Trivia for
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) More at IMDbPro »

• The number that Rufus dials to take Bill and Ted to Austria in 1805 is 1-323-459-4303.
  
  
• Every scene shot during the section of the film at the San Dimas mall, including the ice rink, were all filmed on location at the MetroCenter Mall in Phoenix, Arizona.
  
  
• The punk band 'The Ataris' wrote a song based on Ox's report. The song is titled "San Dimas High School Football Rules!" but has nothing to do with the film.
  
  
• Originally, Alex Winter auditioned for the role of Ted and Keanu Reeves auditioned for the role of Bill.
  
  
• Bill and Ted introduce Rufus to themselves - Rufus never tells them his name.
  
  
• The rescue scene of Bill and Ted (their comrades pretending to be executioners and escaping on a horse-drawn carriage) is the same way that D'Artagnan is rescued in The Three Musketeers (1993), which was also directed by Stephen Herek.
  
  
• The scene when Napoleon slides down the waterslides at "Waterloo", was filmed at Golfland/Sunsplash waterpark in Mesa, Arizona.
  
  
• The exterior shots of Bill and Ted's high school are of Coronado High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. The striking mosaic is featured on the school's auditorium facade and was designed by art teacher Mr. Gatti and the students in the early 1960s.
  
  
• When Bill reads the assignment to Ted, he says, "Express to the class how an important historical figure from each of your time periods would view the world of San Dimas, 1988." His lips are actually saying, "San Dimas, 1987" and the "1988" was dubbed later because of a delay in the movie's release.
  
  
• The "Ziggy Pig" dish in the ice-cream restaurant is a reference to a comic book character put out by Timely Comics (later Marvel) during World War II. By the time this movie was made, it and its image (which appears on the badge they place on Napoleon's chest) were public domain.
  
  
• In the original script, the time machine was a 1969 Chevy Van, but the filmmakers thought that it would be a rip-off of Back to the Future (1985). So, they changed it to a phone booth (apparently unconcerned that "Doctor Who" (1963) uses a police telephone box as its time machine). Also, when they used the van, Bill and Ted picked up more historical figures than they did in the final film.
  
  
• Principal photography was completed in 1987, but the film's release was delayed because the film's original distributor, DEG, went bankrupt before it could be released. Finally, Orion Pictures and Nelson Entertainment bought the rights to the movie in 1988, and it was released in 1989.
  
  
• On the cover of the British VHS re-release of the film (by BMG Entertainment International U.K. and Ireland Ltd. by Canal+ distribution) in 1997, there is a picture of Bill and Ted wearing tuxedos, linking arms with the Princess Babes. This is clearly from a deleted high school prom scene, which would have appeared near the end of the film.
  
  
• The Three Most Important People In The World are played by Clarence Clemons, Fee Waybill and Martha Davis. Joan of Arc was played by Jane Wiedlin, guitarist for the Go-Gos. And Stevie Salas provides the fingering for Rufus during the jam session at the end of the movie.
  
  
• The footage for Napoleon's battle in Austria (presumably Austerlitz) was taken from the American movie War and Peace (1956).
  
  
• In the film, Bill and Ted claim that they need Edward Van Halen in their band to make it better. After the film was released, he jokingly said he would have joined their band if they had asked.
  
  
• Bill and Ted began as a stand-up act in which the characters would discuss current events without knowing what they were talking about. Originally there was a third character named Bob, but the comedian who played him lost interest after a few performances
  
  
• In the original outline for the movie, Rufus was a 28-year-old high school sophomore who befriended Bill and Ted. There was also a character named John the Serf, whom Bill and Ted picked up in medieval England.
  
  
• At the time some of the German dubbed catch phrases (ie. "Volle Kanne, Hoschi") became so popular that they were adapted by many people and used as common language.
  
  
• The Circle K is in San Dimas at the corner of Walnut and Bonita Ave. The scenes at the convenience store were at least partially filmed at the Circle K at the northwest corner of Broadway and Hardy in Tempe Arizona.
  
  
• The original ending had Bill and Ted delivering their history report in class, with all of the historical figures displaying their views via blackboard.
  
  
• Bill occasionally refers to his full name as Bill S. Preston, Esquire. Esquire is an an unofficial title of respect, sometimes placed (especially in its abbreviated form, "Esq.") after a man's surname in formal written address. In the U.S. it is applied to lawyers; in Britain, applied to a man who has gained the social position of "gentleman". In the case of Alex Winter's character, Bill, he was probably referring to himself as a 'gentleman', and not as a lawyer.
  
  
• When Napoleon finishes his "waterslide" presentation at the end of the movie, Ted looks up and says, "I don't think it's gonna work." If you look closely at the maps, you can see that Napoleon is actually diagramming the French invasion of Russia, Napoleon's most disastrous defeat.
  
  
• The picture on Ted's t-shirt is the cover photo for Van Halen's "Why Can't This Be Love" single, for sale during the Van Halen 5150 tour and very commonly seen on Van Halen fans in the late 1980s. This was Sammy Hagar's first tour with Van Halen after replacing David Lee Roth.
  
  
• This is one of three productions in which Genghis Khan and Abraham Lincoln appear together as characters, in spite of the fact that Lincoln was born 582 years after the Khan's death. The others are "Star Trek: The Savage Curtain (#3.22)" (1969) and "Clone High" (2002).
  
  

Related Links