Bill Preston and Ted Logan were created by stand-up comics/wannabe screenwriters Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon who had โa comedy bitโ about two dim-witted high schoolers/wannabe rock musicians, based on Jeff Spiccoli from โFast Times At Ridgemont Highโ, who were trying to study for their history class. They decided to write a series of short bits to pitch for a movie or TV show. Chrisโs father, the sci-fi writer Richard Matheson ("I am Legend"), suggested they connect the bits with one over-arching sci-fi story and pitch it as a movie. They came up with the idea of a time-machine, which was originally a van.
For the roles of Bill and Ted, they auditioned practically every male teen in Hollywood. Relative unknowns, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves met in the lobby and became good friends. The producers recognized Keanuโs star power and hired him immediately for Ted. Keanu continued to read to help audition other actors for the role of Bill. In between auditions, he hung out with Alex Winters, and the two hung out after auditions. The producers recognized a genuine friendship and chemistry and took a chance on Alex Winters.
Interestingly, while rehearsing, Alex thought he was cast as Ted, and Keanu thought he was cast as Bill. When they showed up for the first day of filming, they were told they memorized the wrong roles. Alex and Keanu have remained close friends since Bill & Tedโs Excellent Adventure. You can see old audition videos on YouTube where they call each other the "wrong" names.
Both writer's Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon have Hitchcock-esque cameos in their films. In Excellent Adventure, they are the ice cream parlor waiters. In Bogus Journey, they are part of Missy's Seance. In Face the Music, they play the two demons who give our heroes directions.
Hope you enjoyed them! Party On, Friends!
You just know James sees himself in the Special Need Kid from the Movie.
I saw it earlier this year but havenโt been able to find it again. Wondering if anyone knows where I can find it.
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Happy Halloween, Film Club!
Much to my blood pressure's dismay, it's spooky season and we went all out with the Body Horror theme, picking Shinya Tsukamoto's all-time classic - Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)! Head over to the film's JustWatch page to find where it's streaming in your country! Thanks to Film Club loyalist and mod-superhero u/cdbavg400 for the suggestion in the last thread, and we hope you all enjoy!
Once you've finished watching this edition's selection, you can head to the Film Club channel in our Discord Server to join in with the discussion, or leave your thoughts on the film to discuss in the comments below. Also, don't forget to tag your diary entries with 'lbfilmclub' so if you decide to review the film, it's up for spotlight selection in the next Film Club post! Here are our review spotlights from the last instalment - What's Up, Doc? (1972).
COME ON AND SLAM, AND WELCOME TO TH- Well you know the rest... Make your suggestions and vote on which film you want to see picked for the most anticipated theme in Film Club history, by responding to the pinned comment below with B-ball-bangers!
Reminder: You can follow our r/Letterboxd profile on Letterboxd to follow all of our community events across the subreddit and Discord server.
He plays the role of a prison guard. His glasses are extremely interesting which I have never seen before. Apparently they are a type of rimless square aviator shaped glasses with transitional lenses. But the real interesting part is that instead of temples, it has these two strings that are hooked on an ear piece.
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