Back in September 2014, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure star Alex Winter provided an update of sorts on the long-awaited third installment of the quirky time-travel franchise, indicating that things are indeed moving along on the project. Now, the other half of the series’ famous duo — Keanu Reeves — has weighed in on where the sequel is at, offering a few more details on the dilemma facing Bill S. Preston and Ted “Theodore” Logan.
In a chat with Coming Soon, Reeves said the script for the third Bill & Ted film is still being worked on by original franchise writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, and that the team has had a tricky time finding the balance between story and budget.
“It didn’t help that the first script that they brought in was probably budgeted at $150 million dollars,” explained Reeves. “I don’t know if Bill & Ted carry that much weight. Part of the argument is that it’s not that popular internationally, that’s where so much of the funding for movies comes from these days. They’ve worked on the script and the budget, just trying to get the right script and then get the business side wrapped up, financiers and rights, all the show business stuff.”
Related: Bill & Ted 3 is closer to actually happening than it’s ever been before
As for the where the next film finds the unlikely saviors of the universe, Reeves indicated that it’s responsibility — and the duo’s inability to live up to their lofty destiny — that forms the crux of the third film.
“[Bill and Ted have] been weighed down by the burden of having to save the world by the song, and they just can’t write it,” said Reeves. “They’re losing their wives and their children, they’re losing their families.”
“They’re just like, ‘Dude, we have to write the song!'” he added. “The future comes back and says if you don’t write the song by this certain time the universe is going to unravel and history and everything is going to change and dinosaurs are gonna walk the Earth. Jesus is playing baseball! All sorts of weird things start unraveling and wormholes are twisting. We have to kind of bring order back, and it’s connected into bringing our families together by writing a song.”
Reeves also indicated that Galaxy Quest director Dean Parisot remains attached to the film.
