EXCLUSIVE | 'Bill & Ted Face the Music' director Dean Parisot says it was daunting to make film in 37 days
'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure' followed by 'Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey's were cult classics. To add to these thigh-slapping comedies is the latest part, 'Bill & Ted Face the Music. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are back as the goofy, lovable characters who the world fell in love with in 1989 during 'Excellent Adventures'. They now have a chance to sit back and watch the newest installment when it releases in theatres and VoD this August.
It's a perfect way end month eight of what has been the sort of a year all of us would want to forget. And what better than a generous dose of comedy to help get through tumultuous times. To better help understand the film and sharing his experiences is director Dean Parisot. In an exclusive, candid chat with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), Dean talks 'Face the Music', working with Keanu and Winter and his love for social satire.
Thoughts on helming 'Bill & Ted Face the Music'
I've known Ed Solomon for many years and he co-wrote it with Chris Matheson. I knew Chris a little too. Ed and Scott Kroopf, Keanu (Reeves) and Alex (Winter) asked me to be part of it about seven years ago. So I've been on it for seven years trying to get it to go. And sometimes we thought it was going to be made and then it fell apart. So when it was greenlit, we couldn't believe it. But also it was daunting because it's was a difficult movie to make independently on a low budget schedule. We made it in 37 days.
We had to make a movie that was in the past, the future, hell, destruction of all space and time. Those are things you do in a Marvel movie, not in a small comedy. It had logistical difficulties, but I think we, we pulled it for the most part. I'm quite happy with what we ended up with.
The pressure to deliver after the previous films became established cult-classics
It wasn't difficult because the key element is the script and because Ed and Chris were the original writers, plus you had the whole original team. The task really was to contemporize it in a way where you held onto the qualities of Bill & Ted that we all loved, but also telling the story of a middle-aged Bill & Ted which is going to be different by its nature. The kind of story you tell is different, but their approach to it and their friendship is the key to it.
In 29 years, lots of things have changed...our ability to work with visual effects, the speed of editing film language has changed and so we were looking for ways to make it remind you of the original, but also to make it feel at this time. But we couldn't go too extreme. You couldn't leave the backstory, it's everything to the other two, but it has to work now. So it's odd because most sequels don't happen 29 years later. It's uncommon to continue to tell a story with the same characters 29 years later, I don't know. Can you think of another movie that's done that?
The evolution of Bill & Ted as characters
To me, they have evolved in the sense that their responsibility to that is weighing them down which is the evolution of anyone that, that grows older. I think the thing that happens to many of us universally, is that as a teenager, we start to try to define who we're going to be and what we're going to do when we get older.
And often we don't accomplish that. Now there are obvious obstacles in the way like life. What is that John Lennon's quote? "Life happens while you're making other plans." But that being said they can't give that up. It's too big a responsibility. So they do evolve in the movie because that revelation they have at the end of it, the movie is, is an evolution of how you look at life as a circular, as this continuing moment that goes from you to your children and came from your parents.
Working with Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter
It's one of the great pleasures of my life. Those two guys are first of all, incredibly gifted as filmmakers as well as actors. They've both made movies. They've done everything. And we're all, for the most part, have a past of having worked professionally. So it made it easy because I really did nothing. I just watched it. They are so professional, so talented, and such best friends themselves in real life. They rehearsed constantly. They're like great comedy teams of the past in some ways, but also very contemporary along with the sense of humor and absurdity, The two are physically great comedians together.
They work off one another, My favorite moment...and they just did it because that's who they are is when they are there in the scene in couples therapy and have to run out. So Keanu runs out for us. Normally it will be Keanu who would run out the door and Alex would follow, but, but he stops at the door and opens it for Alex who goes through first and then Keanu follows.
Everything they do, they're always thinking of each other. I just loved watching that. I have to say it, except for the amount of time we had in the lower budget, but it was so much fun. I just enjoyed myself from beginning to end and we were all in the same boat that doesn't always happen.
On making comedy films
I think the word is different for me than comedy. I think I'm attracted to ludicrous characters in tragic situations. I'm also attracted to social satire. So I think those two things...it's more about the absurdity of life which is a combination of drama and comedy, of light and dark that appeals to me. We can call that comedy to some degree, but there's a tragedy in it as well.
Audience expectations
The first thing I have to do is make something that I enjoy as an audience. I'm hoping that my taste is the audience's tastes. But I have no idea what anyone expects. I think we tried as hard as we could to make this a continuing story that made sense. Hopefully, it's the third one and it makes perfect sense and they all go together somehow and it works.