ALEX WINTER
The other half of Bill and Ted
DEAR EMPIRE,
We all know what happened to Keanu Reeves, but what about Alex Winter, the other half of the Bill and Ted duo? - JULIA, OXFORD
Alex Winter, cornered in a poky office of a swank Soho editing suite, grins from ear to ear, his eyeballs rising ceilingwards.
"Well, I guess that would be a ?since Bill And Ted? question," he sighs after I pose, in not so many words, a query of the where-are-they-now? variety. "The thing is, I?ve been behind the camera."
So, let?s get up to speed on those missing Winter years. After the moderate success of Bill and Ted?s Bogus Journey in 1991 (he was Bill) Winter seemed to disappear at a rate proportional to the rise and rise of Mr. Reeves. But Winter, in fact, just moved out of the limelight to do what he always trained to do: make films. First up, though, was a series for MTV called The Idiot Box, a skit show which went down great guns in the U.S.
"It was more like the old Spike Milligan stuff," confesses the 29-year-old, London-born actor/director, looking hardly a hair different from his vacant headed Bill-days. "On the strength of that I spent three years making a feature which became Freaked. And that is basically where I?ve been."
Freaked is a bizarre, frenzied comedy about a hip young Hollywood star (Winter) who lands in a freak show after toxic chemicals rearrange his pretty fizzog. Lining up alongside him are a dogman (an uncredited Keanu!), a talking sock, a human worm, a giant nose, and a cross-gender, Siamese couple. The film disappeared without a trace . . .
According to Winter his creation was buried with a change of management at 20th Century Fox. An interesting, unusual and daring project like Freaked was just too much and was casually discarded. Apparently.
"At the time I was devastated," reflects Winter manfully.
But far from sitting and sulking, Winter has got on with things, running production companies in London and New York, and directing commercials and pop videos. Names such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice Cube, Bomb The Bass and The National Lottery (the new one) have recently passed through his hands. He also harbours plans to venture back into the world of feature films.
Talk though, inevitably, crawls around to Bill and Ted. Is he sick to the back teeth with living under the label of a dweeby valley-dude, low of IQ but groovy of nature?
"It?s not a problem," he laughs, "my agenda is making movies."
So, it?s all fond memories, happy days and the like?
"Oh yeah, TOTALLY," rings the perturbingly Bill-like reply. "It was a blast, a real blast. Now I?ve said ?totally?, that?s going to be in big letters, isn?t it?"
Well, erm . . .
"It?s a funny thing, every time I read an interview of mine, it is full of excellents, awesomes, totallys and radicals. I never use the words, they just end-up getting injected into my vernacular. But just now I did use it . . . " he grins. "Look at the films, the reason they worked is that we were having so much fun . . . "
