Starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as a bumbling, naive duo of time-traveling and hell-traveling rocker teens, the Bill and Ted movies are the epitome of goofy randomness. After the first two movies influencing pop culture, the duo was set to return decades later in Bill & Ted Face The Music. Viewers will still have to wait a little more to face this third film with its release delayed by the global pandemic.
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Just like the movies' premise, the making of Bill & Ted's misadventures has also been an interesting ride with several strange behind-the-scenes facts.
George Carlin's Special Message To Keanu Reeves
Comedian George Carlin joined the cast of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure pretty late and he was way bigger a star than Matrix and John Wick-actor Keanu Reeves back then. Overwhelmed by the funny man's presence on set, a young Reeves rushed to him to get an autograph.
Known for his quirky, dark, and straightforward sense of humor, Carlin signed a simple "F*** You" to Reeves. Was Carlin angry at Reeves or was he pulling his co-star's leg? The actor himself has never been able to understand this incident.
The Foul Smelling Phone Booth
A time portal in the form of a phone booth plays a major role in the first film. The filmmakers insisted that Bill and Ted and the ensemble of their historical friends like Socrates and Abraham Lincoln should all fit together in the cramped phone booth for one of the film's iconic frames.
However, the actors had a tough time filming such scenes as the prop usually gave off a foul, sweaty smell that made it difficult for them to stay in it for long. The cast and crew jokingly dubbed it as the "death machine".
Bill And Ted Go To Hell
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey is basically a journey to the underworld aka hell. Hence, the initial title for the sequel was supposed to be Bill & Ted Go To Hell. Plain and simple. But the producers had to change the title at the last minute to "Bogus Journey".
The reason for this was the fear that some American states might not watch the film with the false notions that this is a film that glorifies hell and Satanic rituals!
Alex Winter's Love/Hate Mail
Because of his involvement in both films, Alex Winter has had his share of fanmail by parents and teachers who either seem to love him or hate him.
Winter revealed that most of the letters praising his role as Bill S. Preston Esq. were from history teachers for the movie made history seem more interesting to younger students. After all, the first film does cover a wide range of historical figures from various fields and time periods. At the same time, English teachers hated Winter for students began aping the nonsensical style of speaking that the series' characters emulated!
A Case Of Accidental Casting
Even though Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves gained widespread popularity with these iconic roles but they were discovered by accident. Screenwriters Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson claim that they were impressed by the actors' goofiness when they found the pair "messing around" in a queue outside McDonald's.
Proceeding to auditions, it's also amusing to note that Winter auditioned for Ted while Reeves had his eyes on the role for Bill. As the tables turned, the roles were swapped for both the actors and the rest is history.
The Screenplay For The First Film Was Finished In 4 Days
Talking about writers Solomon and Matheson, both of them finished the screenplay for Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure in a matter of 4 days, scribblings notes on paper at local coffee shops. Some of these handwritten notes were accessible with the 2005 box set of the film series.
Perhaps this explains the ludicrous and spontaneous nature of the overall premise of the project which fortunately worked for their favor with a few modifications later.
Joss Ackland's Casting By A Lost Bet
As revealed in an interview with Radio Times, actor Joss Ackland lost a bet with a family member that prompted him to act in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.
Even if it was another case of accidental casting, Ackland pulled off a fine job portraying the film's time-traveling villain Chuck De Nomolos.
An Iconic German Dub
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is a pretty iconic film in Germany thanks to its dubbed version. Some of its translated catchphrases went on to become very much a part of the everyday German language, like "Volle Kanne, Hoschi" ("Party On, Dude!").
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The dub also led to the creation of several new German words like Hoschi (Dude) itself. Then the dialogue "Be excellent to each other" was given a philosophical touch in the dub as "Colorful and excellent is the being." All of this gave a new and refined meaning to the original film.
The Phone Booth Was Given Away In A Nintendo Contest
Rather than being preserved in a museum for its contribution to pop culture, the iconic phone booth from the first film was a part of a giveaway by Nintendo Power magazine. This was done to promote the 1991 game Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure.
Kenneth Grayson, the lucky owner of the phone booth had an exclusive AMA session for Reddit in 2011 where most people asked him if he used the phone booth for any "nasty' activities.
The Reason Behind Stephen Herek's Absence In The Sequel
After helming the direction for Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Stephen Herek declined to direct the sequel. He felt his film was a parody of various sci-fi films. According to him, making a second part felt like making a "parody of a movie that was already a parody".
However, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey turned out to be more than a parody of its predecessor or the sci-fi genre. Instead, most of the film's premise is an over-the-top take on the classic Swedish fantasy The Seventh Seal.