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It occurred to Ed
Solomon and Chris Matheson as they worked on their idea that if other people
thought their script was as funny as they thought it was, there might actually
be a chance of selling it. They gave the script to Ed's agent who, after
reading it, didn't think it was something they could sell. Chris gave
the script to producer Stephen Deutsch (Somewhere in Time), who was a
friend of his father (noted writer Richard Matheson). Stephen then passed
it on to Robert Cort, who had just started working for Interscope.
Interscope decided to option the script and Ed and Chris were paid to rewrite
it. Shortly after that, the buzz about the script somehow started.
It has been said that at one point Excellent Adventure was the mostly
widely read script in Hollywood. Warner Bros. expressed interest and Ed
and Chris did several rewrites for them over a course of one year, attempting
to tailor the script to the studio's demands. For
instance, the idea of the time-traveling van was something Warners did not want
because it was too similar to Back to the Future . . . Ed and Chris both
preferred the van because Rufus would play music and Bill and Ted would ask who
the band was, like the eventually scene in the future in the final movie.
Ed Solomon recounts, "We
did a series of rewrites, continuously making the script worse, in my
opinion. We didn't know any better - it was our first deal. They
kept saying, ‘This is a summer teen movie comedy which will only appeal to
kids, so we have to emphasize that.'" Warner Bros eventually passed
on the film, citing their opinion that the teen-comedy genre was dead.
 At the time,
director Stephen Herek was enjoying notoriety from directing the dark comedy horror film Critters,
which did well at the box-office, and he was being considered for other comedy
horror films. About the only script which he was excited about was Excellent
Adventure. "Warner Brothers were developing the project at this
stage. They initially approached me because they thought I could make it
on the cheap. After reading the script I realized it would be impossible
to make a picture of any quality for less than a medium budget and that's
where the difficulties began. It was mid-1986 when they finally decided to
drop the project altogether. Regarding Warners' opinion about teen movies,
he explained, "I was familiar with the sort of characters Bill and Ted
were. I knew where they were coming from. My brothers were
archetypal and I even roomed with a similar couple. But no-one believed
they existed! They couldn't see the vast audience for the completed
film. I kept telling people to walk through the country's shopping malls
and see the characters first hand with the dialogue rap they have - ‘No way,
Hey, dude, Way to go'. I did this research and knew the script was spot
on. Everyone else felt the film would be of limited interest. Six
months later Dino De Laurentiis's DEG company picked up the option and we
finally entered pre-production."
They finally had
a production company which would see the movie through its filming. Chris
recalled that at their one and only meeting with Dino De Laurentiis himself he
kept wanting to know why it the story had to be set in San Dimas. Ed and
Chris explain that when they used to drive out to Las Vegas they would go
through San Dimas. To them it was in the middle of nowhere. As Ed
explained, "It wasn't a beach town, it wasn't a valley town, east of
Los Angeles. It was kind of nondescript." Initially, Ed noted,
one of them (Bill or Ted) was from San Dimas and the other was from San
Gabriel. People were still nervous about the time-traveling van being too
much like Back to the Future and a change was needed. The idea for
the phone booth was suggested by director Stephen Herek, who was looking for
something that would provide the exciting visual nature of a roller coaster
ride. Both Ed and Chris really liked Stephen, who told them that when he
first started reading the script he put it down, put Van Halen on the stereo,
and read it while listening to rock music.
Literally
hundreds of kids auditioned for the roles of Bill and Ted. Ed and Chris
didn't meet Alex and Keanu when they were cast but they did see their audition
tapes. At that time Alex was playing Ted and Keanu was playing Bill.
Ed and Chris felt it would be better if their roles were switched (Alex and
Keanu have said they also wanted to swap roles early in the process). The
writers didn't come face to face with Alex and Keanu until it was time to film
in Phoenix, Arizona, and they went across the street to a McDonald's to get
something to eat and Alex and Keanu walked in. Ed and Chris both reacted
with, "Those guys should be Bill & Ted!" Later, when they
saw them on the set they realized they had seen their Bill and Ted in the
flesh. As director Stephen Herek, who agreed that casting the right actors
in the roles of Bill and Ted was pivotal, remembered, "We saw hundreds of
guys at extensive casting calls and zeroed it down to twenty-four
finalists. Then we spent an entire day mixing and matching couples to see
if any chemistry sparked. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter had never met each
other until that day, but we could tell immediately they were exactly
right."
 Producer Scott
Kroopf also knew the casting was essential . . . the actors playing Bill &
Ted had to have a certain chemistry or the movie wasn't going to work.
He recalled that during the audition process, Alex and Keanu would be sitting in
conversation in the outer room, then one or the other would go in and audition
with someone else but that they would always come together again to talk between
auditions. As Keanu recalled for a teen magazine, "When we auditioned
in the very, very beginning, Alex was the second person I read with. And
it was great, because I was sort of in a weird mood and so we went in and it was
like, 'Whoa! Check this out.' It was a lot of fun." However, casting Alex and Keanu caused the writers to make a
slight modification in the characters, which were conceptualized as unpopular
nerd-geeks. As Ed Solomon explained, "Bill and Ted were conceived in
our minds as these fourteen-year-old skinny guys, with low-rider bellbottoms and
heavy metal t-shirts. We actually had a scene that was even shot, with
Bill and Ted walking past a group of popular kids who hate them. But once
you cast Alex and Keanu, who look like pretty cool guys, that was hard to
believe." After seeing Keanu audition for the movie, Stephen Herek
knew in his mind that that was Ted, no matter who else he saw for the
part.
Alex pointed out that while
the script looked deceptively simple, it was actually very well written and gave
him the opportunity to be able to say these really ornate lines. He also
explained how the appeal of the film for many is the willingness of Bill and Ted
to be more childlike and act like kids as opposed to growing up and taking on
adult responsibilities just yet. He recalled that he and Keanu had become
friends during the course of the audition process and when they had been cast
they showed up and were told they were going to be playing the opposite roles
they had done in the auditions: that Alex would be Bill and Keanu would be
Ted. Alex was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with a brilliant
wordsmith comedian like George Carlin and recounts that they had a great time
with him. Alex credits Stephen Herek with keeping the project in line with
his vision of a jovial, genuine, sincere and fun picture.
Casting the rest
of the movie turned out to be quite a hip and esoteric affair. Stephen
Herek was determined to keep the cast quirky and interesting. "I
purposely wanted the ‘Hey, isn't that . . . ‘ response," Herek
explained, "Obviously stars like Madonna would have tipped the balance and
detracted from the story. Originally I wanted ZZ Top to be The Three Most
Important People, but dealing with rock stars is always a huge problem. My
main concern was to keep the story in focus at all times." Producer
Scott Kroopf recalled how he had gone to a Comic Relief concert and saw George
Carlin performing. Having not seen him for fifteen years he had forgotten
how amazing Carlin was. Everyone agreed that casting George Carlin as
Rufus was a big advantage for the production.
Stephen also referred to what
he called the "puppy factor" in describing Bill and Ted, and
especially Ted, should be like big Labrador Retrivers who just bounce along and
love life, and in directing them would say, "There's not enough puppy
factor," to get them to make things even bigger and happier and bouncier.
Ed and Chris had actually envisioned a darker version, more in line with the
Monty Python films.
The script had undergone
several rewrites, a production company had been found, and the casting was
completed. It was now time to make a movie!
CONTINUE
TO THE SCRIPT VARIATIONS . . . .
Article
Sources:
Bill &
Ted's Most Excellent Collection - Non-Bogus Disc: In Conversation with
Screenwriters Chris Matheson & Ed Solomon
Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Collection - Non-Bogus Disc: The Most Triumphant
"Making-of" Documentary
Cinefantastique, August 1991 - Writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon on the
birth of a phenomenon
Starburst - May 1990
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