As it happens, today is Alex Winter’s 53rd birthday. Unfortunately for the Bill S. Preston actor, it looks as if one thing he won’t be getting for this birthday is that long-gestating third Bill & Ted movie.
The last we’d heard, that picture – officially titled Bill & Ted Face the Music – was a definite go, with Winter and Keanu Reeves reprising their roles as the titular Wyld Stallyns. After years in development hell, it looked as if we were finally to get that third outing for the iconic duo. Now though, Reeves has explained how we may not get Bill & Ted 3 after all.
Speaking to Yahoo, Reeves explained, “I don’t know if it is a reality. We’ve been trying for a long time to get that film made, and it still has its challenges. I really love the characters, and I think we have a good story to tell. Part of it is business stuff – financing, rights deals. Nothing creatively.”
So “on” was Bill & Ted Face the Music, an official synopsis was even released several months ago – a synopsis that reads:
When we last met Bill and Ted they were time-traveling teenagers trying to pass history class and win the battle of the bands. Once prophesized to save the universe with their rock and roll, middle age and the responsibilities of family have caught up with these two best friends who have not yet fulfilled their destiny. They’ve written thousands of tunes, but they have yet to write a good one, much less the greatest song ever written. With the fabric of time and space tearing around them, a visitor from the future warns our heroes that only their song can save life as we know it. Out of luck and fresh out of inspiration, Bill and Ted set out on a time travel adventure to seek the song that will set their world right and bring harmony in the universe as we know it. Together with the aid of their daughters, a new crop of historical figures, and some sympathetic music legends, Bill and Ted find much, much more than just a song.
As ever, expect more on Bill & Ted Face the Music as and when we get it. To paraphrase the late Jim Morrison, it appears for now, at least, that the music’s over… turn out the light.