Bill & Ted Face the Music is a 2020 American science fiction comedy film directed by Dean Parisot and written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. It is the third film in the Bill & Ted film series, and the sequel to Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991). Alex Winter, Keanu Reeves, and William Sadler reprise their roles as Bill, Ted, and the Grim Reaper, respectively; while Kristen Schaal, Samara Weaving, Jack Haven, Anthony Carrigan, Erinn Hayes, Jayma Mays, Holland Taylor, Kid Cudi, Jillian Bell and Beck Bennett join the cast. In the film, Bill and Ted must write a song to unite humanity before space-time is destroyed. The script was laid out as early as 2010, but a production deal was not confirmed until 2018. Filming commenced on July 1, 2019.
Bill & Ted Face the Music was simultaneously released in theaters and through Premium VOD in the United States on August 28, 2020, by Orion Pictures (through United Artists Releasing). It received generally positive reviews from critics for the performances and story, with many calling it a welcome return to form for the series but the film was a significant box office failure that grossed just $6.3 million against a $25 million budget which can largely be attributed to heavy restrictions on movie theatres due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plot
In 2020, Bill and Ted have failed to write a prophesied song to unite the world. Their marriages and careers are deteriorating, and time and space are beginning to collapse.
Kelly, the daughter of Bill and Ted's deceased time-travelling guide Rufus, arrives to take them to the year 2720 in San Dimas, California. Her mother the Great Leader tells them that they have until 7:17 p.m. that night to create the song or reality will collapse. They use Rufus's time-traveling phone booth to retrieve the song from their future selves only to discover their future selves have failed; their wives have left them and they blame their past selves for their failures.
An impatient Great Leader sends a time-traveling robot named Dennis to kill them, hoping that it will stabilize reality. Kelly travels back to the present to warn them, but instead meets their daughters Billie and Thea who decide to help make the song. Using Kelly's time machine, Thea and Billie recruit musicians Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ling Lun, and a prehistoric drummer named Grom. Thea, Billie, and their band return to the present to meet up with Kelly and a time-displaced Kid Cudi, but Dennis inadvertently kills them and sends them to Hell.
Bill and Ted travel to 2067 and find their elderly future selves on their deathbeds. The elderly Bill and Ted give their younger selves a USB drive containing the fabled song by "Preston / Logan", stating that it must be performed at 7:17 p.m at "MP 46". Dennis appears. Upon learning Bill and Ted have the song, Dennis informs them of his blunder. Bill destroys the USB to goad Dennis into killing them so they can rescue their daughters in Hell. This backfires as a distraught Dennis turns his weapon on himself, but Bill and Ted throw themselves in the way of the resulting explosion. All three are sent to Hell, where Bill and Ted locate their daughters and the band. With the help of their daughters, Bill and Ted reconcile with their old bandmate Death to return everyone alive to 2020.
The group arrive on Interstate 210 at the MP 46 marker, just as reality is collapsing. Bill and Ted realize that the song is only to be performed by them, not written by them, and that "Preston / Logan" on the USB drive actually refers to Thea and Billie. For the song to repair the universe, it must be performed by every person in history, all across time. They are joined by their wives, who have realized they are happy with their lives. The four use the booth to create infinite copies of themselves in time and space, handing instruments to everyone who ever lived. Everyone performs the song, with Thea and Billie producing, while Bill and Ted lead the band on guitar. The performance repairs the universe and everyone returns to their respective times.
In the post-credits scene, the elderly Bill and Ted awake from their beds in a nursing home for a spontaneous guitar jam session, proclaiming "We still got it" before calling for the nurse.
Cast
George Carlin appears posthumously as a Rufus hologram through the use of repurposed archival footage from the first film, with Piotr Michael providing the character's voice. Kelly Carlin, Carlin's daughter, makes a cameo role as Head Technician, one of Kelly's followers. Dave Grohl has a cameo role as himself. Musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, talk-show personality Guillermo Rodriguez and actor Nathan Head make cameos during the credits.
Production
Development Through the production of the first two films in the Bill & Ted series, actors Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter and writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon had become close friends, though after the completion of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey in 1991, there were no immediate plans for a sequel. The four had continued successful careers in the interim.
Around 2005, during a red carpet event, a reporter asked Reeves if he had any interest in playing Ted again, to which he responded positively. This inspired the group to actually think about a third film. Conceptualization for this film began between the four around 2008. In an interview with MTV in September 2010, Winter confirmed that they had come onto an idea for a plot that they felt appropriate with Matheson and Solomon beginning to work on the script with significant input from Reeves and Winter. According to Winter, "We kicked around the idea over the years and had always thought if we could make something that was as kind of genuine in spirit as the originals and without falling prey to kind of retro cynicism or something that was unnecessary, it would be worth doing" and that "we have finally hit upon an idea that we think is pretty great." Even at this early stage, the concept for the third film had involved Bill & Ted having reached middle age and still yet to achieve the prophesied music that brings world peace. First draft of the script had been completed by April 2011. By August 2012, Dean Parisot was attached to direct.
While Reeves and Winter were both eager to return to their roles, there was little interest in the script from any studios. According to Matheson, the original films were considered "cult-y" by the studios, and wanted significant changes to the ideas that they had established, or even a reboot of the series. Studios also expressed concern that since the first film was not distributed internationally, there would not be a large audience for another sequel.
Finding little traction with the studios, the group began trying to appeal to fans around 2014, being more public about the existence of the script and their desire to make it, as a means to show the studios there was a strong audience demand for the film. Reeves and Winter confirmed that the film was still planned in interviews over the following few years. They emphasized that this was more than just a money grab, but an earnest work. Solomon, speaking to Digital Spy in January 2018, said:
Due to their messaging, fans began various campaigns to try to influence the studios to pick up the film for production.
The film's outlook changed after the release of John Wick in September 2014 which starred Reeves, according to Matheson. Reeves' career in the prior decade had been lackluster with several flops, but John Wick had renewed his career, and brought newfound attention to any potential projects he was attached to. This included the Bill & Ted script. Two outside media investors, David Haring and Patrick Dugan, came in to provide the financial backing for the film, and by the end of September 2014, more rigorous script reworking had begun while efforts were made to find a studio. Winter said that while John Wick did help with drawing attention to their script, he did not believe that the film was as fundamental to ultimately getting their film made, since they still struggled with longer-term financial deals from that point. Instead, Winter attributed the continued pressure from fans over social media to influence Hollywood that came with news that the film had means of going forward.
Even with initial funding, it still took several years for them to make necessary deals for the actual production. Solomon said many of these deals fell through at the last minute; "We've been to the altar a few times. We get rejected right about the 'now you may kiss the bride' part of it." During this time, they had secured Steven Soderbergh as executive producer, Scott Kroopf, who produced the original film, as producer, and affirmed William Sadler's intention to reprise his role as Death. By this point, the script was mostly finalized and known as Bill & Ted Face the Music. Winter said that of the concept of the script, "The longer it took us to get it made, in a way, the funnier that got."
According to Winter, they eventually had sufficient funds with a studio ready to go, and had added Alex Lebovici as a producer. They approached MGM to secure distribution, prior to its relaunch of Orion Pictures in September 2017. MGM accepted the offer, which Winter said was due to them having a complete package of production ready to go and the backing of fans. In an unusual move, MGM did not finance the film's production, but only took a 15% cut of the film's revenue for distribution and supplied a marketing package to be recouped from the revenue. The film was formally greenlit on May 8, 2018, with production handled by Hammerstone Studios. Alongside Soderbergh, Scott Fischer, John Ryan Jr. and John Santilli were named as executive producers, while Steve Ponce joined Kroopf and Lebovici as producers.
On March 20, 2019, Winter and Reeves affirmed that the film's production was ready to start, and that they had secured a release date on August 21, 2020.
Jack Haven (who wore a surf shirt, and who is gender non-binary in real life) and Samara Weaving (who wore overalls) picked their own wardrobes, and were committed to creating a genderless look. The producers decided to not repeat the anti-gay slurs used by the characters in previous Bill & Ted movies—a decision that was praised by both Winter and Reeves.
Casting Both Winter and Reeves were confirmed to be in the movie once it was greenlit in May 2018. William Sadler was confirmed to be reprising his role as the Grim Reaper from the second film in March 2019. Jack Haven and Samara Weaving appeared for the roles as Ted's daughter Billie Logan and Bill's daughter Thea Preston, respectively. Keanu Reeves found out that Samara Weaving is the niece of Hugo Weaving, who worked with Reeves in The Matrix film series. Kid Cudi was also announced as a cast member for the film, playing himself as he gets caught up in the events of the film. Anthony Carrigan was cast in June 2019 as Bill & Ted's adversary in the film.
In late June 2019, it was announced that Amy Stoch would be returning as Missy, and Hal Landon Jr. would be returning as Ted's father, Captain Logan. Other casting announcements include recasts of characters from previous films, with Erinn Hayes as Elizabeth, Jayma Mays as Joanna, and Beck Bennett as Deacon, Ted's younger brother. Among casting announcements in July 2019 include Jillian Bell as Dr. Taylor Wood, the family therapist to both Bill and Ted's families, Holland Taylor as the Great Leader in the future San Dimas, and Kristen Schaal as Kelly, a messenger sent from the future for Bill & Ted.
Also in June 2019, Backstage listed a casting call for extras to appear as various historical figures. With help from Jake Tapper, a number of veterans supported by the Wounded Warrior Project were also featured as extras during filming.