BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC Was Originally Supposed to Feature a CGI George Carlin

It turns out that Bill & Ted Face The Music almost featured a CGI version of George Carlin as Rufus. That was one of the original plans for the film, but those plans ultimately ended up being scrapped. During a recent interview with Polygon, director Dean Parisot talked about what he wanted to do with Rufus and why they didn’t move forward with it:

“We probably could have afforded to build the Circle K set, but we were using footage from the original Bill & Ted. We would have had to create a CG George Carlin, which is incredibly expensive, and very difficult to pull off in a convincing way. We didn’t have the time or the money. But we had a great scene where they went back to talk to Carlin.”

Parisot went on to say the scene was supposed to serve as both a tribute to Carlin and a way to launch the quest that forms most of the movie. He explained:

“From a story point of view, they’re they’re trying to figure out what happens, right? How do we solve this problem?’ Because nobody really knows the future, and they don’t know what’s coming. So initially, they’re going back in time to ask questions.”

That sequence ended up being replaced with a different plot device where Bill and Ted end up with “a keepsake of Rufus that holds the same advice he would have given them in the cut scene.” Parisot went on to say:

“From a story perspective, it didn’t change all that much. It was a bittersweet moment between them and Rufus. It was sweet, and I think it would have been fun but, you know, things fall by the wayside.”

However, he does point out that the movie still includes a little Rufus cameo. He says, “They still got to see Carlin!” If you want to keep a look out for the cameo, Carlin appears as a hologram that was created with archival footage, and with a line of dialogue provided by animation voiceover artist Piotr Michael.