The most famous time-traveling comedy will always be Back to the Future, but a close second is Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. And its sequel, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, both took the characters in an exciting new direction and managed to live up to its predecessor’s legacy.
A long-awaited third movie was supposed to hit theaters this summer, but the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed its release. Hopefully, Bill & Ted fans won’t have to wait too long to see Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter back in action. As one might imagine, there are plenty of fascinating stories from behind the scenes of a stoner comedy franchise about time-traveling slackers.
In The Original Script, Bill And Ted Were Hated By Their Classmates
According to co-writer Ed Solomon, in the original script for Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the title characters were written as a pair of 14-year-old dorks who were despised by the popular kids at school.
However, after Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter were cast, this was changed, because they looked like cool guys and it wasn’t believable that their classmates hated them.
Bill And Ted Could’ve Been Played By Brendan Fraser And Pauly Shore
Before Alex Winter was cast as Bill, Brendan Fraser, Sean Penn, and River Phoenix all auditioned for the part. And before Keanu Reeves was cast as Ted, Pauly Shore screen-tested for the role.
Prior to the casting of George Carlin in the role of Rufus, the producers considered casting a disparate group of celebrities, from actors Sean Connery and Charlie Sheen to musicians Ringo Starr and Roger Daltrey.
Excellent Adventure Director Stephen Herek Declined An Offer To Direct Bogus Journey
After directing Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Stephen Herek was offered the chance to direct the sequel. However, he turned down the offer because he felt that the sequel was a parody of the original, which was already a parody.
Instead, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey was helmed by Peter Hewitt, who went on to direct Garfield: The Movie and The Borrowers.
Studio Executives Didn’t Want To Let Bill And Ted Die
When Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey was in development, studio executives objected to the title characters dying, paving the way for the movie’s brilliant parody of The Seventh Seal.
However, the cast and filmmakers thought the idea was too good not to do, so they fought the studio to keep the scene and won.
The Original Title Of Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey Was Bill & Ted Go To Hell
After the first Bill & Ted movie used time travel as a plot device, the sequel Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey included everything but the kitchen sink, including a trip to Hell for the titular duo. Originally, the sequel was called Bill & Ted Go to Hell.
However, this was changed because the franchise’s primary market was in America, and some American audiences have an aversion towards the word “Hell.”
The Producers Spent Two Years Trying To Get The First Movie Released
In the spring of 1987, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure was filmed for De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, but the movie wouldn’t get released for another two years because the company went bankrupt and the producers couldn’t find a new home for the project.
So, it was shelved for a year before Nelson Entertainment and Orion Pictures snapped it up. Before they could send it to theaters, all the dialogue that mentioned “1987” had to be re-dubbed as “1988.”
The Time Machine Was Originally A Pickup Truck
In the original script, the time machine that Bill and Ted used was a pickup truck. This was later changed to a van and the movie was called Bill & Ted’s Time Van. However, after the success of Back to the Future, the writers worried that using a vehicle would get the movie branded as a rip-off and they changed the time machine to a phone booth.
In the early drafts, more kids besides Bill and Ted traveled through time, as one of the popular kids became friends with Adolf Hitler (grown out of the writers’ disdain for popular kids).
Joss Ackland Only Appeared In Bogus Journey Because He Lost A Bet
Distinguished actor Joss Ackland has played roles in more than 130 film and TV projects, and those projects include Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, in which he played the villainous De Nomolos.
In an interview with the Radio Times, Ackland said that he only took his role in the movie because he lost a bet with a family member.
Ed Solomon And Chris Matheson Wrote The First Movie By Hand
Writing duo Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson wrote the first draft of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure by hand on scraps of notebook paper during meetings at coffee shops. They completed the whole screenplay in just four days.
Some of these original handwritten notes are available on Bill & Ted’s Most Excellent Collection, the 2005 home media release.
Keanu Reeves And Alex Winter Auditioned For Each Other’s Roles
Although Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves turned out to be perfect in their roles, Winter originally auditioned to play Ted and Reeves originally auditioned to play Bill.
At the time of filming Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Winter was 21 years old and Reeves was 22, which is much closer to high school age than most actors who play high schoolers in Hollywood movies.