Fortuitously fresh off Australian free-to-air's running of both Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey over the past couple of weeks, director and actor Alex Winter has confirmed that the long-touted third movie in the Bill & Ted franchise is nearing reality at last.
Discussing his latest venture, the Kickstarter record-busting documentary Who The F*@% Is Frank Zappa?, in a recent interview with Forbes, Winter — who also starred in the first two movies as the co-titular Bill — explained that, after "like, six years" of development, the film is approaching the end of its pre-production phase.
"We're knee-deep in the script; it's been written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, who wrote the first two," Winter told Forbes. "They are fantastic writers, and the script is great.
"We have a script, we have a director, we have a studio — we're just trying to nail down a start date."
In the interview, Winter hints that the film will be released directly on VOD (video on-demand) services, rather than the cinema, saying that, "hopefully, we'll be shooting it shortly".
Although some cast members from the earlier films will be notably absent for the third run at bat — Winter specifically mentions the late George Carlin, who played Bill & Ted's time-travelling mentor, Rufus, in the first two films — fans can rest assured that Keanu Reeves, responsible for giving life to Bill's partner in chrono-crime, Ted "Theodore" Logan, will be a part of the long-awaited reunion.
"How the **** would we make it if he wasn't on board?" Winter said. "People always ask if Keanu's doing it and I'm like, 'No, I'm making a Bill movie.'
"Of course he's in it! I can't make a Bill & Ted movie without Keanu."
Once the film has a start date locked down, it's expected for release "possibly" early next year, but "hopefully" by the end of 2016, Winter says.
Meanwhile, the actor-director's documentary about Zappa ultimately raked in more than $US1.1 million (about $1.4 million) over the course of its campaign, shattering its goals and demolishing the platform's record for most-backed documentary.
It eclipsed its nearest competitor, a film about Bill Nye, in the process, netting more than $US150,000 more in total pledges than the previous record-holder by the end of its campaign.
