Development Through the production of the first two films in the
Bill & Ted series, actors Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter and writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon had become close friends, though after the completion of ''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' in 1991, there were no immediate plans for a sequel. The four had continued successful careers in the interim. In an interview with
MTV in September 2010, Winter confirmed that they had come onto an idea for a plot that they felt appropriate with Matheson and Solomon beginning to work on the script with significant input from Reeves and Winter. According to Winter, "We kicked around the idea over the years and had always thought if we could make something that was as kind of genuine in spirit as the originals and without falling prey to kind of retro cynicism or something that was unnecessary, it would be worth doing" and that "we have finally hit upon an idea that we think is pretty great." Even at this early stage, the concept for the third film had involved Bill & Ted having reached
middle age and still yet to achieve the prophesied music that brings world peace. First draft of the script had been completed by April 2011. By August 2012,
Dean Parisot was attached to direct. While Reeves and Winter were both eager to return to their roles, there was little interest in the script from any studios. According to Matheson, the original films were considered "cult-y" by the studios, and wanted significant changes to the ideas that they had established, Reeves and Winter confirmed that the film was still planned in interviews over the following few years. They emphasized that this was more than just a money grab, but an earnest work. Solomon, speaking to
Digital Spy in January 2018, said: Due to their messaging, fans began various campaigns to try to influence the studios to pick up the film for production. Winter said that while
John Wick did help with drawing attention to their script, he did not believe that the film was as fundamental to ultimately getting their film made, since they still struggled with longer-term financial deals from that point. Instead, Winter attributed the continued pressure from fans over social media to influence Hollywood that came with news that the film had means of going forward. Even with initial funding, it still took several years for them to make necessary deals for the actual production. Solomon said many of these deals fell through at the last minute; "We've been to the altar a few times. We get rejected right about the 'now you may kiss the bride' part of it." By this point, the script was mostly finalized and known as
Bill & Ted Face the Music. On March 20, 2019, Winter and Reeves affirmed that the film's production was ready to start, and that they had secured a release date on August 21, 2020. The producers decided to not repeat the
anti-gay slurs used by the characters in previous
Bill & Ted movies—a decision that was praised by both Winter and Reeves.
Casting Both Winter and Reeves were confirmed to be in the movie once it was greenlit in May 2018.
Jack Haven and
Samara Weaving appeared for the roles as Ted's daughter Billie Logan and Bill's daughter Thea Preston, respectively. Keanu Reeves found out that Samara Weaving is the niece of
Hugo Weaving, who worked with Reeves in
The Matrix film series.
Kid Cudi was also announced as a cast member for the film, playing himself as he gets caught up in the events of the film. In late June 2019, it was announced that
Amy Stoch would be returning as Missy, and Hal Landon Jr. would be returning as Ted's father, Captain Logan. Other casting announcements include recasts of characters from previous films, with
Erinn Hayes as Elizabeth,
Jayma Mays as Joanna, and
Beck Bennett as Deacon, Ted's younger brother. Among casting announcements in July 2019 include
Jillian Bell as Dr. Taylor Wood, the family therapist to both Bill and Ted's families,
Holland Taylor as the Great Leader in the future San Dimas, and
Kristen Schaal as Kelly, a messenger sent from the future for Bill & Ted. Also in June 2019,
Backstage listed a casting call for extras to appear as various historical figures. With help from
Jake Tapper, a number of veterans supported by the
Wounded Warrior Project were also featured as extras during filming. Part of the writing and casting for the film was creating a supergroup of musicians across time for the film's conclusion. There were no plans to recast the role of Rufus, played by George Carlin who died in 2008. Instead, as tribute, Carlin appeared posthumously as a holographic tour guide in the future, using archival footage from the original film, and Kristen Schaal's character is Kelly, Rufus' daughter, who is named after Kelly Carlin, George Carlin's real-life daughter. Kelly Carlin was also given a cameo role in the film as well. There had been plans to have the older Bill & Ted travel back to the Circle K scene from the first film to ask Rufus for advice, for which they would have used a combination of practical set reconstruction and
computer-generated imagery to recreate the younger versions of Bill, Ted, and Rufus, but were limited by budget and time to make this work, and scrapped this approach.
Filming Initial production and filming started on June 17, 2019, while cast filming commenced on July 1, 2019. The bulk of the filming took place in
New Orleans during July 2019. Filming was completed by August 24, 2019. Filming of the scene with Dave Grohl took place in
New Haven.
Music Rather than focus on the
hair metal of the original films, music director Jonathan Leahy involved groups such as
Weezer,
Mastodon and
Lamb of God, who he believed represented the current state of electric guitar. He helped them compose songs for the film, such as Lamb of God's "The Death of Us", used in the future prison scene.
Weezer released a music video for "Beginning of the End" on August 14, 2020. During a performance in August 2019, Kid Cudi announced that the soundtrack for the film features a remix of his 2010 song "
Erase Me" done by
Steve Aoki. However, the track doesn't appear on the soundtrack.
Glass Beach had written the song "Running" for the film, although it was ultimately cut.
Post-production Winter stated in a February 2020 interview that they had completed a "fantastic first cut" but were still working on visual effects and music, along with additional filming such as with Kid Cudi a few days prior. == Marketing ==