Keanu Reeves Wants Scorsese, Coppola, and Herzog to Direct ‘Bill and Ted 3’
Keanu Reeves might reprise his role as Ted 'Theodore' Logan in 'Bill and Ted 3.' Could a black-and-white, 3D 'Bill and Ted' be on the way, directed by Scorsese, Coppola, and Herzog?
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure was a dream come true for the kindergarten version of me. It was silly, occasionally vulgar, hilarious, and it had time travel… inside of phone booths. Additionally, it’s the rare sort of early 90s movie that has worn shockingly well with age, due in large part to the charming performances from everyone involved, Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, and George Carlin especially, as well as fantastic music all throughout.
Though I didn’t have the same adoration for the sequel, Bogus Journey, I still liked it a lot. Hell was at once bizarre and terrifying, and the board game contest with Death was a surprisingly clever riff on the film classic The Seventh Seal. As a result, it greatly pleases me to hear that a Bill and Ted 3 is in the very, very early stages of becoming a reality.
In an interview with MTV, Keanu Reeves teased the possibility of a second sequel:
“We’re trying. Alex and I are still friends and we’re talking, and we’re talking to Chris and Ed [the writers of Bill and Ted 1 and 2] [and] they’re going to try and see if they can write something. To me, I’d love to play the role. I’d love to work with Alex and Chris and Ed again. […] We’ll see what they do. If it’s a film that can stand up on its own … and I’m meeting people now, they’ve shown the film to their kids.”
As with all things of this ilk, take Reeves’ statement with a major grain of salt – until something official. But it’s worth noting that Reeves was incredibly enthusiastic about the project, to the point that he pitched two very different, and very insane, ideas for the film: a black-and-white film (in—surprise, surprise—3D!) or a multi-director film with Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Werner Herzog about innocence VS. nihilism.
Hey, why not both?
A surprisingly moving scene in the middle of an incredibly zany movie.
Whenever one of these sequels (to twenty-year-old movies) are being talked about, such as with Rocky Balboa, Live Free and Die Hard, Rambo, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, filmmakers always focus on their interest in exploring the main character’s mortality as he or she ages. With the exception of Rocky Balboa, this almost never succeeds
I’m going to say it again here: it would be interesting to see Bill and Ted, two of the dumbest, most inane characters in movie history—veritable caricatures of real life valley-people—come to terms with the hard, cruel truths of reality. Sure, the Bill and Ted movies were low-brow entertainment, through and through, but all the more reason to dig even deeper – and get even weirder. There’s no reason why a Bill and Ted sequel can’t be funny, entertaining, and interesting, all at the same time.
Sadly, George Carlin will be unable to reprise his roll as Rufus (one of those hard, cruel truths), but everyone else, Alex Winter included, seem completely onboard with the idea.
What do you guys think? Is a Bill and Ted sequel worth pursuing in any capacity? Or has everything that can be said about rock and roll and stupid people been said already?
