost shocking that the convenient store is still there more than 30 years after Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure was filmed, but it survived this long. And it was clearly a memorable place for the person who made the initial tweet, who remembers watching the movie film in front of the location all those years ago.

Of all the filming locations that have become famous, the Excellent Adventure Circle K probably isn’t available on a guided bus tour or anything. But it’s still pretty cool to know that it continued to operate this long and there were people who were very aware of its history. 

In the end, nothing lasts forever, and Alex Winter, a true lover of film history, certainly understands that. Still, it’s probably bittersweet to learn that the iconic Circle K is going away. That location was the start of something that only recently came to an end. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure was followed in short order by the sequel Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. It took many more years for Bill and Ted Face the Music to complete the trilogy, but it was a movie fans were willing to wait for. And it put a satisfying ending on the story, even if seeing Keanu Reeves without a beard these days is a little strange.

It doesn’t appear that the Circle K location has completely closed down yet, so if you have the opportunity to stop by, maybe grab a snack and hang out, like Bill and Ted once did back in the day. Remember all the greatness that is Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Maybe strange things still happen there if you wait long enough. Maybe, if we get a Bill and Ted 4, the duo could go back in time to when the Circle K is still there. 

To people of a certain age, there are no vampire movies more iconic than Joel Schumacher’s 1987 horror classic The Lost Boys. With remarkable performances by Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric, and “The Two Coreys,” as well as a great story and setting, there are multiple reasons the movie has a soft spot in so many hearts nearly 35 years after its release. And with a remake on the way, now seems like the perfect time to go back to the small beach town of Santa Carla, California, and take a trip down the boardwalk of memories and awesome behind-the-scenes facts. Who knows, there might be stories involving The Sexy Sax Guy…

Richard Donner Was Originally Attached To Direct A More Kid Friendly Version Of The Lost Boys

The version of The Lost Boys we all know and love is quite different from what was originally pitched during the film’s development. Instead of being a moody and angsty movie with motorcycle-riding vampires directed by Joel Schumacher, The Lost Boys was initially going to be geared more towards a younger audience with the late Richard Donner at the helm. In 2008, Schumacher told The Hollywood Interview that Donner (who stayed on as executive producer) was in the director’s chair and wanted to make a “cutesy, ‘G’-rated movie” with no wild teenagers or motorcycles. But, after Donner got a chance to direct Lethal Weapon he handed the reins over to Schumacher to do his magic.

Joel Schumacher Spent Six Weeks Trying To Convince Jason Patric To Join The Lost Boys Cast

A lot of the weight of The Lost Boys lies on the shoulders of Jason Patric and his performance as the tormented Michael Emerson as he comes to terms with becoming a vampire, and director Joel Schumacher immediately saw something in the young and relatively unknown actor when casting. Getting Patric to sign on would prove to be no easy task for Schumacher, as Patric continually turned down his offer. In the 2004 documentary The Lost Boys: A Retrospective, Schumacher revealed that he met with Patric pretty much every day for six weeks and tried to convince him that the movie wouldn’t be like other exploitation horror movies. Patric finally relented and agreed to sign on, which was good news for Schumacher, because he didn’t have a second choice lined up.

The Lost Boys Included Unused B-Roll Footage From Top Gun Due To Budget Cuts

There seems to be a trend with classic ‘80s horror movies experiencing budget cuts just before the start of production, and it’s no different for The Lost Boys. Shortly before his passing in June 2020, director Joel Schumacher told Empire that Warner Bros. got “cold feet” just before shooting was about to start and slashed the budget by $2 million. The art department was affected the most, and production designer Bo Welch had to come up with some ingenious ways of doing more with less. One of these ways was taking unused B-roll footage from Top Gun that was then used for the POV shot of a vampire flying through the clouds.

Kiefer Sutherland’s Look In Lost Boys Was Inspired By Billy Idol

Kiefer Sutherland’s David Powers may be one of main antagonists in The Lost Boys but he has remained a fan favorite and heartthrob over the years due to his iconic look (that platinum blonde mullet). Initially, David was supposed to have a different look, as Sutherland told Yahoo Entertainment in 2019. According to the actor, Schumacher wanted David to have long blonde hair, but this made Sutherland look like a wrestler and he wasn’t really fond of the appearance. So, on his first day on set, Sutherland had the makeup team trim his hair short on the top and sides to make him look more like Billy Idol, who he said was really cool at the time. And, even though Schumacher wasn’t pleased at first, Sutherland said he and the director laughed about it for years.

Corey Feldman Based His Portrayal Of Edgar Frog On ‘80s Action Movie Heroes

Corey Feldman’s Edgar Frog is another iconic character from The Lost Boys, and part of the reason for that is the way in which he portrayed a teenage vampire hunter alongside his on-screen brother, Alan Frog (Jamison Newlander). In the above mentioned 2004 documentary, the Stand By Me star revealed that when he was doing a reading of the script, Joel Schumacher approached him and said he needed to “butch it up a little bit.” What he meant by this was to go home and watch various Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, and other action movies of the time, and meld those characters together to create something. What we got was Edgar Frog, fearless teenage vampire hunter.

Alex Winter’s First Day On Set Was The Famous Beach Party And He Had No Idea What He Was Getting Himself Into

There is one scene in particular in The Lost Boys that has become a monster of its own in the decades since the film’s 1987 release, and that is the beach party scene that features Tim Cappello, a.k.a. Sexy Sax Guy, all oiled up and singing “I Still Believe” as hundreds of party-goers dance on the beach. Well, as ridiculous (and ridiculously awesome) as this scene is for those watching the movie, it was even more so for the cast, as Alex Winter revealed during a 2021 interview with CinemaBlend:

Tim Cappello and “I Still Believe” have each gone on to become two of most memorable parts of The Lost Boys, and the song was even used in a pivotal scene in the 2018 Paramount Network limited series Waco with Taylor Kitsch’s David Koresh playing the song as federal agents wait outside the Branch Davidian compound.

Kiefer Sutherland Broke His Wrist While Trying To Impress A Girl On Set

Kiefer Sutherland and the actors who played the other motorcycle-riding vampires in The Lost Boys did their own stunt work during production. And, though this makes all the classic motorcycle scenes look even more badass, there were some drawbacks, like the time Sutherland broke his wrist while trying to impress a girl walking along the Santa Cruz boardwalk.

During the 2019 Dallas FanExpo, Kiefer Sutherland shared the story and explained that he performed a wheelie in an attempt to show off, but by doing so he failed to notice a train track. Upon hitting the obstacle, the actor was thrown off the bike and broke his right wrist in three places. After that a special cast had to be created for Sutherland, who also had to start riding a bike with the brake and clutch on the left side because of the injured wrist.

‘The Two Coreys’ Became Fast Friends On The Set Of The Lost Boys

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s there were few duos of young actors more recognizable than Corey Feldman and Corey Haim, a.k.a. “The Two Coreys.” All in all, the co-stars and friends would go on to make a total of nine movies together before Haim died of an overdose in March 2010. But, all stories have to start somewhere, and for The Two Coreys that was the set of The Lost Boys where they met and became fast friends. During a 2007 joint interview on Larry King Live, Haim revealed that he and Feldman “just clicked” when they met each other more than 20 years earlier. Whether it was in front of the camera or behind the scenes, the pair were inseparable for a time and would even complete each other’s sentences.

The Lost Boys Almost Had A Different Ending

The Lost Boys has one of the all-time great horror movie endings with Grandpa (Bernard Hughes) crashing his jeep into the house and impaling Max (Edward Hermmann) in the process before saying the famous line:

However, this wasn’t the original ending of Joel Schumacher’s 1987 horror film. According to Paul Davis’ 2017 book Lost in the Shadows: The Story of The Lost Boys (via Gizmodo), there was originally going to be an additional scene that displayed a mural of Max in the early 1900s, wearing a straw hat and with a smile on his face, talking to a group of young boys. This scene was moved to the end credits before being removed entirely when the aforementioned slashed budget resulted in the mural never being created and the scene never being shot.

Joel Schumacher Wanted To Make A Spinoff Called Lost Girls

There would eventually be two direct-to-DVD sequels — 2008’s Lost Boys: The Tribe and 2010’s Lost Boys: The Thirst — but Joel Schumacher wanted nothing to do with continuing the stories of any of the characters from the original because, as he told Rotten Tomatoes in 2007, all the “lost boys” were dead and there wasn’t really a story there. Instead, Schumacher suggested making a female-centered spinoff called Lost Girls:

Unfortunately, Lost Girls never came to be, but maybe parts of that idea will make their way to the upcoming remake of The Lost Boys.

Hopefully these fascinating behind-the-scenes stories from the making of The Lost Boys give you a greater appreciation of Joel Schumacher’s iconic vampire movie. If you are in the mood for more thrills and chills, check out all the upcoming horror movies coming to theaters and streaming services in the near future.

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Thanks to the rise of streaming, there are vast libraries of titles that are waiting to be discovered or revisited, though cable still has its own gems waiting to be discovered. In fact, Turner Classic Movies, or TCM for short, is still a fantastic channel for film lovers, and actor Alex Winter is one of the people who truly understands the pros of the longtime cable favorite.

It’s part of the reason that TCM enlisted his help in introducing the network’s special March programming block, Growing Up On Screen. With his collection kicking things off at the beginning of the month, focusing on the works of screen legends Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, Alex Winter was on hand to speak with me about the series and the future guest lineup. As we were getting into the heart of that particular conversation, Mr. Winter took a moment to praise the (nearly) 30-year-old network for what it does best:

Another reason for TCM’s Growing Up On Screen lineup, as well as Alex Winter’s involvement, is the fact that last year saw the actor/documentary filmmaker releasing a movie about the business of child actors. As Winter’s career has seen him involved with documentary hits like The Panama Papers and Zappa, last summer’s debut of Showbiz Kids helped show the world the highs and lows of growing up in the spotlight. So, in connection with that film being fresh in the minds of viewers, TCM crafted this month’s lineup of the most iconic performances from the legends of child acting.

Alex Winter’s appearance happened to focus not only on Judy Garland’s career, but also Mickey Rooney’s. Just as he proclaimed himself a fan of Garland’s filmography, Winter just as much a self avowed fan of her frequent co-star and his respective filmography. Featuring films from both Garland and Rooney to kick off this month’s special block, Alex Winter went deeper into why this classic era of films hit him how it did, and why taking part in this TCM event was so exciting.

Through curation and hosted segments like the ones that make up Growing Up On Screen, Turner Classic Movies has remained one of the last bastions of bespoke film criticism and examination. It was hardly the only network to do so, as a decade prior to TCM coming online, American Movie Classics started to do that very same work. Of course, the big difference it that AMC eventually evolved into more of a standard cable network, ditching the format and the name it originated in 2007, eventually becoming the home of shows like The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul.

It almost feels like a supernatural feat for TCM to have lasted as long as it has, especially in a world where cable networks are really starting to pivot harder into unscripted content and more. Yet, so long as there are movie lovers like Bill and Ted star Alex Winter out there, ready to lend a hand and keep the wheels turning, there’s hope for the network to last into its third decade, and beyond. And with some of Winter's own films, like The Lost Boys, the Bill & Ted series, and even his cult classic comedy Freaked all classics that could find themselves on TCM in at some point in the future, a new generation of fans will be exposed to the platform as well. (Though, the fact that the TCM lineup is tied into the HBO Max platform surely does help those chances quite a bit.)

Turner Classic Movies’ Growing Up On Screen will be running throughout the month of March, with each new collection airing on Tuesdays, and featuring such guests as Mara Wilson, Todd Bridges, and Jodie Foster. And if you’d like to see Alex Winter’s documentary Showbiz Kids, that is available through HBO Max’s vast streaming library. Should you not already be a subscriber, check out the current promotion that’ll net you six months of access at a discount.

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It isn’t hard to find someone who absolutely knows why they love The Lost Boys, as the 1987 film has endured as a classic in the horror-comedy genre. But as we’ve seen time and again with movies that have left such a lasting impact on the world, not everyone knows when they have a hit on their hands. Actor Alex Winter is one of those people who, when signing onto the late director Joel Schumacher’s ‘80s landmark, had no clue where The Lost Boys was going, even after reading the script. This was most apparent when he showed up to his first day on set, which happened to be the day when oiled-up sax legend Tim Cappello was doing his thing.

During my recent interview with Mr. Winter, in promotion of TCM’s Growing Up On Screen series, the subject of Alex Winter’s career as a documentary filmmaker came up, as this programming block was tied to his film Showbiz Kids. While he had mentioned that he wasn’t inclined to do so, at least not at the current moment, he did mention his Lost Boys experience in passing. So naturally, as a fan, I had to ask if he had any fun stories about working on that project, which yielded that anecdote about the first day on set:

Again, hindsight easily tells the world that Tim Capello’s appearance at that beach party, wailing on that saxophone and singing “I Still Believe,” is an absolute banger of a movie moment. But when making The Lost Boys into the movie it’s known as today, there’s never a sure sign as to what will hit and what won’t. Sure, there’s indicators that could make for strong feelings about a project’s longevity, but even Alex Winter and the cast of The Lost Boys didn’t really have any idea what was in store for them.

However, the matter of trying to peg where exactly The Lost Boys was going came down to one specific component: the tone of the film. Written from a story by Janice Fischer & James Jeremias, and with assistance from blockbuster scribe Jeffrey Boam, the script itself was obviously the bedrock for the entire experience. Naturally, through translating that story into the visual medium, all sorts of context and direction are added through the process.

Even without knowing the exact stage directions of that scene, the story behind how Tim Cappello got the gig (as told to io9) is basically a tribute to Joel Schumacher's vision. So when Alex Winter continued to recount how the project felt on the page, you can see where the shock would have come in when seeing a roaring fire, a crowded beach and an oiled up sax guy holding court. Winter’s recollections continue below:

The Lost Boys invokes that youthful counterculture energy that both James Dean and Marlon Brando invoked in their work, especially in the conflict between Jason Patric’s Michael and Kiefer Sutherland’s David. But then there’s another whole facet of the film that covers the domestic comedy of Corey Haim’s Sam trying to determine whether or not his mother is dating a vampire. It’s a shift that reads better with the aid of visual storytelling, which is what Alex Winter and the rest of the cast learned during the first complete screening:

Much like Caddyshack balanced the stories of snobs vs. slobs on various fronts, The Lost Boys was able to maintain a ratio of horror and comedy that delivered a movie which would gain a reputation as a roller coaster of fun and fright. And thanks to the entire cast and crew throwing their faith into Joel Schumacher’s direction, memories like the one Alex Winter shared above are all the more entertaining to hear about. From the sound of it, the inclusion of Tim Cappello’s siren song was indeed one of those lynchpins that made the entire thing come together, as that fan favorite moment triggers all the right stories.

If you still believe in the power of The Lost Boys, HBO Max will be able to help quench that thirst. So you’ll want to check out the pre-paid subscription discount that’s running right now. And while you’re at it, you can take a look at Mr. Winter’s documentary, Showbiz Kids, which is also streaming on the platform. Last, but not least, don’t forget to check out TCM’s Growing Up On Screen program, which runs every Tuesday through the month of March.

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Unexpected sequels can truly take a franchise places it never expected to go. Last year’s blast of cinematic comfort food Bill & Ted Face the Music proved that point rather well, as Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves’ return to their legendary roles gave the world a good time that was deserved by all. Just as the world was wondering whether or not Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey would spawn a sequel way back at the beginning of the ‘90s, the world is now wondering if Bill & Ted 4 is just as much a going concern. According to Winter, you may not want to hold your breath.

That’s not to say that Alex Winter has totally written off another Bill & Ted sequel, but when I spoke with him on behalf of his participation in TCM’s Growing Up On Screen series, I was curious to follow up that very possibility. When we’d last heard from Winter on the matter, there was a great deal of uncertainty about a Bill & Ted 4. And while that’s still the truth, for the most part, there is some new information that’s highlighted a future direction that fans have been hoping to see happen. Alex Winter’s update on the Bill & Ted franchise is as follows:

If you want to call the lack of movement on a Bill & Ted 4 bad news, then this does sound like a bit of an update in that column. And to be honest, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves do somewhat tie off their characters with a pretty satisfying button, as we see Bill and Ted’s last day of life in Bill & Ted Face the Music. Then again, since they change the time stream pretty massively, thanks to their assistance in creating the song to save the universe, their fates may have changed quite a bit.

Though that does lead to the update that Alex Winter mentioned in his remarks above. Just as fans have been rallying around the hopes that Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Thea (Samara Weaving) would carry on the family adventures in time travel, it sounds like the folks behind the Bill & Ted franchise are having those conversations. With Bill & Ted Face The Music organically building itself as a continuation of the titular duo’s good-hearted time travel, there was also plenty of room for their offspring to have some wild adventures of their own.

All of this is much more encouraging than what Bill & Ted’s co-creator Ed Solomon said about the prospects for a fourth film last year. While he’s said it’s not happening, who knows what will happen? Though Billie and Thea do sound like the better option for a continuation, as the torch has basically been handed down to them, Bill & Ted Face The Music did spend quite a bit of time as the sequel that wasn’t happening.

Fans can at least be thankful that Bill & Ted Face The Music is available for purchase and rental, through all major formats. Meanwhile, Alex Winter’s documentary, Showbiz Kids, is currently available on HBO Max; and is connected with TCM’s Growing Up On Screen series, which runs throughout all of March. If you’d like to see that film, as well as not only Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, then check out HBO Max’s subscription offer, which gives you six months to enjoy the platform at a discounted rate.

Bill and Ted Face the Music was, for many fans, exactly what a franchise reboot should be. It leaned into nostalgia while still offering a fresh, fun new story. Despite facing unexpected hurdles in its release, the third Bill and Ted film managed to be a hit with fans and critics. So it’s only natural to wonder if there will be a fourth film -- and that’s a question star Alex Winter has weighed in on.

Alex Winter -- the Bill to Keanu Reeves’ Ted -- opened up about how the long-awaited third installment of the film franchise came together and what he thinks could be in store in the future. Here's what he said:

So, it’s not a “yes,” but it’s not a “no” either. If you’re one of the many fans around the world that enjoyed Bill and Ted Face the Music, Alex Winter's comments to Collider can be seen as pretty good news.

It means that while they’re not immediately jumping back in for another adventure, it’s not entirely off the table. And it sounds like if they do end up making a fourth Bill and Ted movie, it will come from a burst of inspiration from the films’ creators.

When Bill and Ted Face the Music was released late this summer, it was under different circumstances than the filmmakers likely imagined. Due to the COVID pandemic, it hit select movie theaters, but most fans took advantage of the chance to see it on VOD instead.

That didn’t stop fans from enjoying the revival of one of the best comedy duos of all time. Kevin Smith, a huge Bill and Ted fanboy, admittedly got emotional when he saw the third installment for the first time, and he probably wasn’t the only one.

If you haven’t had a chance to catch up with Bill and Ted, you can watch Face the Music on VOD, and it's available to own it on DVD or Blu-ray.

Bringing Bill S. Preston and Ted “Theodore” Logan back after several years away can sound like an excellent idea on paper (pun intended). But you don’t know if the concept is going to work, decades later, until the two men responsible for BEING Bill and Ted actually try on the characters and “drive” them around a little bit. If Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter can’t pull off the performances, for whatever reason, then the movie is sunk, and you don’t even bother with Bill & Ted Face the Music.

This was a concern that Alex Winter says he and Keanu Reeves were facing as they prepared to play their iconic characters once again in the 2020 comedy. While appearing on the ReelBlend podcast, Winter opened up about the first time that he and Reeves actually slipped back into character… a move that they basically put off until the last minute. Listen to the clip above, because it’s a sweet story about movie preparation.

It’s kind of funny to hear how concerned producers were about Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter possibly not being able to portray the characters in a movie yet again. After all, it had been nearly two decades since the actors last played Bill and Ted in the surreal sequel Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. What if it didn’t work anymore? And as Winter remembers it, they were starting to feel a little bit of pressure to test out the portrayals again. As he told ReelBlend:

The way that Alex Winter remembers it, that Sunday was the moment when the two actors really came to understand that the movie they had been working so hard to deliver actually would work. Winter is quick to point out that neither he nor Keanu Reeves is anything like Bill and Ted, so to actually step back into their shoes takes work. But it worked, and so did the movie.

Listen to the complete Alex Winter interview as part of this week’s ReelBlend episode:

And be sure to check out Bill & Ted Face the Music, which is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Alex Winter joins the show this week for the home video release of Bill & Ted Face the Music. We discuss Van Halen, shooting a Bill & Ted movie on digital for the first time, his work as a director, and more.

Steven Soderbergh is back with a trailer for his new film Let Them All Talk starring Meryl Streep and Lucas Hedges. After our quick reactions, we discuss the nominees for this year's Gotham Awards. The independent film awards show is the first of the season, and may help us shape our expectations for the Oscars.

With a relatively young career, Diablo Cody has proved herself to be an absolute master of the page. Check out some of our favorites from across her filmography in this week's BlendGame, and be sure to play along next week with "#AngelaBassettBlend" on Twitter.

This Week In Movies

• Lego Star Wars Holiday Special (Disney+)
• Small Axe (Amazon Prime)
• The Nest (VOD)
• Sound of Metal (Limited)

Timestamps (approx. only)

• 2:40 - Weekly Poll: Should WB release Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max?
• 13:08 - Alex Winter Interview
• 35:28 - Let Them All Talk Trailer Reaction
• 44:16 - Gotham Awards Nominations
• 57:45 - This Week In Movies
• 1:12:38 - BlendGame - #DiabloCodyBlend
• 1:21:00 - Outro

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A lot of fans waited a long time for Bill and Ted Face the Music, and they were more than ready when it was finally available to view late last month. However, some fans may have missed out on its release, for one reason or another. Now, there’s a most excellent reason to finally check it out - the price to watch it on digital platforms has dropped.

For plenty of cinephiles that cut their teeth on ‘80s and ‘90s movies, Bill and Ted Face the Music was meant to be a truly historic event (in more ways than one). It took decades for the time traveling duo to be reunited, but the buzz was big for the third installment of the franchise. That is, until COVID-19 shifted how basically every movie from 2020 was going to be released, leading to a ton of uncertainty over the movie’s premiere.

It ultimately hit both theaters and digital platforms on August 28. Recently, Alex Winter, who plays the Bill to Keanu Reeves’ Ted, tweeted out some excellent news for fans:

The website linked in Alex Winter’s tweet offers access to every platform on which Bill and Ted Face The Music is available. The current prices fluctuate slightly depending on which platform you choose. On YouTube and Google Play, the price is shown to have been slashed from $19.99 to $13.99 for a rental and from $24.99 to $19.99 for a purchase. On other sites, like iTunes and Amazon, the current prices are $14.99 to rent and $19.99 to buy.

Fans responded excitedly to Alex Winter’s tweet -- some said they’d been waiting for the price to drop before they checked out Bill and Ted Face the Music, while others said they’d already watched it and it had been worth the price they paid.

That seems to be the general consensus regarding the third film in the Bill and Ted franchise. Before it was released, superfan Kevin Smith was effusive in his praise. Thus far, the critical consensus is that Bill and Ted Face the Music is decidedly not bogus. CinemaBlend’s Sean O’Connell praised the movie for having “more heart” than the two films that preceded it.

Bill and Ted Face the Music is one of many, many films that’s endured some pretty radical changes in terms of its release this year, due to COVID-19. While fans were given the option to see it in theaters in some areas, offering a chance to also watch it at home was probably a smart call. While it made a little over $1 million at traditional box offices in its first weekend, it was topping rental charts on digital platforms.

Have you watched Bill and Ted Face the Music yet? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was a huge hit back in 1989 that led to an almost immediate sequel and turned its two leads, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, into stars. Reeves would go on to a successful career in Hollywood and is currently a bigger star than he has ever been. Alex Winter's career did continue, but following Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey the actor largely left the screen and moved himself behind the camera. In a recent interview, Winter has opened up about the fact that part of the reason for his decision to remove himself from the spotlight was due to abuse he experienced as a child actor.

Alex Winter recently spoke with The Guardian about a new documentary film he is producing about child actors, a topic he knows a great deal about having been one. Alex Winter performed in The King and I with Yul Brynner on Broadway as a kid, but at the same time he was doing that, a role he legitimately loved, he was apparently dealing with abuse. As Winter explained...

Alex Winter has never revealed the name of the person who abused him, beyond saying the person is dead. But he's now putting his experience, and that of several other child actors, front and center in a new documentary for HBO called Showbiz Kids which Winter directed and will feature several other child stars, including Evan Rachel Wood.

It was only two years ago that Alex Winter publicly revealed the abuse he suffered. It seems he tried to deal with both his career and his personal demons for many years, but eventually realized that he was going to need to get out of the view of a camera if he was going to feel safe...

Alex Winter has gone on to a career making documentary films just like this one. His return in Bill and Ted Face the Music was a sort of coming out of retirement for the actor, to reprise the role that made him a star.

It’s been a long time since we got a Bill & Ted movie. So, when news broke that Bill & Ted Face the Music was actually happening, you could say fans were pretty excited about that. Still, it sounds like the response after its release has been a big shock, according to Alex Winter.

Typically, a sequel like Bill & Ted Face the Music appeals mostly to diehard fans of the originals, and the filmmakers try their hardest to tap into that sweet nostalgia. But when speaking with Entertainmentie, Alex Winter said Bill and Ted Face the Music tapped into something much bigger which was a big surprise. Here’s what he had to say about it:

Indeed, the reviews for Bill & Ted Face the Music have been most excellent. CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell gave it a 3 ½ stars out of 5 and said, “Face The Music starts off clunky, but finds its sweet spot, and delivers good laughs and big heart in a very tight 88-minute package.” Other critics seem to agree that the sequel successfully accomplishes the rare feat of capturing the original’s charm.

Even though Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is looked back on more fondly now, critics didn’t have many good things to say of it when it first released. It was only later that critics started seeing the cultural impact the movie had. Alex Winter said later,

It’s a rarity for a sequel like Bill & Ted Face the Music to be made after so long, but it’s even rarer for it to do even better critically than its predecessors. Alex Winter and the filmmakers likely didn’t expect that and figured it would appeal only to the core fans. Luckily that's exactly what it ended up doing.

Overall, Bill & Ted Face the Music could be considered a success. Not only has it received warm critical reviews, but it also has done well at the box office and on VOD, considering the current circumstances. For more movie news, be sure to stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

Bill and Ted Face The Music didn’t just reunite one of the most legendary on-screen duos of all time. It also brought back plenty of references to the previous films in the franchise, as well as a few familiar faces -- including Death. It seems like the new movie wasn’t just a great experience for many fans but for the Bill and Ted cast as well, and William Sadler got real about what it was like to meet up with Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves after nearly 30 years.

William Sadler’s Death may not be a titular character in the Bill and Ted franchise, but he’s easily one of the most memorable. It was pretty much a no-brainer that the team behind Bill and Ted Face The Music would find a way to bring him back -- and fortuitous that the seasoned actor was game to come back. William Sadler told Collider that there were discussions about making a third film since 1991, so he was ready when it finally happened.

He also shared what it was like to reunite with the infamous duo after so many years -- and he didn’t hold back:

There’s something pretty heartwarming about knowing that it was that much fun for William Sadler, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter to get the band back together. Those good feelings on set seem to have translated into the final cut as well.

Since it hit theaters and VOD, the actors and fans alike have remarked at how well the movie incorporates some of the best elements of the previous films in the franchise without it feeling stale or overdone. Some superfans, like Kevin Smith, have even admitted that watching Bill and Ted Face The Music was an emotional, cathartic experience because of the way it tapped into nostalgia.

Even if you can’t make it to a movie theater, you can watch Bill, Ted, and Death reunite from the comfort of your home. Bill and Ted Face The Music is currently available to rent or buy on streaming platforms.

The following contains minor spoilers for Bill and Ted Face the Music.

Bill and Ted Face the Music is as solid an ending to the trilogy as fans could have hoped for, especially after waiting so long for it. It gives the characters a satisfying ending and it also contains all the great franchise references that we would expect to see at the end of the story, meant for all the fans who have been there from the beginning to appreciate. But it turns out that Face the Music also included at least one reference to another popular science fiction film outside the Bill and Ted franchise, one of the all-time greats, if not the greatest, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

A fan noticed a strong similarity between one particular sequence in Bill and Ted Face the Music and 2001: A Space Odyssey, as both movies include scenes where characters find themselves looking upon themselves, as elderly men. Now, Alex Winter has taken to Twitter to seemingly confirm that this was no coincidence, but rather an intentional reference to the Stanley Kubrick classic.

In Bill and Ted Face the Music the modern-day versions of the characters are finally forced to write the song that is supposed to unite all of time and space, but since the two have had no success writing the song previously, they decide the only way to do it is to use time travel to go forward in time to a point after they have written the song, and get it from their older selves. This plan is, probably unsurprisingly, not as simple or successful as Bill and Ted expect it to be.

Bill and Ted Face the Music certainly isn't the first movie since 2001 to have a time-traveling character come into contact with their older self, but looking at these shots side-by-side it's basically impossible not to see this as an intentional reference. Older Bill and Ted could have been found anyplace, they didn't need to be nearly immobile in their beds, and that decision appears to have been made specifically to reference a classic science fiction film.

Of course, realizing that this was a direct reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey also makes the moment that much more hilarious. Taking a classic moment from a movie many believe is the greatest, and most cerebral, science fiction film of all time, and making it a moment where a couple of aging slackers show up looking for a piece of rock and roll music, is somehow the most Bill and Ted thing ever.

Of course, now I need to go watch Bill and Ted Face the Music again and see if I can find any other references to popular science fiction films. Are there any others you've noticed? Let us know in the comments.

It's was almost 30 years in between the release of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, and the new Bill and Ted Face the Music. With a break that long in between films, it was easy enough to believe that we would never see a third Bill and Ted movie, and yet the movie is finally here. The trilogy was finally completed after Keanu Reeves had something of a career renaissance thanks to the John Wick franchise, so it's easy to connect the dots that John Wick's success ultimately helped Face the Music happen, but co-star Alex Winter isn't so sure that's what happened. In fact, he was afraid the success of John Wick might ultimately hurt the Bill and Ted movie's chances of happening.

Pretty much the entire world seems to be in love with Keanu Reeves right now. The world also, more specifically, loves the John Wick movies, as each of the three installments has only been a bigger box office success than the one that came before it. However, Alex Winter says that he doesn't think that Keanu's popularity thanks to John Wick really helped Bill and Ted because getting the necessary support for Face the Music didn't get any easier after John Wick became a hit, for very obvious reasons. According to Winter...

Alex Winter's comments to THR are pretty on the money when you think about it. Yes, Keanu Reeves is an incredibly popular actor right now, possibly more so than any other time in his career, and that's certainly going to be something that studios care about. No studio wants to take crazy risks, which is why, when we see one movie become successful, we tend to see similar movies follow it. Simply putting Keanu Reeves in any movie isn't going to be as sure a bet as putting Keanu Reeves in a movie that is similar to John Wick.

And so Alex Winter was afraid that the people who were necessary to fund Bill and Ted Face the Music wouldn't be interested in seeing Keanu Reeves in a role so far away from what he had been successful doing. And the fact that it still took six years after the first John Wick movie came out to get a release for Face the Music would seem to confirm that.

Instead, Alex Winter credits the fan base for showing the money people that there was enough interest in the movie on its own merits that it could be a success on its own. And that appears to be coming true, as Bill and Ted Face the Music is the top digital movie on most or all platforms right now.

Part of me thinks it’s odd that we now have a Bill & Ted trilogy. Then again, there are eight Police Academy movies, so franchise math doesn’t always compute in Hollywood. What I mean by “odd,” though, is that loosey-goosey best buds Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted “Theodore” Logan (Keanu Reeves) don’t possess many of the qualities on which we expect a franchise to be built. They don’t have super powers. They’re not gear heads embarking on covert CIA missions. In fact, they’re not particularly great at anything, despite visitors from the future often telling them it’s their destiny to unite the world in song.

More than anything, Bill and Ted are just cool dudes we kind of enjoying spending time with. And that casual vibe of friendship and determination serves as a welcome mat for Bill & Ted Face the Music, the long-in-the-making sequel that reunites Winter and Reeves in the lead roles for the first time since 1991’s peculiar Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. You remember, the one where they played Twister against Death (William Sadler) while evil, robot versions of them wrecked havoc. The parts still fit Reeves and Winter, though Face the Music needs a few minutes to find its proper groove, and the sequel eventually plays a tune that will make fans of the franchise happy they got the band back together.

Bill And Ted Face The Music has more heart than the previous two movies.

Just like its protagonists, the Bill & Ted franchise has matured. Bill and Ted are fathers now, and they attend couples’ therapy with the princesses. Wyld Stallyns still perform, though they’ve failed at writing the song that’s meant to bring the world together… and the strain of that pressure is prompting Ted to quit the duo.

Before he can walk, the men are visited by Kelly (Kristen Schall), an emissary from the future who carries a warning: Bill and Ted have 78 minutes to finally deliver that infamous track, or reality as they know it will fold in on itself. So the guys do what they’ve done for two previous installments – they hop in a time machine and kind of cheat to accomplish their goals. Instead of going back in time to pass History, the duo leaps to the future where they hope to acquire the song from themselves. As you might guess, things go wrong.

On this journey, though, co-screenwriters Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson use the amiable duo to reflect on heavier themes that can plague middle-aged men. Bill and Ted wrestle with the weight off failed expectations. They love their music-loving daughters, but wonder if they’ve been worthy role models for them. They’ve gone from Excellent and Bogus to angsty, but it gives Reeves and Winter new dimensions with which to play.

Bill & Ted Face The Music starts to connect, though, when the leads start to share the “stage” with their daughters, played to perfection by Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) and Brigette Lundy-Paine (Atypical). Its heartwarming to see our beloved time-traveling bros become caring, supportive fathers. It elevates this sequel to a tender spot that wouldn’t have been expected at the end of Bogus Journey.

Bill And Ted Face The Music is every bit as weird as Bogus Journey.

It’s important to note that while it’s more mature, Bill & Ted Face The Music can still be immature, in a giddy way. The best part about the immediate sequel Bogus Journey is that it never tried to replicate what worked about the original movie. It carved its own path while relying on the chemistry shared between Reeves and Winter.

The same goes for Face The Music. While Bill and Ted encounter convict versions of their future selves, Billie (Lundy-Paine) and Thea (Weaving) trip through history to recruit an all-star band, pitstopping in Hell for an hilarious reunion with Death (Sadler) and the inclusion of the film’s show stopper, Dennis Caleb McCoy (Anthony Carrigan), a gut-bustingly funny cyborg criminal tasked with stopping the lead duo from completing their mission. Every scene involving Dennis get more bizarre, and his presence is never not funny. It was worth bringing Bill & Ted back just to introduce Dennis into this world.

All in all, Bill & Ted Face The Music is a welcome return for the goofy franchise. It’s not a Greatest Hits compilation, and that’s a good thing. By attempting to blaze its own trail, Face The Music starts off clunky, but finds its sweet spot, and delivers good laughs and big heart in a very tight 88-minute package. To quote Bill, it’s not not heinous.

Bill and Ted were terrible students. They needed an actual time machine to help them pass their History final. The Wyld Stallyns leaders are awful songwriters. Even though they learned to play their instruments, they never figured out how to pen the ode that was meant to unite the global community. So what the hell are Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) actually good at? And why do we have a trilogy dedicated to their adventures?

I posed this question to Ed Solomon, co-creator of the Bill & Ted franchise, and the co-screenwriter of the latest chapter, Bill and Ted Face the Music. This, after all, is the man who charts the course for Bill and Ted on each excellent adventure, and who appeals to their strengths as characters. And so, he told me:

The optimism shared by Bill and Ted is contagious. It has powered Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter through two wildly unpredictable chapters, where the duo managed to do everything from time travel to dying and resurrecting themselves (with the help of God and Station). But it cracked me up, upon rewatch, to realize that Bill and Ted don’t have any discernible skills that get the out of jams. They’re better than Death (William Sadler) at various board games. And they are natural conversationalists, able to commune with Joan of Arc, Napoleon and citizens from the future.

After thinking about it for a minute, Bill and Ted Face the Music co-screenwriter Ed Solomon concludes:

To put it simply, they are an excellent team. And audiences have enjoyed going on their most bodacious adventures ever since the duo made its debut in 1989.

The journey continues now that the long-awaited Bill and Ted Face the Music lands in select theaters and on Paid VOD starting on August 28. In the new movie, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are fathers who are pulled back into a race-the-clock mission to compose a song that will prevent the fabric of time from unraveling. No big deal, right? The comedy co-stars Kristen Schaal, William Sadler, Anthony Carrigan, Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine. Look out for it.

It has been decades since audiences last saw Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) completing their Bogus Journey and learning to play instruments so they finally could compose the song that would unite the world in harmony. This has been their destiny ever since the two meet Rufus (George Carlin) outside of a Circle K in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. But if you recalled, when Bill and Ted returned from their musical education at the end of Bogus Journey, they also had babies… named Bill and Ted.

I assumed that Bill and Ted had baby boys. So, apparently, did series co-creator Ed Solomon, who also wrote the new Bill and Ted Face the Music, opening on August 28. Solomon has been with Bill and Ted since day one, and likely knows them better than they know themselves. So when I had the chance to interview him about the new movie, and the series’ legacy, I asked if they gender swapped the kids from Bogus Journey to now be played, in 2020, by Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine. Solomon confessed:

There’s no way to know how different Bill and Ted Face the Music might have been if they cast sons instead of daughters in the third adventure. I’m going to trust Ed Solomon when he tells us that it just didn’t work, on any level.

But having seen the movie, I can confirm that Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine are excellent continuations of the loveable “heroes” we followed in the first two Bill and Ted movies. They personify the wonder and ingenuity that sets Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) apart from other movie duos. And it’s clear that the main characters wouldn’t be ready to face the music if not for the support of their daughters.

After decades of delays, Bill and Ted Face the Music is making its way to select theaters and Paid VOD. The sci-fi comedy will be available starting on August 28.

The Star Trek family aches with the news that Ben Cross, who played Sarek in 2009’s reboot, died on Tuesday. The British talent was 72 and leaves an impressive legacy in Hollywood, also notably through his portrayal of Olympic champion Harold Abrahams in 1981’s Chariots of Fire, and Barnabas Collins in the ‘90s Dark Shadows television series. As word spread, Hollywood reacted with tributes to the late actor. Here’s what Zachary Quinto said this:

Zachary Quinto wrote these words alongside an Instagram post featuring a picture of Ben Cross as Sarek in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. The Spock actor sounds like he had a distinctly positive experience with the actor on set. Star Trek was a massive role for Quinto that undoubtedly changed his life, and one key relationship in the film is Spock with his father, Sarek.

Ben Cross was embraced by the Star Trek community after years without the fan-favorite character played by Mark Lenard in the original ‘60s series, who also reprised his role in the subsequent films starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and the rest of the original Enterprise crew, as well as The Next Generation in 1991. TNG actress Marina Sirtis, who played Deanna Troi, took to Twitter to share her condolences too:

Another co-star of Ben Cross, Antony Starr, who worked with him on the Cinemax series Banshee, wrote this:

There he is in Chariots of Fire, which was nominated for four Oscars in 1982, including Best Picture. Bill & Ted actor Alex Winter also remembered the actor on social media here:

To close out the tributes, DC comic book writer and producer for Wanted, Kingsman and Kick-Ass, Mark Millar, shared this cute memory of Ben Cross:

In another tweet, Mark Millar also said he remembered telling Ben Cross about how Howard Chaykin’s The Shadow comic used him as a model for his run of the ‘80s series. They googled images of the issues together, and he was “genuinely tickled.” Cross certainly touched many more people in Hollywood than those who have honored him here.

Sadly, the Star Trek community has faced a number of heartbreaking deaths in the past few years, with the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, passing away in 2015 at the age of 83, and the new franchise’s Chekov, Anton Yelchin, passing away in 2016 at the too-young age of 27.

Though the Star Trek film franchise has been dormant since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, Paramount has a number of films in development, and the property is living and breathing with a bunch of exciting original Star Trek shows on CBS All Access. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more updates on Star Trek.

Last week during Comic-Con@Home, one of the most sincerely enjoyable panels was put together promoting the upcoming release of Bill And Ted Face The Music. What made the online event so entertaining was that it not only revealed some fun stuff about the new movie, but also divulged some great behind-the-scenes stories about Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure – such as the moment when it was discovered that Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves were truly the perfect pair to play the titular duo.

The discussion got us wondering if there were possibly even more memorable moments and strange factoids available about the 1988 classic, and it turns out that the answer is an emphatic “yes.” Digging into the conversation at the Comic-Con panel, various commentary tracks, featurettes, and interviews about the making of Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, we’ve put together this most radical feature for your enjoyment, and it will hopefully only deepen your appreciation for the movie.

The Original Concept For The Film Was For It To Be A Series Of Skits Like The Kentucky Fried Movie

Prior to being characters in a script, Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan were creations of screenwriters Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson in that they occasionally adopted the personas while in conversation and once incorporated them in an improv performance. That’s an odd beginning for the heroes of Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but even more out there is that when Solomon and Matheson did start thinking about a screenplay, they initially envisioned the project in the mold of The Kentucky Fried Movie and exist as an anthology comedy featuring Bill and Ted. It was ultimately a suggestion from Matheson’s father, legendary author Richard Matheson, that the project take a more traditional narrative route.

Bill And Ted Had A Time Van In Early Drafts, But Back To The Future Pretty Much Forced That To Change

Once Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure made that narrative shift, time travel became a part of the concept – though the means were totally different, and the title of the film was originally Bill And Ted’s Time Van. In the first draft, which was only 83 pages long, Bill and Ted were able to move through time thanks to a special van owned by a guy named Rufus who had a dog named Dog Rufus. When Back To The Future opened in theaters, it was understood that the project had to move away from the idea of a time traveling car, and it was director Stephen Herek who came up with the idea of using a phone booth, inspired by college pranks where students would jam as many people as possible into the small space.

Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure Almost Featured Hitler Instead Of Napoleon

Various drafts of Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure used a number of historical figures who didn’t make it into the final version (including George Washington, Babe Ruth, and Amelia Earhart), but arguably the most notable erased inclusion was Adolf Hitler essentially in the same role played by Napoleon Bonaparte. There were some good ideas and funny jokes that the writers put together with the concept, but they scrapped it in preproduction realizing that they couldn’t have Bill and Ted – as they put it in their home video commentary track – “paling around with lovable Hitler.”

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter Went Into Their First Costume Fittings Thinking They Were Playing The Opposite Parts

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter had to endure what was a surprisingly rigorous audition process, but what won them the parts at the end of the day was the chemistry that existed between them and the fact that they would hang out like instant friends between doing what was asked of them in the try out. At the end of it all it was determined that they were the only two actors who could play Bill and Ted… but the duo apparently walked out of the audition individually not entirely clear on which role they had won. It was not until they were at their first costume fittings that Reeves realized he wasn’t playing Bill and that Winter figured out he wasn’t playing Ted.

Casting Rufus Took A Long Time, And Inspired An On-Set Running Joke

George Carlin’s performance as Rufus is one of the most perfect elements of Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, providing exactly the right level of cool and swagger to the part, but unlike in the movie he wasn’t present when things started up. It took a while for the production to find the right actor for the part, so principal photography began before that actually happened. This unfortunately had a bit of a negative effect on the set atmosphere, as there was some nervousness in regard to the casting – so much so that there ended up being a running joke on set with people pitching worse and worse ideas for the role.

George Carlin Wrote The Movie’s Introduction Sequence

As will be discussed later in this feature, Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure went through some rather significant changes towards the end of its production, but what can be said about the majority of the material is that it was written by Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson. The lone exception to this is the very first scene in the movie where George Carlin’s Rufus explains his mission to the audience. The bit only came about because test screenings revealed some confusion in regard to the larger context of Rufus’ plans with Bill and Ted, and per Solomon and Matheson, the brilliant stand-up comedian wrote the material himself.

Keanu Reeves Asked George Carlin For An Autograph, And Got An Amazing Response

While Keanu Reeves is now one of the biggest stars in the world, he was just a young pup in the making of Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and he was a bit star-struck with the opportunity to work alongside George Carlin. Mustering up his courage, he decided one day to ask his co-star for an autograph, and in Reeves’ own words (from the Shout! Factory Blu-ray):

The Movie Had 10 Days Of Filming In Italy For Some Of The Notable Time Travel Scenes

Being an independent movie, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure had to save money where it could (for example, they filmed primarily in Arizona because it was less expensive than San Dimas, California), but there was one stretch where the production got an opportunity to pull a big blockbuster move and film for 10 days in Rome, Italy. The schedules were packed, there was only one day for sightseeing, and there wasn’t even enough money to provide Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson with per diem, but they did add some serious production with European locations. The scenes filmed in Rome include the castle where they meet the girls, the fancy music room where they meet Beethoven, the square where they pick up Freud, the building where they find Socrates.

The Phone Booth Took On A Really Terrible Smell During Production

As noted, when the cast and crew wasn’t in Europe they were filming in Arizona, and the particular climate had a seriously negative effect on one important prop/location: the phone booth. With actors constantly piling into the thing wearing heavy costumes day in and day out, the time travel device wound up taking on a seriously unpleasant odor with which the actors had to deal. It’s noted in the Blu-ray special features that the production did have a version of the phone booth that didn’t have a back, but Stephen Herek wanted to maintain a reality in the imagery of all the characters stuffed in a tiny space.

Keanu Reeves Came Up With The Concept Of “Ted Hair” On Set, And Was Very Insistent About It

Keanu Reeves has played many iconic characters over the course of his career that have their own specific and memorable looks, and Ted in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is no exception to that rule – though Reeves didn’t actually discover the “key” until a couple weeks into production. The actor found that he liked it when Ted’s hair had a kind of width to it, as he felt that it made his performance funnier. He became pretty insistent about it on set, making sure it was right before each take, but to his credit, the style is hilarious.

The Original Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure Climax, To Put It Bluntly, Sucked

Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure really brings it home with its big climax, allowing the eponymous heroes to showcase all that they’ve learned, and also show off the very special skills possessed by their new friends. What you may not know is that the scene wasn’t originally in the script. The original plan was to simply have the presentation take place in the same classroom seen earlier in the movie, with Bill and Ted having a more passive role while each of the historical figures explained themselves. An hour into shooting it was decided that the material was flat, and that the movie needed a punchier ending. It was this thinking that created the auditorium sequences.

Who Is Running The Lights During The Presentation? According To The Writers, It’s Bill And Ted

There are admittedly a few plot holes in Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, which is natural for a time travel movie, but one of the standouts is the professional-level light show that accompanies their history presentation. Who is making that happen? Per Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson, their thinking is that it is time traveling versions of Bill and Ted who are taking care of the technical side of things, and they regret not actually showing that in the movie.

The Movie Was Originally Going To End With A Prom Sequence

The boring classroom finale wasn’t the only Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure sequence that wound up being left on the cutting room floor, as there were originally plans to have the movie feature a bit where Bill and Ted make good on their promise to bring the princesses to prom. They even had their own special Bill and Ted-style tuxes to wear to the event (you can't see it in the image above, but they are wearing cut-off dress pants)… but it was felt in the editing room that it was too much material for the end of the film and that it needed to wrap things up faster.

There Was A Long Time When It Was Thought That Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure Would Never See The Light Of Day

Having completed production in 1987, the Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure cast and crew expected the film to be released theatrically at some time in 1988, but those dreams fell through as a result of the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, the production company backing the movie, being forced to file for bankruptcy. It sat on the shelf for years until a tiny company called Nelson Entertainment, which hired a bunch for former DEG executives, purchased it, and a distribution deal was created with Orion Pictures. The film wound up being Orion’s highest grossing picture when it came out in 1989, earning $40 million.

We’ll be doing a deep dive in to the behind-the-scenes story of the sequel, Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey, soon, so stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for that, as well as a whole lot more coverage as we continue to excitedly count down the days until the release of Bill And Ted Face The Music, which will be in select theaters and available on premium VOD starting September 1st.

The Bill & Ted franchise means a lot of things to a lot of people. It’s a classic comedy series, the source of iconic catchphrases and an essential piece of nostalgia. However, it hasn’t ever really been considered a tearjerker by most of us -- at least, not yet. According to Kevin Smith, that could all change when Bill & Ted Face The Music is released -- because he says it made him cry. Like, a lot.

The Comic-Con @ Home Official Panel for Bill & Ted Face The Music gave the cast and crew, including stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, a chance to virtually discuss the upcoming film and give fans a little taste of what to expect. It also gave longtime fan Kevin Smith, who moderated the panel, a chance to weigh in on what the movie meant to him. It turns out, it went a lot deeper than some may have expected:

After the year we’ve had so far, the prospect of having a movie that exists just to make us happy actually sounds pretty great. For Kevin Smith, it seems like part of what made Bill & Ted Face The Music work so well is the fact that it manages to tap into the nostalgia factor that has so many fans excited about the movie in the first place:

Kevin Smith’s enthusiasm for Bill & Ted Face The Music just makes its impending release all the more exciting. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a little bit longer than we’d hoped to see it. While it was originally due out on August 12, it’s since been pushed back to September 1, when it will be available to view both in theaters and on demand.

Are you excited to see, and possibly cry over, Bill & Ted Face The Music? Let us know in the comments!

It’s always magical when an actor is matched to their perfect character, forbidding the possibility of the audience imagining anyone else ever playing the part, and in that sense the original casting process for Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure struck pure gold twice. As the titular duo, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter established what are iconic roles, and the performances we’ve seen, both in the original and in the first sequel, Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey are ones that we will never forget.

One could say it was destiny that the two actors would play the goofy best buds – and in a way Bill And Ted co-creator Ed Solomon confirmed as much today during the Comic-Con @ Home panel for the upcoming Bill And Ted Face The Music.

Hosted by Kevin Smith, the panel started by digging into the history of the series and its origins back in the 1980s, which was delivered with fun fact that the characters were initially created by Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson as personas they themselves took on before deciding that Bill And Ted could be the heroes of their own movie. Unfortunately, they lost a fair bit of control over the project as it started to head towards production, and, as Solomon described, this led to them standing in a McDonalds shortly before principal photography complaining about their vision being screwed with. Said the writer,

Evidently it was during this conversation that Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson’s attention was caught by a couple of guys ahead of them, and they had a moment of inspiration that turned out to be something like a message from the universe. Solomon continued:

It’s certainly not an uncommon thing to hear writers be upset about their work not being treated properly in Hollywood (it’s actually so common that it’s an industry joke), but rarely do those stories have such remarkably happy endings. But it just seems to perfect for Bill And Ted, which is just a series beaming with endless positivity that is best summed up in the great Abraham Lincoln quote, “Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!”

We here at CinemaBlend couldn’t be more thrilled to see the return of Bill And Ted, and our wait for that triumphant arrival is almost over. Bill And Ted Face The Music, starring Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, William Sadler, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Kristen Schaal, Anthony Carrigan, Erinn Hayes, Jayma Mays, Holland Taylor, Kid Cudi, Jillian Bell, and more, will be hitting select theaters and premium VOD on September 1st. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for news, updates, and a whole lot more between now and then!

At this point, we could all really use another excellent adventure. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a little longer for the next one from Bill and Ted. As Hollywood continues to shift its 2020 movie release dates around, Bill & Ted Face The Music’s premiere has been pushed back following the news that Tenet has been delayed again.

The reason behind MGM’s decision is to avoid having the third installment of the Bill & Ted franchise compete against Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated spy film, per Variety. Warner Bros. recently announced that it has pushed Tenet back to August 12, the latest in a series of shuffles. As a result, Bill & Ted Face The Music is now scheduled to hit theaters on August 28.

If you’re confused about what’s coming out when, it’s okay. You’re not alone. The past few days have seen some big release date changes, and it’s a little hard to keep track. Mulan, which was first scheduled to hit theaters in March and then pushed back to July, has now been moved to August 21, due to continued uncertainty over the trajectory of the global health crisis. That uncertainty means that even the dates we do have could be subject to change yet again, especially those scheduled for the rest of the summer.

Right now, there are a handful of films besides Mulan, Tenet and Bill & Ted Face The Music that are scheduled for theatrical release before Labor Day. The New Mutants currently shares August 28 with Bill & Ted, and A Quiet Place Part II is due to open on September 4. However, most of the big movies we should have already seen this year have been pushed all the way back to the end of 2020 or later.

The fact that MGM has chosen to keep Bill & Ted Face The Music as a theatrical release is telling regarding their belief in its ability to draw a crowd. Several other films have been shifted to digital releases, which has helped studios rake in some money in the wake of this unprecedented health crisis. Still, it’s easy to understand why they’re banking on it -- fans of the time-traveling duo have been waiting for a third chapter for almost 30 years.

Bill & Ted Face The Music will find William "Bill" S. Preston Esq. (Alex Winters) and Theodore "Ted" Logan (Keanu Reeves), still best friends albeit a little bit older, as they try to save all of humanity with their music. Fans of the franchise can expect to see some familiar faces -- but some new ones as well. (Bill and Ted are parents now!)

While we’re all hopeful MGM can keep this release date in place, CinemaBlend will keep you updated if anything changes. And be sure to keep an eye on our 2020 Movie Release Guide.

It’s taken multiple decades to happen, but Bill And Ted are finally coming back to the big screen. Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves' legendary duo first made their mark on pop culture back in 1988 with Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and they returned in 1991 for Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey, but there has been a long wait since then as gears have turned slowly for filmmakers trying to make a trilogy out of the franchise. Now, finally, the wait is almost over, as Bill And Ted Face The Music is just a couple months from arriving in a theater near you.

But what do we actually know about the upcoming sequel? When is it coming out? Who is making it? What is it about? Who is starring? We have answers for all of those questions and more in this latest edition of our What We Know So Far guides, so continue reading and get the lowdown on everything Bill And Ted Face The Music below.

What Is The Release Date For Bill And Ted Face The Music?

Thanks to global events, the release calendar in 2020 has been all kinds of screwy, as major releases that were initially going to come out in March or April are now coming out in the second half of the year instead. Amidst all of the shuffling, however, one movie that hasn’t needed to change its release schedule is Bill And Ted Face The Music. The film went into production in 2019 targeting an August 21st release date, and those plans haven’t changed.

Is There A Bill And Ted Face The Music Trailer?

As you can see above, the answer to the question of whether or not Bill And Ted Face The Music has an official trailer is “Yes!” With only a couple months left before the film’s theatrical release, Orion Pictures posted the first-look footage from the movie on June 9th (69, dudes!). It’s much shorter than your traditional trailer, which usually clocks in at about two-and-a-half minutes, but it quickly establishes tone and story, and does a great job leaving us excited to see more on the big screen in August.

What Is Bill And Ted Face The Music’s Rating?

For what should be obvious reasons, the MPAA doesn’t provide a rating for a feature until the studio has submitted a cut of the film that it wants to play theatrically – and it seems that Bill And Ted Face The Music is not yet at that stage. Neither the trailer for the movie nor the debut poster features a grading. The previous installments in the series arrived on the big screen back in the late 1980s and early 1990s having been given PG ratings, but the expectation is that Bill And Ted Face The Music will ultimately get a PG-13 because of modern standards.

Who Is Directing Bill And Ted Face The Music?

Director Dean Parisot is a filmmaker well-versed in making movies with cult followings, as he is best known as the director of Galaxy Quest. While he hasn’t directed a feature since Red 2 in 2013, he is making his comeback with Bill And Ted Face The Music. In the last few years, the work he's done has primarily been on the small screen, helming episodes of shows like Justified, Masters of Sex, Grace And Frankie, Santa Clarita Diet and Good Girls, but there are high hopes among fans that Parisot will be able to deliver a Bill And Ted sequel as genuine as his beloved love letter to Star Trek.

What Is Bill And Ted Face The Music About?

The first two Bill And Ted movies notably hinge on one idea introduced in the first scene of Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure: that the eponymous protagonists are destined for greatness as rock gods, and eventually become legends who influence universal peace with their music. Unfortunately, Bill And Ted Face The Music picks up with the characters nearly three decades later, and their band Wyld Stallyns is playing next to buffet dinners instead of in packed stadiums. Leaders from the future contact them letting them know that time is running out for them to change the future, and so the two middle-aged losers are forced to come up with a plan.

As seen in the trailer for Bill And Ted Face The Music, it seems that their big idea is to time travel to the future and steal the idea for the greatest song ever written from themselves. They return to their mystical phone booth to get the job done, but naturally, the mission isn’t as easy as it seems.

Who’s Starring In Bill And Ted Face The Music

Obviously Bill And Ted wouldn’t be anything without Bill and Ted, but Bill And Ted Face The Music has really gone the extra mile as far as giving its titular leads some awesome co-stars. There is a great mix of returning characters and newcomers, though we definitely know more about some roles than others.

Ted 'Theodore' Logan (Keanu Reeves)

Keanu Reeves was still an up-and-comer when he first played Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan in Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and while he’s played a crazy number of iconic roles since then – from Jack Traven in Speed to Neo in The Matrix to John Wick in John Wick – Ted remains a favorite among fans. It’s a character type (the dumb guy) that we haven’t seen from the star in a fair bit of time, so it will be fun to see him return.

Bill S. Preston (Alex Winter)

In the years since the first two Bill and Ted movies, Alex Winter has continued to act, especially in voice roles, but his larger focus has been on his work as a documentary filmmaker. He has most recently been working on Zappa (about the brilliant rock icon Frank Zappa) and Showbiz Kids (about the experience of child actors). Bill And Ted Face The Music will feature his first live-action performance since his small role in the 2013 thriller Grand Piano starring Elijah Wood.

Thea Preston (Samara Weaving)

Samara Weaving turned a lot of heads in 2019 by starring in one of the most wickedly delightful films of the year, Ready Or Not, and soon we will see her back on the big screen playing what should be another excellent role. The Australian actor will be playing Thea Preston in Bill And Ted Face The Music, who is the daughter of Bill, and the namesake of Ted. We first met the character as a baby in Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey, but now she is all grown up, and from what we have seen, it doesn’t seem like she is tremendously proud of her father’s accomplishments.

Billie Logan (Brigette Lundy-Paine)

Starring opposite Samara Weaving is Brigette Lundy-Paine as Billie Logan – who is Ted’s daughter, and the namesake of Bill. Lundy Paine is best known for her role as Casey Gardner on the ongoing series Atypical, but her resume also includes films like Destin Daniel Cretton's The Glass Castle and Jay Roach's Bombshell.

Death (William Sadler)

Played by William Sadler, Death a.k.a. The Grim Reaper has one of the stranger arcs in Bill And Ted, as he goes from gambling with the heroes for their eternal souls to serving as the bassist for Wyld Stallyns. He’ll be back with the band in Bill And Ted Face The Music, but the extent of his role has not yet been disclosed.

Captain Jonathan Logan (Hal Landon Jr.)

As you can probably tell from the last name, Captain Jonathan Logan is Ted’s father, the San Dimas Police Captain in Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and it was his threat of sending Ted to military school that motivated a great deal of the plot in the first movie. He has a bit of an attitude adjustment in Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey due to a change in marital status (more on that in a second), and we’re excited to see what’s been going on in his life with Bill And Ted Face The Music.

Missy (Amy Stoch)

Is there another character in pop culture history who goes from being the stepmom of one protagonist to being the stepmom of the other protagonist? It’s probably fair to say that Amy Stoch’s Missy stands alone with that superlative, which makes for a great gag in Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey. It’s been confirmed she will be back in Bill And Ted Face The Music, but how her arc will continue has not been revealed.

Princess Joanna Preston (Jayma Mays)

Because everything in the lives of Bill and Ted is strange, the loves of their life weren’t even born in the same century, as the duo notably fell in love with 15th century English princesses in Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Thanks to some of Rufus’ meddling with time, Bill winds up being with Princess Joanna, and they will apparently still be together in Bill And Ted Face The Music, played by Jayma Mays. Whether or not she is still a part of Wyld Stallyns is unclear.

Princess Elizabeth Logan (Erinn Hayes)

Medical Police/Children’s Hospital star Erinn Hayes will be playing Princess Elizabeth Logan in the movie, who is the wife of Ted and the mother of Billie. Like the case with Princess Joanna, whether or not she is still rocking out with her husband on a regular basis has not yet been confirmed.

Deacon Logan (Beck Bennett)

Bill and Ted fans will remember Deacon as Ted’s annoying younger brother who ditches Napoleon in Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure and lets the French general make his way to the local water park. He wasn’t in the first sequel, but he will be back and all grown up in Bill And Ted Face The Music, and played by Saturday Night Live star Beck Bennett. The nature of his role is unclear at present, but hopefully there is at least one scene where he gets in a physical skirmish with his sibling.

The Great Leader (Holland Taylor)

In Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the Three Most Important People in the World in the future are played by musicians Clarence Clemons (RIP), Martha Davis and Fee Waybill, but in Bill And Ted Face The Music the group will evidently be under new leadership. As seen in the trailer, the new Great Leader will be played by Holland Taylor, who is best known for movies like Romancing The Stone, The Truman Show, Legally Blonde and the Spy Kids sequels.

Is George Carlin’s Rufus Going To Be In Bill And Ted Face The Music?

During his career, George Carlin was better known for his work as a stand-up comedian than being an actor, but he nonetheless created a wonderfully iconic science-fiction character playing the time-traveler Rufus in the first two Bill and Ted movies. He won’t be back in Bill And Ted Face The Music, as Carlin sadly passed away back in 2008, but his absence will be felt in the long-developing sequel. Writer Ed Solomon has confirmed that Rufus not being around will have a significant impact on the story of the second sequel. Doubling down, it has also been confirmed that the film has a character who is played by Kelly Carlin, who is the comedian’s daughter. She confirmed this news in the midst of production in mid-August 2019.

Where Can You Stream Bill And Ted Movies?

If you’ve read all of what’s above and feel like you definitely need to revisit Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey before seeing Bill And Ted Face The Music on the big screen, the good news is that both of the previous films are currently available online.

Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure

If you have a current Starz subscription, or have the Starz add-on for other streaming platforms like Hulu, you can currently watch Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure without having to pay any additional money for the privilege. If you don’t currently have access to that particular digital database, the film is available for both rental and purchase at all major retailers.

Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey

Unfortunately, if you’re hoping that one of your current subscriptions will give you instant access to Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey you’re going to find that your searches come up empty. The sequel is not currently available on any streaming platform – though like Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, you can find the movie available for rental and/or purchase on a variety of sites.

We’ll continue to update this feature as more information becomes available about Bill And Ted Face The Music, and stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more of our coverage of the film as we get closer and closer to its release date. Also: San Dimas High School football rules!

Excellent? Or bogus? The jury currently is out on the upcoming sequel Bill and Ted Face the Music, but we’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of our two favorite San Dimas saviors, who’ve been on two memorable adventures. The first official trailer for director Dean Parisot’s comedy just dropped, so be excellent to yourself and press play on the below clip:

Original Bill and Ted stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter have been circling a possible script for a third movie for years. They apparently cooked up a premise with screenwriters Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon that would catch up with the one-time Wyld Stallyns as they now trudge their way through adulthood. But their promise to write a planet-altering rock song remains unfulfilled, and it looks like the boys have some tasks to attend to.

There are a few key details we know about the movie that can be confirmed in the trailer. Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) have daughters. And their paths are going to cross with a handful of friends they encountered from their previous two adventures. Most notably? Death (William Sadler), who assisted the boys on their Bogus Journey. Station!

But primarily, from what is revealed in this short teaser, Bill and Ted are going to venture into the future. Which makes sense, since their original film took them through the past, so they could pass their end-of-year history presentation. They head to the future to steal the song that they, themselves, were supposed to write. And they find out that on some bizarre timeline, they end up looking like this:

In addition to this new trailer, Bill and Ted Face the Music dropped this amazing poster, which harkens back to the classic telephone booth that Rufus (George Carlin) used to pick up the boys in front of the Circle K. The color scheme on this calls to mind Galaxy Quest, also directed by Dean Parisot, so that’s a good vibe.

And now, the questions arise. Bill and Ted Face the Music is scheduled to open on August 21. And the press release that we received from the distributing studio has that release date. But the trailer… did not. It said Summer 2020. Why does that matter? Because right now, theaters are closed, but there’s the potential of re-opening. And soon. Could Bill and Ted Face the Music hit that date? We’re optimistic. Stay tuned.

It’s been 30+ years since Bill and Ted went on their first excellent adventure, but time’s been pretty kind to the two travelers. In fact, we’ve been getting first looks at Bill and Ted 3 lately, but this is the first time they have been facing (away) from the music, as the appear pretty dapper and youthful at what seems to be a wedding event.

If I had to pock tuxes for Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, I’d certainly choose colorful ones. In the image, straight from Orion Pictures, Reeves is sporting a purple look while his partner in time travel has taken on a very put together blue and black print. Or as Bill and Ted’s official social media accounts put it “Wyld Stallyns are dressed to impress!”

We’ve known for a while that Bill and Ted 3, also known as Bill and Ted Face The Music, will bring back William "Bill" S. Preston Esq. and Theodore "Ted" Logan for a time traveling adventure. Given it’s been 30 years since the first go around, this time, we’ll also meet their daughters, played by Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine. (A previous image also gave us a first look at their daughters.)

We’ve been given the gift of Bill and Ted Face The Music images over the past several months. We’ve also heard stories from the making of Bill and Ted 3. We've seen Keanu Reeves talk extensively about the general basics of the movie's premise. However, one thing we most definitely have not seen is an actual trailer for the movie.

The closest we’ve gotten is a Super Bowl ad from Walmart of all places featuring Alex Winter as both his current and younger self. So, a this point I’m champing at the bit to really see what (or maybe just which historical figures) this movie is going to bring to the big screen.

Unfortunately, if you are like me, we are probably going to have to wait a little while. While first trailers usually drop several months in advance of a new movie Bill and Ted Face The Music is not out until August of this year, August 21 if we’re being precise.

We do know the new movie is coming from plenty of people who were involved with the original film – including original writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon -- so there has presumably been a level of care taken with this franchise revival. In addition, Orion Pictures is promising a “new batch of historical figures,” and if they’ve come up with anything half as funny as Genghis Khan attacking a mannequin in a mall, I’m there.

We’ll be sure to let you know as soon as the new trailer drops, but for now enjoy Bill and Ted in their newly dapper state. They have, after all, aged pretty well.

It's excellent news for Bill & Ted fans to hear Bill & Ted Face the Music is not only really finally happening, it starts filming tomorrow morning. It may not be as excellent to everyone to see Keanu Reeves has gone back to clean-shaven mode to return to the role of Ted.

Bill & Ted 3 co-writer Ed Solomon -- always a font of information -- revealed strange things will be afoot starting Monday, July 1 with the first shot at 9 a.m.

Bill & Ted Face the Music is filming in New Orleans, and that's where Keanu Reeves has been spotted with his new post-Toy Story 4 and post-John Wick 3 and post-Always Be My Maybe look. You can check it out here.

RIP Keanu beard.

Keanu Reeves fans remain Keanu Reeves fans for life, but there are mixed feelings about the clean-shaven look, or maybe the feelings are really mixed about the hat and sunglasses.

Bill & Ted Face the Music picks up from 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and the 1991 sequel Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. Turns out, William “Bill” S. Preston Esq. (Alex Winter) and Theodore “Ted” Logan (Keanu Reeves) have yet to fulfill their rock and roll destiny. The now middle-aged best friends set out on a new adventure, when a visitor from the future warns them that only their song can save life as we know it and bring harmony to the universe. Along the way, they will be helped by their families, old friends and a few music legends.

Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine have joined the cast as Bill and Ted's daughters, Thea Preston and Billie Logan. Jayma Mays is playing Bill's wife, Princess Joana, with Erinn Hayes as Ted's wife, Princess Elizabeth.

Death himself, as played by William Sadler, is also returning. Beck Bennett is playing Ted's younger brother, with Anthony Carrigan in a mysterious villain role that some fans hope is Death's own mini me. Check out the full cast rundown.

It has obviously taken a very long time to get to this moment. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey was released on July 19, 1991 but it would've shot before that year, so we're looking at close to 30 years since the last movie filmed.

Bill & Ted Face the Music is currently scheduled for release in theaters on August 21, 2020.

Keanu Reeves is currently in the #1 movie in the country, Toy Story 4, voicing Duke Caboom. Keanu also stars in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, which is still kicking ass in theaters. And you can always stream Keanu in Always Be My Maybe, which is now on Netflix. You can also check out Replicas, if you want, since that had the worst wide opening of Keanu's career, even in a year when everyone is more obsessed with Keanu than ever.

The Bill and Ted train is chugging along, with a steady stream of information continuing to flow in from the production of the long awaited threequel, Bill and Ted Face The Music. The movie is now in production, but that has not stopped regular casting news from being announced - some of the most exciting being about those who have already had past adventures with Bill. S. Preston, and Theodore Logan, Esq.

With these developments in mind, we’ve put together this cast rundown that will identify all those bringing this trilogy-closing adventure to life. And, naturally, the best place to start is with the duo that we literally couldn’t have this series without:

Alex Winter as Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Keanu Reeves as Theodore “Ted” Logan, Esq.

Members of Wyld Stallions, the band known to bring the world peace through their most excellent music, Bill S. Preston and Theodore Logan have been best friends for pretty much their entire lives. Called upon to save the world once again, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves are reprising their respective roles just over 30 years after they first played them.

William Sadler as Death

Death was once a nemesis that Bill and Ted were pitted against in their second adventure, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, but after losing to the heroes in a series of board game competitions, this specter of mortality became the servant to Wyld Stallions royalty. With Willam Sandler returning to reprise his memorable role from their sequel, it looks like Death is still pretty close to Bill and Ted, and presumably still a part of the band.

Anthony Carrigan as The Villain

With every Bill and Ted adventure there’s a villain trying to stop their quest to continue promoting universal unity, and while we don’t have the exact details as to how Anthony Carrigan’s mysterious villain will fit into that mold, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll try to do what other baddies have failed to do in the films and try and stop the heroes from fulfilling their destiny.

Brigette Lundy-Paine as Billie Logan

As time passes, the added responsibilities of life present themselves in various forms. In the case of Bill and Ted Face The Music, we see that not only are the heroic pair married, but they both have daughters they’ve named after each other. In the case of Ted, his daughter Billie will be played by Brigette Lundy-Paine.

Samara Weaving as Thea Preston

For every Bill, there’s a Ted; and with that natural logic, Billie Logan will have a best friend of her own in Thea Preston. The daughter of Bill and his princess bride, Thea will appear in Bill and Ted Face The Music played by Samara Weaving.

Amy Stoch as Missy

The history of Bill and Ted’s Missy is pretty complicated, as she started out as Bill’s stepmother in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, only to divorce him and become Ted’s stepmother in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. While we’re not quite sure if Missy’s still with Chet Logan in this new outing, we do know that Amy Stoch will be returning to reprise her role for a third time out.

Hal Landon Jr. as Police Chief Chet Logan

We’d like to think that somehow after the craziness of the ‘80s and ‘90s Police Chief Chet Logan still has Missy to come home to. But while we’re not certain of that, we do know that Ted’s dad has been promoted from Captain since Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. And with that promotion comes the return of Hal Landon Jr. in the role.

Erinn Hayes as Princess Elizabeth Logan

During their original exploits in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, our pair of heroes stumbled upon two princesses that they would eventually engage to wed by time Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey rolled around. Each time out they’ve been played by a different pair of actors, and Erinn Hayes is now set to be the most recent Princess Elizabeth, who is Ted’s wife and Billie's mother.

Jayma Mays as Princess Joanna Preston

Also returning to make the families complete is Bill’s wife, Princess Joanna. Mother to Thea, she too is being played by a new actor this time around. Jayma Mays will be occupying this particular role in Bill and Ted Face The Music.

Beck Bennett as Deacon Logan

In another blast from the past, Ted Logan’s younger brother Deacon will be returning to the fold as well. All grown up, and played by Beck Bennett, there’s a good chance that if any historical figures appear in Bill and Ted Face The Music, he’ll probably be able to excuse himself from the duties. Unless he’s interested in being a good brother... but somehow we doubt that.

Jillian Bell as Dr. Taylor Wood

In another recent casting development, Bill and Ted Face The Music had introduced who might be a focal figure when it comes to the Logan family. The survival of Missy and Chet Logan may depend on Dr. Taylor Wood, a couples' therapist played by Jillian Bell. Here's hoping that in Dr. Wood's case, she's not easily freaked out by random historical figures that may or may not barge into sessions between her and her clients.

Kristen Schaal

As with the other films in the franchise, Bill and Ted Face The Music will involve some time travel tomfoolery involving both the past, as well as the future. The most recent news behind the project has given us two new figures to watch out for from the latter half of the time spectrum, with Bob's Burgers and Toy Story 4 star Kristen Schaal playing a messenger by the name of Kelly. Surprise surprise, she's from a time that's way past our own; 700 years to be specific.

Holland Taylor

Rounding out the other important figure from the future is legendary actor Holland Taylor, who will be playing "the most powerful person in the universe", known as The Great Leader. With future events revolving around Bill and Ted's hometown of San Dimas, California, it's only fair that they be recruited to bring peace and prosperity to the world yet again. And Taylor's Great Leader would know better than anyone that our classic pair of rock and roll heroes would be the ones to do just that.

With a cast like this, and production already underway, Bill and Ted Face The Music looks destined to be one of next year’s fun joy rides at the movies. We’ll find out when we get closer to the film's debut, as it will tune up and open the curtains for the first time on August 21, 2020.

The Bill and Ted movies could easily remained pop culture touchstones of the late '80s and early '90s, but over the last eight years, there's been slow movement towards reuniting Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter for a third movie starring the lovable goofs. Then back in May, it was announced that Bill and Ted 3, a.k.a. Bill and Ted Face the Music, was officially happening, but earlier this month, Reeves cast doubt on that when he said he wasn't sure if the threequel is a "reality." Now Winter has clarified that as things stand right now, Bill and Ted Face the Music is still on track to begin filming early next year. As Winter put it:

You can't blame Keanu Reeves for expressing uncertainty about Bill and Ted Face the Music moving forward. For nearly a decade, this project has faced a lot of obstacles, including having trouble raising money because certain studios would rather reboot the Bill and Ted characters rather than follow up with the originals three decades after their last appearance. Fortunately for fans of these films, it sounds like there's nothing currently stopping Bill and Ted Face the Music from heading to production, though Alex Winter does understand Reeves' point of view. As Winter also mentioned while speaking at a Television Association Critics panel (via Slashfilm), things could still go wrong for Bill and Ted Face the Music, so it will be a while until he can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Winter explained:

Along with Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, Bill and Ted Face the Music is also being penned by returning writers Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson, while Galaxy Quest director Dean Parisot will helm the picture. Described as a Christmas Carol-like story, the threequel will see the now-middle aged Bill and Ted coping with the mundane nature of their family lives, but when the fabric of space and time starts tearing apart, it forces them to finally start writing the epic song they were destined to create in order to save existence. Like in the first movie, this will require them to travel through time, only now they'll be accompanied by their daughters.

Bill and Ted Face the Music doesn't have an assigned release date yet, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for that information and more updates as they come in. For now, keep track of what movies will arrive in theaters later this year with our 2018 release schedule.

Sometimes acting is more than just a job. If someone finds the right role to play, not only can it be a valuable and fun experience, it may even end up being therapeutic for that person. Such was the case for Alex Winter, who is best know for playing Bill Preston in the Bill & Ted movies. Winter recently revealed that as he was growing up and performing as a child star in the 1970s, he was sexually abused, but working on 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and the 1991 sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey allowed him to cope with the trauma he'd experienced when he was younger. In his words:

Alex Winter admitted that the reason that he hasn't talked publicly about his sexual abuse until now is because he felt that he didn't have any "place of safety to unlock an extremely sensitive and potentially dangerous secret." As he explained during his interview with BBC Radio 5, his experiences left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, and while he's done "heavy lifting" to work through it, the only reason he's felt comfortable to share this personal information now is because of the wave of sexual harassment/abuse allegations that have been steadily coming out since last year. Going back to Bill & Ted, Winter was in a "dark place" around that time, but playing the dim-witted Bill alongside Keanu Reeves' equally slacker-ish Ted Logan was fun, and he still looks back fondly at starring in those movies. Winter continued:

It's been nearly three decades since the last Bill & Ted movie was released, but Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, have been trying for years to re-team for Bill & Ted 3. The threequel has been in development since 2010, and co-writer Ed Solomon recently revealed that one of the obstacles the project is facing includes raising money, because any parties who have been interested in it would rather do a straight reboot instead of a direct sequel. Should Bill & Ted 3, a.k.a. Bill & Ted: Face the Music, eventually get off the ground, it will follow the eponymous duo as middle-aged men who now have their own families, and they're tasked with writing a song that will save the universe. The movie would also see Bill and Ted going back in time to interact with their teenage selfs and their mentor Rufus, who was played by the late George Carlin.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on what's happening with the third Bill & Ted movie, and feel free to also browse through our 2018 release schedule to see what movies are coming out this year.

We're not willing to give up on Bill & Ted 3 just yet. And that's mainly because the people associated with the potential sequel still hold out hope that it could come to fruition, and be something quite special. There have been rumors of a third Bill & Ted comedy starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as the titular SoCal space cadets who once traveled through space and time. Now, co-writer Ed Solomon elaborates on the status of a third movie, titled Bill & Ted Face The Music, and explains what has been behind the delay. Solomon says:

From what Ed Solomon tells Digital Spy, they have a script in place, they have a director in Galaxy Quest's Dean Parisot, and they have the blessing of original stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. In any scenario, this should be all that one needs to get a Bill & Ted sequel off of the ground. But as Solomon notes, the idea in modern Hollywood is to reboot, to go younger, even though that's not the story that the original creators want to tell. Naturally, we think that the idea of older Bill and Ted is far more interesting than younger versions of classic characters, recast with unknowns. After all, has Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Meets Lloyd taught us nothing?

As for Bill & Ted Face The Music, the sequel also would lean into the concept that comedian George Carlin, who played mentor Rufus to the two doofuses, is no longer with us. Ed Solomon says that there's a scene in his planned movie where older Bill and Ted time travel back to the original Circle K scene and watch themselves as high schoolers -- and special effects would use footage from the first movie to recreate this moment.

For now, though, the third Bill & Ted movie is in limbo. There's a script, but the studios don't want to go in that direction. We pray that they change their minds, because we really want to see this version of the story that Ed Solomon describes in this interview.

If you follow movies long enough, you eventually start to see projects that remain perpetually in development hell. Bill and Ted 3 is one of those films. It's been 26 years since we last saw everyone's favorite San Dimas-based metal heads, but it now seems that the series' third installment may be closer than ever to becoming a reality. Keanu Reeves recently made a talk show appearance and admitted that a script is being worked on, and it will involve grown up Bill and Ted trying to save the universe from a fracturing timeline. Reeves said:

This development, which was revealed during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, lines up with a Bill and Ted update provided by Movie Web last year, so the project seems to have found a coherent direction. As fans of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure already know, Bill and Ted are destined to write kick ass heavy metal music that brings the planet to a state of utopia. The third sequel will catch up with them as they navigate adulthood, and still haven't managed to write that song. Decades of inaction will lead to a major crisis, and the adult versions of the Wyld Stallyns will finally have to embrace their destinies in a most triumphant way.

The promise of past elements making their way into the story for a third Bill and Ted movie also raises questions regarding aspects of the Bill and Ted lore the film could potentially incorporate into the narrative. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that CGI technology is moving in a direction that will soon allow us to resurrect deceased actors seamlessly. Could we possibly see the late George Carlin's Rufus return in Bill and Ted 3? It's anyone's guess, but that's about as crazy as fan service gets.

Listen to this dude Rufus. He knows what he's talking about.

We will bring you more updates related to Bill and Ted 3 as more information becomes available to us. For now, check out Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 2, which is currently in theaters.

Some actors have a fear of being typecast. Locked into a role they played that seems to have defined them forever. Luckily for Alex Winter, forever being Bill S. Preston ESQ. of the Bill & Ted movies isn’t a problem for him. He’s actually really looking forward to having a chance to play the role again. He says the fact that it’s been more than 25 years since the first film is what’s going to make the third film great.

Speaking with The Next Web, Winter says that although he is older, Bill is not, and that’s the joke:

If it’s funny to see high school kids act like children, seeing grown adults do it will be even funnier. Could work. While a third Bill and Ted movie could run the risk of being a little too silly, at the same time, what else would you expect to see? Still, it’s been a long time. It would be one thing if there had been several Bill & Ted movies over the last quarter century to keep the characters fresh, but after 25 years (How old were you in 1989?) seeing the characters again may be a bit of a shock to the system. Are Bill & Ted ageless, or were they a part of their own time? If done right, it doesn’t really matter. Discordant is a good word for it. When Keanu Reeves started taking more serious acting roles he got a lot of flack because fans only knew him as "Ted." Now imagine the guy who was in the Matrix trilogy and John Wick going back and playing Ted. As Ted himself would say, "Whoa."

Bill & Ted 3 is one of those many projects that has been dancing through development hell for years. It’s on. No, it’s off. Well maybe. Who knows. It’s been a few years since we’ve heard anything concrete, at one point the film had a finished script and a director attached but that was a while back, so it’s possible a lot has changed. However, it does look like the film is on a slow and steady pace to being a real thing. At least at the moment.

I’m really not sure if it will work, but if Bill & Ted 3 ever happens you can bet I’ll be in the theater to find out.

Alex Winter, who infamously portrayed Bill S. Preston Esq. in both Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, has been discussing a potential third instalment to the much-loved franchise that has been 23 years in the making.

Winter, who has carved out a pretty impressive career as a writer/director since Bill & Ted’s time-traveling escapades, revealed a whole host of plans for the potential film, which has been in development for the last few years. Winter told Yahoo Movies UK:

However, Winter wasn’t done talking about the ideas behind the film, and in fact he gave quite a bit away regarding what we can expect from the comedy.

"But it’s a Bill & Ted movie, that’s what it is. It’s for the fans of Bill & Ted. It fits very neatly in the [series]. It’s not going to feel like a reboot. The conceit is really funny: What if you’re middle-aged, haven’t really grown up, and you’re supposed to have saved the world and maybe, just maybe, you kinda haven’t?"

Most intriguingly of all, Winter explained that the film might visit several different time-lines, which means that there could be several variations of the two characters to explore. "There’s many versions of ourselves in this movie," he proclaimed. "[It’s] answering the question: ‘What happened to these guys?’ They’re supposed to have done all this stuff, they weren’t the brightest bulbs on the tree, what happened 20 years later? To answer that question in a comedic way felt rich with possibility."

Unfortunately though, Winter prepared fans that are expecting the film to be released in the near future to fear the worst, and he blamed this delay on the fact that news of its development got out too early. "It just takes a long time to put a movie together. Now we’re having to build this thing in public, which is fine. I just feel bad [the fans] have to get dragged through this long, boring, protracted process."

News regarding a third film first came around in 2010, when Keanu Reeves admitted that a script was in development. In 2011, it was confirmed that the script was finished, while in August 2012, director Dean Parisot, who oversaw production on Red 2 and Galaxy Quest, became attached to the project. But Winter has now explained that the script keeps on getting re-drafted, and because "the comedy is so specific" the creative team involved are still being "really very measured about [its progress]."

Alex Winter’s admission that he is still good friends with Keanu Reeves, who played the Ted to his Bill in the films, as well as Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, who wrote the original 1989 sci-fi adventure. But he also conceded that more often than not, they end up asking each other, "Is there a point? Is there a way in?" We’ll have to see what happens with Bill & Ted 3. Despite his openness, Winter was still very aloof about providing a possible release date, and his comments made it seem as though no one is completely happy with the latest draft of the script. Whether it will ever get made is still very much up in the air. It will be totally bodacious if it does.

They’ve been to the past. They’ve been to the future. They’ve been all around the after life. Where (or when) will Bill and Ted be adventuring next? We don’t know just yet, but from the latest most non-heinous tweet of an update offered by Alex Winter (Bill), it sounds like things are close to moving forward on the third installment of the franchise and they’re working on getting the greenlight.

It’s been more than two decades since the original Bill & Ted film came out, and nearly as long since its first and only sequel. The original movie starred Winter and a then up-and-coming Keanu Reeves as two dim-witted teens who needed to pass a history test and were helped by Rufus (George Carlin), a man from the future who loaned them a time-machine to help them out. This, like the sequel, is all done in the name of rock ‘n roll, as Bill and Ted aspire to be rock stars and are destined for success, assuming they can overcome the obstacles in their path. In Bogus Journey, they get killed by evil-robot-us’es, and spend much of the movie in the afterlife. Once again, rock ‘n roll plays a pretty big part part in saving the day. (Station!)

Rumors of a third film have been out there for a while now and we’ve known for over a year that a script was in the works. Based on Winter’s latest tweet, which was directed to George Carlin's daughter Kelly Carlin, it seems the script is done and they’re looking to get the greenlight to move forward.

So, the good news is, it sounds like the script is done. Now we just have to wait and see whether this project gets the greenlight to move forward.

While a third film wouldn’t be quite the same without George Carlin around to play Rufus, I’d definitely love to see Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter teamed up again for another Bill and Ted adventure. Judging by the first two movies, it might be safe to assume that rock ‘n roll and the fate of mankind could play a part in the third story. And possibly babes that need saving? Let's hope the next update on the film is of the excellent variety, as opposed to the bogus.

While we wait for more (hopefully good) news on the Bill & Ted 3 front, feel free to brush up on your B&T historical facts. Napoleon was a “short, dead dude.” Caesar was a “salad dressing dude.” And Joan of Arc was Noah’s Wife. As for when the Mongol’s ruled China, “I don't know. I just work here.”