Jennings Roth Cornet, one of the producers behind the upcoming documentary Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary, says she believes Galaxy Quest director Dean Parisot will deliver a great third installment in the Bill and Ted movie franchise. The filmmaker, who also directed Fun With Dick and Jane, was tapped to bring the Wyld Stallyns back to cinemas, with a hand from original writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, and a cast that includes returning actors Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, and William Sadler. The film needs to balance science fiction with heart, humor, and it needs to be about something. That’s the thing about waiting 25+ years to make a sequel: that return needs to say something about the series it’s continuing, or it can feel pretty hollow.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Cornet believes Parisot is equal to the task, and during an interview in support of Never Surrender (the full interview will be coming a little closer to that film’s release via Fathom Events later this month), she broke down a little bit of why…without going too far down the Bill and Ted rabbit hole since she has not actually, y’know, SEEN the movie.
“I think he’s going to kill it; I think he’s going to be really great at Bill and Ted,” Cornet told ComicBook.com. “Because Bill and Ted has — think about that history! — it’s got to comment on itself. It’s got to comment on itself in culture. And it’s got this impossible problem of, it’s promised us the greatest song that ever has been written. We can’t literally ever hear it — you know that we can’t. But he’s got to be able to tell the story of why these guys didn’t fulfill their destiny. I think that what that’s ultimately going to mean, is that the burden of thinking that they had one, singular destiny made them inactive and inert throughout the rest of their lives. That’s what I’m guessing the film is going to be about, and there’s nobody like Dean to make that resonant and funny.”
Bill and Ted Face the Music is in post-production now, targeting an August 2020 release date. The movie has been in development for years, from writers Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson with director Dean Parisot. The film will bring back Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in their title roles, as well as reusing old footage featuring Carlin, and giving William Sadler another shot at the Grim Reaper role. Jayma Mays, Erinn Hayes, Brigette Lundy-Paine, and Samara Weaving will also appear.
“Following 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, the stakes are higher than ever for William Bill S. Preston Esq. (Winter) and Theodore Ted Logan (Reeves). Yet to fulfill their rock and roll destiny, the now middle-aged best friends set out on a new adventure, when a visitor from the future warns them that only their song can save life as we know it and bring harmony to the universe. Along the way, they will be helped by their families, old friends and a few music legends.”
Galaxy Quest and Fun With Dick and Jane director Dean Parisot will helm Face the Music, with a script from original Bill & Ted writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. Scott Kroopf will produce alongside Alex Lebovici and Steve Ponce. Steven Soderbergh, John Ryan Jr., Scott Fisher, and John Santilli will act as executive producer.
Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary is coming to theaters via Fathom Events on November 26. It’s likely the film will get a streaming video on demand and/or DVD release later in the year, since Christmas 2019 will be the 20th anniversary of the release of Galaxy Quest.
