As we try and fail to keep calm and carry on, we can still try our damndest to distract ourselves. Look over there, a Bill & Ted sequel! Ah, I’m distracted and comforted already.
Bill & Ted Face the Music is (coronavirus notwithstanding) set to release on August 21st of this year. The movie will of course see the return of its eponymous screw-ups, but it’ll also see the return of a third familiar face. Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey introduced William Sadler’s take on Death. You know Death, the guy who walks around with a big stick, telling people when their time has come.
Death (aka the Grim Reaper) is coming back for Face the Music, and Sadler is delighted about it. In a recent interview with NME, the actor described the thrill of returning to the franchise, saying:
“The spirit of the original movies is all there. All the fun came back instantly – not just for me, but for Keanu and Alex too. My knees aren’t as good and the body is a little creakier, but the minute we put on the make-up and the robes it was as if The Reaper had been trapped in a bottle for 30 years, and as soon as we pulled the cork off he came flying out and started improvising just like I did back in Bogus Journey.”
Sadler went on to discuss his surprise at the length of time it took for a third Bill & Ted movie to get made, explaining:
“For years, I kept hearing from Alex and one of the co-writers, Ed Solomon. They kept telling me that [a reboot] was coming and letting me know what stage the script was at. It’s been in the pipeline since 2007 and I was really surprised that it took as long as it did for the powers that be to say ‘OK. That sounds like a good idea. Let’s make a third movie to see where these guys are.'”
I really do hope that by August the air is sufficiently virus-free to be able to go movie watching without the fear of unwanted transmissions. That being said, it’s possible the release could get pushed back as a precautionary measure. This summer is not looking like a hot time for new releases, after all (for understandable reasons). If the world has survived this stress test with civil order intact though, we can look forward to Bill & Ted Face the Music in the near future. I also hope that title isn’t prophetic.
Leave a comment if you’re excited/frightened/nervous/content/petrified about, I don’t know, this movie? Or anything else. As you can tell, this writer is coping with the absolute minimum of mental instability. Honest.