Eddie Van Halen was originally offered Dave Grohl’s ‘Bill & Ted 3’ cameo
Before rock legend Eddie Van Halen died, he was offered a cameo part in Bill & Ted Face the Music, the third instalment in the long-running comedy film series. It was a part that eventually went to Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl.
Van Halen had actually been offered a place in each of the three Bill & Ted movies, says the films’ star Alex Winter (playing Bill Preston), who recently appeared on the Paltrocast with Darren Paltrowitz.
Van Halen turned down the offer of the first two Bill & Ted movies, but it sounds like he might have been interested in the third. However, the singer’s poor health at the time prevented him from accepting.
“We asked Eddie to be in every single movie, and every single movie, he said ‘no,'” Winter said. “So when we got to Bill & Ted 3 — and this is a somewhat bittersweet anecdote — we had a whole sequence which ended up being the Dave Grohl sequence.”
“That’s supposed to be [at Eddie] Van Halen’s house,” the actor continued, “We went to Eddie, and we were like, ‘Would you please, please be in the third movie?’ He’s, like, ‘You know what, you guys. This one I would have done.’ But he was dying at that point.”
The actor went on with his story, explaining how Van Halen had already fallen into a grave state of health. “He was already quite sick,” he said. “He didn’t tell us that he was literally gonna pass.”
Winter added, “He was, like, ‘I’m not well, and I can’t do it. But I really appreciate these films. We all love them. And if I wasn’t sick, I would absolutely come down to New Orleans and shoot this with you.'”
Listen to Alex Winter on the Paltrocast below.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.