CS Interview: Kid Cudi Talks Bill & Ted Face the Music
Orion Pictures’ gave ComingSoon.net the chance to chat with Kid Cudi about his role in Dean Parisot’s Bill & Ted Face the Music and how the musician/actor became involved with the threequel. You can check out the interview below and click here to purchase Bill & Ted Face the Music!
RELATED: CS Interview: Director Dean Parisot on Bill & Ted Face the Music
Bill & Ted Face the Music centers on Bill S. Preston (Winter) and Ted “Theodore” Logan (Reeves), who are now fathers and have yet to fulfill their rock ‘n’ roll destinies. Their lives change when they are visited by a messenger from the future who warns them that only their song can save life as we know it.
Click here to own Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure!
Click here to own Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey!
Joining Winter and Reeves are Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) and Brigette Lundy-Paine (Atypical) as Bill and Ted’s daughters, respectively. The film will also feature Anthony Carrigan (Barry), Jillian Bell (Workaholics), Kristen Schall (Toy Story 4), Holland Taylor (Gloria Bell), Kid Cudi, Erinn Hayes, Jayma Mays, and Beck Bennet. William Sadler is also set to reprise his role as Death alongside franchise returners Amy Stoch and Hal London Jr. Newcomer.
RELATED: Bill & Ted Face the Music Review: Nostalgia & Fun Outweigh Predictability
ComingSoon.net: This is such an iconic franchise to be a part of. How did your involvement come to be in this movie? Because I mean, they’ve had so many real-life musicians over the past, but how did you come to be a part of this one?
Kid Cudi: Well, huge “Bill & Ted” fan since I was a kid. I saw the movies when I was seven years old and became obsessed. And around 2013, I had read something that they were planning a sequel and that they were working on this project. And I was like, I called my agent and I was like, yo — well, actually, no. This is before I called my agent. I had just heard about it and I was like, yo, this is really cool. This seems really cool. Like I have to figure out how to be a part of this when it comes to life, you know?
So one day, 2013, that same year, I run into Alex Winter at Soho House in LA. I freak out and tell him how big of a fan I am and tell him I heard that they’re doing a new movie and if he needed anything from me — music, whatever, I would love to be a part of it. He said, for sure. We exchanged numbers. I actually sent him some music. And this was years ago, man. And I guess they had been working on it all this time, but I hadn’t heard anything about it for years. And then, when I saw that announcement that the guys had made, I hit up my agent and I was like, yo, this is something I’ve been chasing for years. I met Alex Winter at Soho House. He knows me. Just please tell them that I am totally interested to be a part of this movie in any way, shape, or form, right? So she reached out. I’m sorry this is such a long story.
CS: No, I love it. Go and tell all.
Cudi: So at that point, my agent Karina Manashil, she reaches out and just to see if there’s a part in the movie for me and see if I could be a part of it in some way. And I guess at the time, they didn’t have anything. They were still developing it and they said they would hit us back and let us know if anything came up. So I said like, maybe a couple of weeks went by, and then they hit up Karina and said, actually, we think we have a really dope role that we think Scott could play, you know? And we’re going to send you the script and let us know what you think.
CS: Yeah.
Cudi: So Karina, she calls me and she tells me all this. I’m freaking out because I’m like, holy shit, I’m about to get a script. Like this is crazy. Because in my mind, I’m just like, what do they sound like? What’s the whole like — what’s the thing, you know? And I get the script. I read it in under an hour. I’m like, totally like, I have to be in this movie. I have to be in this movie in some way. I have to do this role. The part that they had written in the movie for me was — well, not for me at the time, was just, they didn’t have a name in the character in the role. But like, I saw that I could do it, right? I was like, there’s no one on the planet that could play this role but me. This is destiny. This is the stars lining up. This is perfect, right?
So I hit Karina back. I told her I was like, I have to be a part of this. Tell them I’m totally in. Who do I have to meet? I’m down, right? So I met up with Dean, the director. I went to his house. We sat, we talked. We hit it off, you know? And the next thing I know, he asked me if I wanted to come join a day later, you know? We got the offer. So like, literally like the whole thing was, you know, fate, and everything happening, the stars lining up and just being like, the right time and the right moment, you know, and everything just working out. And it’s another one of those things where I can honestly say it’s a dream come true to be able to be in a “Bill & Ted” movie. Like this shit is like, the whole time I was on set, I was freaking out. Like I was like, having an out of body experience, like holy shit. I’m here. I have to be in this scene, I have to be focused, but it’s hard for me to focus because I’m looking at Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves playing these characters 30 years later. It’s fucking wild, you know?
CS: Yeah.
Cudi: So that’s my story.
CS: That’s an awesome story. I mean, it was wild just for me to watch them go back into these characters. So since you mentioned that it was a character that you knew you could take on that you wanted to take on, was it just like a present-day musician was how it was written? Or through talking with Dean and with the writers, did you guys come to the decision to have it be yourself?
Cudi: Well, I think it was written as an already like, established musician. That’s what they wanted.
CS: Okay.
Cudi: So it fit perfect. And you know, that was one of the first things they told me, it was like, we want you to play yourself, but with a little twist, you know? And I love that, you know? And I’ve been able to play myself in movies before and it’s always been different. And sometimes it can be hard, you know, to play yourself, because it’s like, what is my onscreen fictional persona like? What’s the difference between the real Kid Cudi and this movie Kid Cudi, you know? But this one was very like, first off, just the fact that I’m a fan of the franchise, it was really easy for me to just kind of dive in. And I kind of liked that — you saw the movie, right?
CS: Yes, yes.
Cudi: So yeah, I kind of liked that I’m like, in for the ride and I’m totally like, oh, I know what this is. Like maybe this is this and this is — and I’m not like, freaked out too much, so this is kind of like, what the hell is going on? I thought that was all dope because at first, I asked Dean. I was like, is he scared? Like am I freaking out, you know? He’s like, no, no, he’s kind of just going with it, you know? So I was like, okay. He’s just going with it. I’m with it.
CS: So I mean, he does go with it and he seems to be pretty knowledgeable about a lot of the science behind everything. Are you — were you pretty familiar with a lot of the science of time travel before? Or did a lot of that come from like, the script and research after you got the role?
Cudi: Yeah, it was mostly like, we had a quantum physicist on set, and he pretty much tried to break down the lines and he explained to me what I was actually saying.
CS: Okay.
Cudi: And I think maybe 10 percent of it made sense to me. But no, it was some really — everything in the script, it was like real things. It wasn’t like, something that the writers just made up. It was real science to the story. And so, there was a lot of, you know, information that the quantum physicist was giving me about like, you know, just time travel and what needs to happen and all these things and just all this scientific jargon that was like, making my mind melt. But no, it was cool, man. It was cool.
CS: So I mean, you talked a little bit about the challenges of playing yourself in different roles or different movies. But what would you say was your biggest creative challenge in portraying yourself in this one?
Cudi: I’d say it probably would’ve been the quantum physics stuff because the lines were so — you know, nobody really speaks in that way, you know? Unless you’re a quantum physicist, you know?
CS: Right.
Cudi: So that was the first day I was like, kind of like, it was intense because I was just having trouble like, getting the words out, you know? But after the first day, I had a rhythm and it was all good. It was cool after that. But the first day I had these really kind of like, weird lines and you know, it was kind of like one of those things that I just realized, because I’ve never had that happen to me before in my career, where like, I was reading lines and it was like, hard for me to process. Because half of the time, it’s like, you know, I don’t know what I’m necessarily saying, you know? But they had like, Dean, Ed, these guys were on set coaching me, guiding me through everything, you know? So I wasn’t completely in the dark. And after the first day, like I got my rhythm and we were taking off from there, you know?
CS: That’s good. That’s good you got that good collaborative attitude on set with everybody. What was it like then building — I mean, you only have a handful of scenes with everybody, but what was it like building that rapport with all of your fellow costars before the camera started rolling?
Cudi: Oh it was great, man. Like everybody was so cool and that’s the thing. It’s like, I’ve been blessed that every set I’ve been on has been full of love and everybody’s been cool and grounded and there’s no egos. And that’s exactly what this set was like, you know? Everybody was cool and chill and they were making these — because it was so fucking hot out there — they were making these icy, shaved ice little slushy things, like cones or whatever.
CS: Yeah.
Cudi: And we were turning those things up. That shit was nice. I was like, I feel spoiled. I was like, this is fucking cool… But yeah, man, we all got along really well, and yeah, I still talk to Sam, Bridget. I talk to Alex. You know, I keep in touch with them, you know?
CS: That’s awesome. So then, did you find that you got to play around with your character a little bit in certain takes, do a little improv here or there?
Cudi: Yeah, definitely.
CS: Yeah?
Cudi: Yeah, I think Dean saw that I could do it and he leaned into that, you know? And I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know what he used. So it’s going to be exciting to see. But yeah, there was a couple of moments where he was just like, have fun with it, you know? This is what’s happening and just come up with something, just do it.
CS: Nice.
Cudi: And I love when directors give me that freedom.
CS: Yeah, it’s good when you get to have that relationship on set with them. So I mean, since you mentioned you haven’t seen it yet, it was supposed to be just theaters, but now with everything going on, it’s got this hybrid release. How did it feel for you, hearing that news, that it was going to get this simultaneous digital in-theater release?
Cudi: It made me feel good that the powers that be were thinking about the proper situation, you know, for people to be able to watch this safely. And it kind of gives people the option if you want to go to a theater, you can go and do that, too. But it’s really like, I encouraged everybody to stay home. That’s really what I’m going to do, because I usually like to rent out the theaters and watch the movies with my fans, you know? And that’s a bummer I can’t do that. That was something I was planning on doing. But you know, we’ll do something, where I’m watching the movie with the fans and I’ll just live tweet throughout it or something like that. But yeah, I think it’s going to be dope. I think we’re going to get a lot more eyes on it, actually, than we would’ve gotten if it had a theatrical release, I think.
CS: I couldn’t agree more. I think the simultaneous release is going to bring a lot more viewers to it, and I think they’re going to have a blast like I did. I really did. I had an awesome time with it.
Cudi: Nice.
CS: Thank you very much for taking the time to chat with me, man. I greatly appreciate it.
Cudi: No problem.
CS: I had fun seeing you in the movie, too. When you were going into the science stuff, even my mind was melting. I was like, oh.
Cudi: Oh man, this is so great to hear you talk about this, like I’ve kind of been not wanting to see it. I’ve kind of wanted to like, experience it with the fans a little bit, when it comes out. But no, it’s exciting to know that you saw it, and it’s dope. That’s, yo, nice.
CS: I think you’ll get a blast of it just like everybody else will.
Cudi: Oh dope, dope, dope. Thanks man.
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