Trivia
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Spoilers (9)
Alex Winter claimed that he gets two types of letters from teachers; positive ones from history teachers for encouraging students to learn about history, and negative ones from English teachers for affecting the way students speak.
For years, Keanu Reeves lamented that his epitaph would be "Here lies Keanu Reeves. He played Ted."
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.
The phone booth time machine was given away as a contest prize by Nintendo Power magazine, which was promoting Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure (1991).
In the original script, the time machine was a 1969 Chevy van. The filmmakers thought that was too similar to 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 a time machine).
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." He is actually diagramming Napoléon Bonaparte's most disastrous defeat, the French invasion of Russia.
Originally, the plot was to have Bill and Ted visit, and accidentally cause, all of history's greatest tragedies, including the sinking of the Titanic and the crash of the Hindenburg.
In 2010, the city of San Dimas, CA, celebrated 50 years of incorporation. The celebration's slogan was "San Dimas, 1960-2010 - An Excellent Adventure."
According to Alex Winter, Bill and Ted's iconic arm gesture (holding one hand on the chest while raising the other arm in the air) was a spontaneous reaction, as it felt natural to him and Keanu Reeves.
In April 2013, Alex Winter called casting George Carlin "a very happy accident. They were going after serious people first. Like Sir Sean Connery, and someone had the idea, way after we started shooting, of George. That whole movie was a happy accident. No one thought it would ever see the light of day."
Bill and Ted began as a stand-up act, in which the characters would discuss current events without knowing what they were talking about. It originally included a third character named Bob, but the comedian who played him lost interest after a few performances.
Principal photography was completed in 1987, but the film's original financiers, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, went bankrupt. The film was in danger of being dumped onto cable television until Nelson Entertainment bought the rights in 1988, and released it in 1989.
The German dub has gained cult status in Germany. It is credited with coining the words "Hoschi" (for "dude") and "granatenstark" (for "excellent"). The quote "Be excellent to each other" is replaced with a more philosophical line which translates as "Colorful and excellent is the being." Some of the German-dubbed catchphrases (e.g. "Volle Kanne, Hoschi") became so popular that they became part of the language. Additionally, some scenes contain either altered or extra dialogue, such in the scene when Bill and Ted meet their future selves. In the German version, they ask "If you guys are really us, of which famous toothpick (celebrity) are we thinking right now?", and their future selves reply "Arnold Schwarzenegger!". Also, when Bill and Ted are in the castle and try to move inside their armors (before they scream "Heavy metal!"), Ted tells a joke that doesn't exist in any form in the original version.
Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson wrote the script by hand, on note paper, during a series of meetings at local coffee shops. They finished in 4 days. The 2005 box set, Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Collection, features some of their handwritten notes.
Joan is often addressed as "Joan of Arc". In reality, she never used that title during her lifetime, and was not from a town called Arc. During her trial, she called herself "Joan the Maid" and said she did not know her surname. She later explained her father was Jacques D'Arc and her mother was Isabelle Romée, adding that in her hometown daughters often took their mothers' surnames. In late medieval France, family surnames were little used.
The textbook used by Bill and Ted in the film was a real high school history textbook used in California schools in the late 1980s.
According to Alex Winter, filming in the phone booth was so unpleasant that he and Keanu Reeves nicknamed it "The Death Box."
The centermost "future dude" was played by Clarence Clemons, who was the saxophone player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band during their heyday. He is best remembered for his solo on the song Born to Run.
In a 1991 interview, Ed Solomon said the characters of Bill and Ted were originally envisioned as "14-year-old skinny guys, with low-rider bell-bottoms and heavy metal t-shirts" who were despised by the popular kids at school. Casting Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter changed the filmmakers' images of the characters. "Once you cast Alex and Keanu, who look like pretty cool guys, that was hard to believe."
When filming began, Keanu Reeves was 22 and Alex Winter was 21, much closer to high school age than typical Hollywood productions.
Bill says "Let's reach out and touch someone" before they use the booth for the first time. It's an old slogan for Bell System Phone Company, associated with the advertising campaign that introduced touch-tone telephones in the late 1960s. It resulted in massive sales, which coincided with a major upgrade to telephone systems throughout the U.S., and eventually the world.
The concerned expression on Ted's face, from the scene where he and Bill try to escape from England via phone booth, has been used for an internet meme. This has been referred to as "Conspiracy Keanu" and the memes usually start off with "What if...".
Originally, Alex Winter auditioned for the role of Ted, and Keanu Reeves auditioned for the role of Bill.
The Metrocenter Mall in Phoenix, Arizona, which was used as the San Dimas Mall, closed down in June 30th, 2020, after 47 years in business.
The film takes place in 2688, May 1988, 1805, 1879, 410 BC, the 1400s, 1901, 1810, 1429, 1209, 1863 and 1,000,000 BC.
Stevie Salas is the "guitar hand double" for Rufus during the jam session at the end of the movie.
When Bill and Ted arrive in Germany to grab Beethoven for their report, he is the only person in the room not to hear the time machine arrive. This is because Beethoven was severely deaf at that point in time.
Ringo Starr, Sean Connery, Roger Daltrey and Charlie Sheen were considered for the part of Rufus before George Carlin was cast.
Despite the discomfort of fitting nine people in a phone booth, it is entirely possible. The world record was set in South Africa in 1959 when 25 people successfully crammed into a single phone booth.
When Bill and Ted are about to introduce Socrates to the high school audience, the latter says, "Like Ozzy Osbourne, [Socrates] was repeatedly accused of corruption of the young". This is an obvious reference to the 1985 lawsuit against Ozzy and CBS Records that was filed by the parents of John McCollum, a teenager who committed suicide after apparently listening to "Suicide Solution" (from Ozzy's 1980 solo debut album "Blizzard of Ozz"), which Ozzy has stated that the song was about the death of his close friend Bon Scott from AC/DC. AC/DC had opened for Black Sabbath in Europe in 1977, about two years before Ozzy was expelled from that band.
Most of the historical figures Bill and Ted brought back with them died horrifically. Several, including Socrates, Joan of Arc, Billy the Kid, and Abraham Lincoln, were either executed or assassinated. Sigmund Freud died by assisted suicide. Some people believe Napoléon Bonaparte's death under house arrest was the result of arsenic poisoning. Historically Genghis Khan and Ludwig van Beethoven died of natural causes
When Bill and Ted get Beethoven, the film shows they are in Kassel, Germany, in 1810. At the time, Kassel was the seat of the court of Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoléon Bonaparte's younger brother.
At the beginning, Mr. Ryan asks Ted who Joan of Arc was, and Ted replies "Noah's wife." In the German dubbed version, he asks who Hannibal was, and Ted replies "The uncle of Football."
The exterior shots of Bill and Ted's high school are of Coronado High School in Scottsdale, AZ. The striking mosaic on the school's auditorium facade was designed by art teacher Mr. Gatti and the students in the early 1960s. The auditorium was torn down during renovations, between 2005 and 2007. The mosaic and roof, visible when Bill and Ted leave school in a red Mustang, were saved and moved, piece by piece, to the new auditorium.
The film features Extreme's song "Play With Me." Soon after, Alex Winter directed the video for Extreme's follow-up hit, "Decadence Dance."
Alex Winter confirmed that the "S" in Bill S. Preston, Esq. stands for "Stanley" as told to him by co-writer Ed Solomon.
In an interview with Starlog Magazine, Chris Matheson said he didn't intend for this to be a science-fiction movie. "I try to consciously fight it, out of a desire to break away, but maybe I have a predilection toward that because of my dad," Matheson said of the fantasy elements that emerged. "He's a great writer and craftsman, and always has suggestions." In fact, it was his father Richard Matheson's idea that the time travel story be its own movie. "We were going to write a sketch film, with this as one of the skits, but my dad said, 'That sounds like a whole movie,'" Matheson recalled, "And he was right!"
During filming, Dan Shor was 31, and Jane Wiedlin was 29. In real life, Billy the Kid was killed at 21, and Joan of Arc was executed at 19.
Napoleon "pigs out" on a Neapolitan sundae at Ziggy Piggy's that he calls "La glacé". Despite the similarities between the ice cream and his name, the dessert originated in Naples, Italy. Historically, Napoléon Bonaparte was fond of it.
In the original script, Babe Ruth was among the historical figures.
Bill's "philosophy" to Socrates, "All we are is dust in the wind, dude", is a line from "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas . Socrates' response is, "Like sands of the hourglass, such are the days of our lives." For decades, that was the opening credits voiceover for Days of Our Lives (1965). Amy Stoch appeared on 26 episodes of Days of Our Lives in 1986. Tony Steedman, who plays Socrates, would go on to appear in 15 episodes in 1990.
In the book "The Producers: Profiles in Frustration," producer Scott Kroopf recalled pitching the script to Dino De Laurentiis. According to Kroopf "Dino had no idea what the film was about. He didn't understand what dudes were until someone said to him that 'dudes' meant guys who had big dicks. Then he said 'Oh, great, now I get it.'"
The song "Two Heads are Better Than One" is credited to Power Tool. It's actually the work of Matthew Nelson and Gunnar Nelson, sons of rock and roll icon Ricky Nelson, who would later form their own band, Nelson.
The scene when Napoleon slides down the water slides at "Waterloo" was filmed at the Golfland/Sunsplash water park in Mesa, AZ.
Unlike other movies involving time travel (e.g. Back to the Future, The Terminator, Timecop), Bill and Ted's visits to the past don't seem to alter the course of history.
The picture on Ted's T-shirt is the cover photo for Van Halen's "Why Can't This Be Love?" single, sold during the Van Halen 5150 tour, and very popular with Van Halen fans in the late 1980s. It was Sammy Hagar's first tour with Van Halen after replacing David Lee Roth.
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.
One of the TV commercials promoting this movie back in 1988 had George Washington lamenting on how he was not picked to go with Bill & Ted but expects them to come by anytime now. They never do.
The Circle K in the film is in San Dimas, CA, at the corner of Walnut and Bonita Avenues. The convenience store scenes were at least partially filmed at the Circle K in Tempe, AZ, at the northwest corner of Southern and Hardy.
The bar fight scene is parallel to the girl scout fight scene in Airplane! (1980). Both begin over a poker cheat (extra ace), have the same punches and bar stool hit, and end with one being slid across the bar until breaking through a wall or juke box.
This is one of four productions in which Genghis Khan and Abraham Lincoln appear together as characters, even though Lincoln was born 582 years after Khan died. The others are Star Trek: The Savage Curtain (1969), Futurama, and Clone High (2002).
The song "Two Heads Are Better Than One" by Power Tool, which can be heard in the movie's closing credits and also serves as the closing track on the soundtrack album, was co-written by Frank Zappa's son Dweezil Zappa. Steve Vai, who was the guitarist for Zappa's backing band from 1980 to 1983, contributed to two songs for the movie's sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991): "The Reaper" and "The Reaper Rap". Alex Winter (who claims to be a huge fan of Frank Zappa) also directed the documentary Zappa (2020).
The punk band The Ataris wrote a song based on Ox's report. It's titled "San Dimas High School Football Rules!", but it has nothing to do with the film.
The Australian band "Space Desert's" EP "Forrest Gump II" is about Bill and Ted. It quotes lines from the film, and includes a snippet of an interview with Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter explaining the meaning of the word "Bodacious".
The bowling alley was a Fair Lanes during filming. It's now the AMF Tempe Village Lanes, on Rural Road at U.S. Highway 60, three miles south of Arizona State University.
Steve Jackson Games released Bill & Ted's Excellent Board Game in 2016 based on the movie characters.
Sean Penn and River Phoenix auditioned for the role of Bill. Phoenix would appear with Keanu Reeves a year after the release of this film in I Love You to Death (1990) and My Own Private Idaho (1991).
In an April 2019 interview for the Sway's Universe podcast, Brendan Fraser said that contrary to popular rumor, he never auditioned for the role of Bill.
Alex Winter (Bill S. Preston, Esq.), Keanu Reeves (Ted "Theodore" Logan), George Carlin (Rufus), Hal Landon Jr. (Captain John Logan), Amy Stoch (Missy) and J. Patrick McNamara (Mr. Preston) are the only actors to reprise their roles in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991).
When Joan of Arc is praying to the God and Bill and Ted arrive at the cathedral, Ted reaches out to her in the same manner as God reaches out to Adam in "The Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo.
Terry Camilleri who plays Napoléon Bonaparte, is actually Australian with Italian heritage, and was born in Malta.
Bill (Alex Winter) persistently introduces himself as Esquire, despite this title being normally reserved for practicing lawyers who have graduated from law school.
When Bill and Ted leave Napoleon with Deacon, a balloon in the background has "Party On Dude" written on it.
Diane Franklin and Kimberly La Belle who played the princesses also read for the role of Missy and Franklin read for Joan of Arc.
Pauly Shore and Josh Richman auditioned for the role of Ted.
In the animated series "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1990)," Bernie Casey who plays history teacher, Mr. Ryan in the film becomes a vice principle.
Lincoln's speech at the end is a paraphrase of the real Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
The joke about neither Bill and Ted knowing who Noah's wife is may be a sly reference to the Bible, where she is never actually referred to by name.
When the duo stop in the Old West, the name of the saloon they visit is called the "Mad Dog Saloon." In another time travel movie about the same time period, Back To The Future Part III, the character "Mad Dog" Tannen spends time in a similar saloon.
Matt Adler was a finalist for Bill, but ultimately lost out to Alex Winter.
The keyboard shown in the ending scene is an ARP Omni 2. The Omni 2 is an analog synthesizer that was manufactured by ARP Instruments, Inc. from 1978 and 1981.
In the scenes that are set in the future, "The Great Ones" are hovering above a miniature version of the Circle K store. That detail is evident in the 4K release of the film.
The album's soundtrack was released on A&M Records. That is the same label that released albums by half of the artists on the soundtrack: Extreme, Glen Burtnick (who later became the singer for Styx, who also had albums released by A&M), Tora Tora, Big Pig (for distribution outside of their native Australia) and Bricklin.
Pauly Shore and Gary Riley also auditioned for the lead roles.
The movie was produced by Nelson Entertainment, which was named for Admiral Horatio Nelson, and its logo is Nelson's Column, a monument in Trafalgar Square in central London to commemorate the death of Admiral Nelson at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Nelson and Napoleon Bonaparte's careers overlapped during the French revolutionary wars (1793-1802) with Nelson as a commander in the British Army and Napoleon as a commander in the French army.
Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down the role of Rufus.
Robert V. Barron , who played Abraham Lincoln in this movie, also plays Lincoln on Get a Life: Psychic 2000 (1991).
Spoilers
All of the figures that Bill and Ted pick up through history are shown on the blackboard in the opening scene.
Rufus never introduces himself to Bill or Ted. The future Bill and Ted introduce him to their past selves at the Circle K. This provides an example of a causal loop paradox.
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 Princesses. The image was taken from the high school prom scene, which was later cut from the finished film.
The original ending had Bill and Ted delivering their history report in class, with all of the historical figures displaying their views via blackboard.
When Bill and Ted leave Napoleon in Ted's younger brother Deacon's care, an electric football game is in the background. Assuming Ted grew up playing the game, it helps explain why Bill and Ted are good at it, and beat the Grim Reaper when they play in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991).
The "Ziggy Pig" in the ice cream parlor is a reference to a comic book character created by Timely Comics (now Marvel) during World War II. In 1987, the character was public domain. The award put on Napoleon's chest is based on the ribbon patrons of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor received if they ate an entire "Pig Trough," a double-sized banana split. Farrell's was a large restaurant chain in the 1970s, but few remained by 1988.
Rufus wears a pendant with what appears to be the neck of a guitar. The Great Leader in Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) wears the same pendant.
At the end of this film, Rufus tells Bill and Ted that their music would eventually align the planets and bring them into universal harmony. Following the climax of Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020), the final shot of that film indicates that this has happened.
