Keanu Reeves can’t believe how well ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ has stood the test of time.
The 54-year-old actor starred as Ted in the 1989 fantasy comedy, and has said he loves getting the chance to "connect" with people who are fans of the movie, even three decades after it was released.
He said: "Time goes by quickly. Over the years it’s been really nice to connect with people who love those characters and those films, and it’s been fun to hear from fans who have become parents who have shown it to their kids. The ebullient spirit of [Bill and Ted], and the humour of the characters in the film, and the adventure they go on – I think it’s still funny."
Keanu says he and Alex Winter – who played Bill – hit it off as friends on the day of their audition.
He added: "Everyone was auditioning for both roles. When I arrived at the location for the rehearsal I just met Alex – there was no one else there yet. We had some stuff in common – we both played bass – and just starting to talk. We hit it off. We have kind of similar humour and interests, and then when we were working together there was something else there that was cool."
Whilst Alex said: "We realised we saw the characters the same way, and we could kind of riff as a symbiotic unit. Keanu and I [agreed], ‘They have to be human beings that we can play. It can’t just be caricatures and they can’t have a kind of a comedic aloofness to them. They have to genuinely care about the things that are happening to them. The way that Keanu and I played the characters was sort of a mix of hyper-real and totally sincere."
And despite the movie being a cult classic, director Stephen Herek says it very nearly never made it to the big screen after suffering setbacks including the bankruptcy of it’s production company and a lengthy reshoot to completely change the ending.
Speaking in a group interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Stephen said: "We went through a very tumultuous time actually even getting it on the screen. There was a period of time where it wasn’t even going to be released. And then it’s even more gratifying that when it got released, it actually did well. And then the cherry on top is having a conversation with you 30 years later about it."
Keanu Reeves shocked by success of Bill + Ted’s Excellent Adventure
