Bill and Ted Face the Music is one of those sequels that people thought would be perpetually talked about but never actually see the light of day. But here we are, with the third installment of the sci-fi comedy series starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter slated for release late this summer. But how did we get here? Well, it sounds like Steven Soderbergh surprisingly had a big hand in helping Bill and Ted Face the Music get in front of cameras. We already knew he was an executive producer on the movie, but the Ocean’s 11 director recently explained how he helped get the movie off the ground.
Soderbergh recently appeared on Flaviar’s NightCap Live (via Collider) to talk about his brandy brand Singani 63, and discussion eventually turned to his work in film. It just so happens that Bill and Ted franchise writer Ed Solomon worked with Steven Soderbergh on the HBO limited series Mosaic, an experimental project that also had storylines unfolding through an interactive app. While the two spent time together working on the project, Soderbergh just had to talk about the Bill and Ted movies, and the rest is history.
Here’s what Soderbergh had to say about his hand in getting Bill and Ted Face the Music to come together:
“When Ed and I started working on Mosaic, I knew, of course, that he had Bill & Ted in his past. And one day we were talking, and he was like, ‘You know, we wrote a third Bill & Ted movie.’ And I said, “Well, great! Like, what’s going on with that? Can I read it?” And I read it, and I was just part of a group of people, including Scott Kroopf, the original producer, and Keanu and Alex, that really wanted to see this happen. My role was more as cheerleader than anything. The companies that own the rights to make a sequel, I called them up and said, ‘This script’s hilarious, why aren’t we doing this?’ We found a fantastic director, Dean Parisot, who I’ve known for a long time… I’ve seen it, it’s really good, and we’re almost done, and I feel like it’s the perfect movie for people who want to feel better about what’s happening right now.”
Now the question is whether or not the movie will be able to stick to their original release date of August 21, 2020. The future of movie theaters is currently up in the air, and even though Christopher Nolan is holding out hope that they’ll be reopened in mid-July in order for his film Tenet to be released, that doesn’t seem very likely. That could result in Bill and Ted Face the Music getting pushed back. Soderbergh discussed that very issue as well, saying:
“We’re trying to figure out what’s going on now, because as you and I discussed, is there a movie business when a theater can only be one third full? That’s a question that nobody’s able to answer yet, and it’s a question I’m sure Chris Nolan is really grappling with right now.”
There hasn’t even been a teaser trailer for Bill and Ted Face the Music yet, which seems odd for an anticipated movie that’s three months out. That might be the first indicator that maybe the movie won’t make it into theaters by August, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Bill and Ted Face the Music finds the titular duo tackling middle-aged life when they are given a mysterious message from the future telling them that they only have 78 minutes to write a song that will save Earth and the rest of the universe. The movie is directed by Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) and written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. The cast includes Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine as the respective daughters of Bill and Ted, Jayma Mays and Erinn Hayes as their wives, William Sadler as Death, and the return of George Carlin by way of archival footage. Otherwise, franchise newcomers include Anthony Carrigan (Barry), Jillian Bell (Workaholics), Beck Bennett (Saturday Night Live), Kristen Schaal (Bob’s Burgers), Holland Taylor (Legally Blonde) and rapper Kid Cudi.
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