movie was a huge box-office success, and with
Bogus Journeymaking less than the original,
a threequel proved harder to get off the ground
than a dimension-hopping phone booth.
The years rolled by, but real-life best friends
Reeves and Winter never gave up their dream
of making another excellent adventure and,
finally, financing came together in 2018,
with none other than Steven Soderbergh —
who may not be an air-guitar champion but
clearly champions air-guitaring — signed up
as producer.
In one respect,Face The Musicis a typical
sequel, in that it cranks up the scale and
the stakes. “We’ve gone from a homework
assignment to saving all space and time. We
bypassed all those possible traumas in the
middle,” chuckles Parisot of the plot, which
revolves around Bill and Ted having to write
a song that will save the entire universe. But
in another, it’s a very different proposition:
a follow-up that’s powered by love, not money.
“I loved Bill and Ted when I saw it, but I didn’t
quite understand how beloved they were,” the
director says. “We had people showing up and
volunteering to do anything we wanted. It was
odd, but phenomenally fun as a result. I don’t
think I’ve quite had that happen to me on
a movie set before.”
On screen, some things have changed for
the goofball besties in the intervening decades.
They’re now fathers, with daughters (Samara
Weaving ’s Thea Preston and Brigette Lundy-
Paine’s Billie Logan) sweetly named after eachother. And they’re no longer at high school — at
least, we don’t think they are. But some things
will forever remain the same; for one, they’re
up against a tight deadline. “They have an hour
and 18 minutes,” reveals Parisot. “So they’re in
trouble. And let’s say that they have to travel
all over the place to try and figure it out.”
Another heinous quest, then. At least they
still have the words of Socrates to cling onto:
“The only true wisdom consists in knowing
that you know nothing.”NICK DE SEMLYENBILL & TED FACE THE MUSICIS IN CINEMAS FROM 27 AUGUSTMain:Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) — still
being excellent to each other.Above, inset:B&T’s daughters
Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Thea (Samara Weaving).PREVIEW
Alamy