'Bill and Ted 3' Update: Franchise Return Closer Than Ever as More Creatives, Potential Financiers Board Project
The third adventure of everyone's favorite time-traveling slackers Bill and Ted could actually see the light of day this time.
News about the possibility of "Bill and Ted 3" happening has come and gone in the past few years as the creators behind the original have been working on it since 2010, although they first approached the stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter about the idea back in 2007.
Over the years, the actors provided updates that were either promising or disheartening, and since "Bill and Ted 3" has not materialized yet after everything that's said and done, these new updates might no longer mean to some fans unless an actual trailer comes out or they see the cast hit the set.
Eight years after the project was announced, the third "Bill and Ted" movie is still "in development" as confirmed by series co-creator Ed Solomon to Entertainment Weekly, which recently brought the originators of the cult classic together. Also, this time around, they are actually and tangibly closer to bringing the pair back to the big screen again than they have ever been.
Solomon revealed that they are "hoping to close a deal with some financiers" in the next month or so, and that "Galaxy Quest" director Dean Parisot has been tapped to helm the film.
Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kroopf, who produced the first two films "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" and "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey," will serve as producers. Bill Sadler will reprise his role as Death, and there will be "a few delicious cameos by people to be named another time."
Solomon also explained as to why it is taking so long to make "Bill and Ted 3" happen, and the biggest reason is that they wanted to "get it right." "We wanted to have it be something that we — all four of us, [co-writer Chris Matheson] and I, Alex and Keanu — could stand behind, and know we're doing this for the right reasons," he said.
Speaking about the development process for "Bill and Ted 3," Solomon likens it to being married only for the bride to ditch the groom before they seal the bond with a kiss. He said, "We've been to the altar a few times. We get rejected right about the 'now you may kiss the bride' part of it."
There is a plot in place already though. Their idea for the film they would call "Bill and Ted Face the Music" catches up with the titular characters who are now older and with respective families. However, the two are yet to fulfill their destiny, which is to write the music that will bring the world to utter bliss.
Matheson explained the plot, saying:"You're told you're gonna save the world. And now you're 50 and you haven't done it. Now they're married, and it affects their marriages, and it affects their relationships with their kids, and it affects their everything."
Reeves said that the characters are not only "a little older," but also "a little afraid" as their "indomitable spirits" are confronted by the question of whether or not this is really the end.
Winters added that Bill and Ted are at a point in their life where they contemplate on whether they will continue to try to get to the place they thought they would be in by now or just give up.
"Of course, there is a little caveat in that someone comes from the future and says: 'Not only do you have to save the world, you have to save everything,'" Reeves went on to say.
Solomon teases that when "Bill and Ted 3" hits the big screen, it will be like doing "A Christmas Carol" with the two heroes. "Looking at their lives, and really kind of rediscovering what they're about," he went on to say.