'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure' almost featured Hitler kidnap plot

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure could have taken a rather darker turn, it has emerged.

As it was, Beethoven and a host of other historical characters causing choas in a shopping mall was about as controversial as things got.

But the film’s co-writer Ed Solomon has revealed some of the plans that didn’t make it to the final cut included a trip back in time to Nazi Germany to kidnap Adolf Hitler.

Solomon unveiled a host of his and fellow writer Chris Matheson’s notes from way back in 1984.

Initially, they had a time-travelling van, rather than the eventual phone booth, and it was in said van that they planned to head to pre-war Europe.

“They end up, say, in Nazi Germany, and after causing trouble, bring Hitler back to San Dimas. He’s stranded there and they go back in time again,” read the notes.

Luckily, they came to their senses.

Replying to one fan picking up on the Hitler plot, Solomon replied: “Oh, yeah. Yeah we toyed with Hitler and then we were like ‘Actually we can’t do that.’ (For a lot of reasons.) And we swapped it out w Napoleon.”

Probably for the best.

Some other revelations include initial plans to make the character that would become time traveller Rufus ‘a 28-year-old sophomore student’ with a smart dog called ‘Dogrufus’.

But they eventually – and quite rightly – they went with an older dude, the legendary George Carlin, sent from the future to make sure Bill & Ted fulfil their destiny.

Also, it was originally to be a 7-11 store that the strange happenings happened at, and not a Circle K, and locations like Emperor Caesar’s palace and the Titanic were also suggested.

Hopefully, this flurry of activity from Solomon means that the on-again, off-again sequel is now properly forging ahead.

Bill & Ted Face The Music has been long in gestation, to say the least, and news earlier this year suggested production would begin in May.

Steven Soderbergh has been linked as a producer, while in line to direct is Dean Parisot of Galaxy Quest fame.

Then Keanu Reeves informed fans that it was not in fact a ‘done deal’.

He told Yahoo Movies in the US: “I don’t know if it’s a reality. We’ve been trying for a long time to get that film made, and it still has its challenges.”

“I really love the characters, and I think we have a good story to tell. Part of it is show business stuff — financing, rights, deals. Nothing creatively.”

Let’s hope he’s just being cautious.

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