TRAILER TALK
Team Empire talks all over the first look at Bill & Ted Face The Music. We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy! Schwing!
John Nugent (News Editor): The Wyld Stallyns are back! Are people excited? Nick de Semlyen (Acting Editor): I watched the first Bill & Ted in Slough in 1989 and my love only grew from there. These films mean a lot to me. They can bring joy, even if you’re in Slough. I can’t wait for it, personally.
Chris Hewitt (Review Editor): I have no emotional connection to the first two movies. Ben Travis (Online Staff Writer): I think it’ll be fun.
Nick: I just think Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter love these characters and want to bring them back. It’s a miracle that this film even exists, but I am pleased that it’s here. I’m excited by the Orion logo alone. John: Does Orion even exist anymore? Nick: I think it’s an ’80s throwback. Love it. John: Ah, the classic Bill & Ted pose. Joanna Moran (Photography Director):
This feels a bit cringey to me — they look a bit like idiots. Alex Godfrey (Acting Features Editor):
They were always idiots, though. Joanna: Yeah, but they were 20-something idiots. Now they’re nearly 50. It’s like, when do you stop being idiots?
Chris Lupton (Creative Director): I was thinking the same thing about the people who work for Empire. [laughter]
Nick: Inspector Clouseau was a funny older idiot. And he didn’t even have an air guitar, which makes things ten per cent funnier. John: Are they levitating?
Alex: It’s very Jedi Council. A kooky future. Ben: The guy on the right, I’m pretty sure, is Win Butler, from Arcade Fire.
John: Woah! Good spot! James Dyer (Digital Editor-in-chief ):
Keanu Reeves should not be allowed to shave. Liz Beardsworth (Production Editor):
I definitely prefer him with a beard. Chris Hewitt: He’d look good with short hair and no beard, but not long hair and no beard. Chris Lupton: He’s got a portrait in his attic, that man. Nick: I’m very happy to see Comedy Keanu Reeves again. It feels like he hasn’t made an all-out comedy since, I dunno, The Devil’s Advocate?
Chris Lupton: What did [director] Dean Parisot do before?
Alex: Galaxy Quest!
Nick: It’s hard to remember which one’s Bill and which one’s Ted. I’m genuinely not confident I could say which is which, even now.
John: They’re like Ant and Dec. A single entity.
Nick: Can I just say, I really hope they don’t bring Station back. I find Station one of the most upsetting characters. Just horrible. For those who don’t know, Station was like a weird alien aardvark. He looked like something from The Dark Crystal.
Alex: That’s their daughters — that’s Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-paine.
John: They’re not in this trailer much. But they seem very much like fathers, like daughters.
Joanna: Is it called ‘Face The Music’ because they didn’t know they had kids and now they have 20 years of child support to pay?
Nick: I think they know about their kids. They married the princesses from the first film. Alex: That’s canon.
Nick: I think they’re in hell here.
Alex: They look like they’re on Coruscant.
Chris Lupton: Mustafar!
Alex: It’s interesting that the entire look of this film seems to be based on the Star Wars prequels.
Joanna: I’m liking the mid-century aesthetic inside hell, though. Nice furniture.
James: I love that William Sadler as Death hasn’t aged at all. He looks exactly the same. Nick: Well, he’s Death.
James: For William Sadler alone, I’m prepared to watch it.
Alex: Future Bill & Ted! They somehow don’t look older than Present Bill & Ted.
John: They look like the kind of guys I used to see in my gym. They were also the main reason I stopped going to the gym.
Nick: Buff Alex Winter is incredible.
James: I’m not sure that’s even a muscle suit on Keanu.
Joanna: What does Alex Winter’s tattoo say? Nick: “Heinous”!
Alex: I thought that was a fun trailer. I think it knows exactly what it is.
Nick: I’m hoping it will have a great script. A lot of comedies now are just improv, throwing funny lines about. The Bill & Ted films actually have great scripts.
James: There is not one funny joke in this trailer. Which does not bode well.
Ben: Is “bode” short for “bodacious”? [laughter]
Chris: That’s funnier than anything in the trailer. A bold gambit to not have any jokes in it. Nick: [defensively] It’s more of a mood piece. John: I think it’ll be most excellent. Nick: They’re enjoyable characters to spend time with — pleasant, breezy, slightly stupid, charming, scruffy. I don’t think it’s overstating things to say that this film could save the world.
BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC IS IN CINEMAS FROM 21 AUGUST