Eddie Van Halen Originally Wanted For Bill & Ted 3 Dave Grohl Sequence

Alex Winter, the titular character of Ted in the Bill & Ted franchise, has revealed that legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen was offered a cameo in the latest entry, Bill & Ted Face The Music.

In case you haven’t seen the film yet, apologies for the spoiler. In Bill & Ted Face The Music, Dave Grohl hosts a sequence that was written to be held at Eddie Van Halen’s house.

In a recent episode of the Paltrocast podcast with Darren Paltrowitz, Winter said that Van Halen was extended a cameo offer in the first two films but denied each one.

However, Winter claims that Van Halen might have been interested in appearing in the third Bill & Ted movie if it weren’t for his ailing health. “We asked Eddie to be in every single movie, and every single movie, he said ‘no,'” Winter said, as transcribed by Consequence Of Sound.

“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.”

Winter added, “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. He was already quite sick.

“He didn’t tell us that he was literally gonna pass, but 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.'” You can watch the full interview below.

Earlier this year, the red and white striped Kramer electric guitar Eddie Van Halen played in the Hot For Teacher music video sold for a whopping $3,932,000 at a Sotheby’s auction.

Only two other guitars have sold for more than that at auction: Kurt Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit Mustang (for $4,550,000) and his Martin D-18E, played during the band’s legendary MTV Unplugged set (for $6,010,000).

Eddie Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher guitar was built by Paul Unkert of Kramer Guitars, who said about the instrument in an accompanying letter provided in 2005:

The ‘Hot For Teacher’ Van Halen [guitar] was built by me at the Kramer Green Grove Road Plant in Neptune, NJ around 1982-1985/ #CO176. Look for ‘Unk’ stamps on Neck and Body. It was my last project for Ed and Kramer. Paul ‘Unk’ Unkert.

Eddie Van Halen passed away in October 2020 at age 65, following a lengthy struggle with cancer.

The third Bill & Ted film occurs nearly 30 years after their last Bogus Journey, with stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter back in the phone booth for more time-travelling escapades.

The story centres around the pair’s flailing music career. Their band, Wyld Stallyns, was meant to be the glue that brought humanity back together. Instead, they’re playing to dwindling crowds on free taco night in the middle of nowhere. 

Desperate, the two plan to head to the future and steal their own music from their incarcerated and super-jacked selves.